Ascot Heath Primary School

Welcome to Toucan Class!!

Teacher: Mr Crowley 

Teaching Assistants: Mrs Ladva (TA) and Ms Grandchamp (LSA)

Welcome Back and a Happy New Year!

We hope you had an amazing Christmas break and have ready for a terrific 2023!

This half-term we will be starting our new quest of "Out of this world", looking into all things alien and space. We will be exploring the night sky and all of its wonders, including the planets of our solar system, the ISS space station and the stars. We will be meeting alien friends along the way such as Beegu and Beezee who will come and visit to tell us all about their home planet Mars. Please find below our quest overview, in what we are expecting to cover, however if the children wish to venture into a different corner of space, we will delve in with them and explore what they wish to explore.

Reception Spring 1 Out of this world Quest for parents.docx 

Toucans Class Charter: 

In Toucans we made our class charter together, coming up with ideas on how will be respectful to our classroom and each other. 

Phonics 

At Ascot Heath we use the 'Read Write Inc' phonic scheme to build children's abilities to read and write throughout Early and KS1. This will continue till children join KS2 at which point they will have English lessons as a class. Whilst children are working through the Read Write Inc scheme they will be split into groups of their phonetic ability, mixing all classes from Early Years to Year 2 to best challenge and develop their skill. 

Please find below the presentation slides from our Workshop showing the different aspects to our phonic schemes as well as links for ways you can support your child's phonics at home. For handwriting I would recommend using these video's made by Upton Primary school to show you how we learn to write our letters and the rhymes that we teach with them ~ https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEZhrFZlv6caOgIgflHW-Ug/videos?app=desktop . 

PE 

Toucans will have PE Monday and Tuesday afternoons. All PE kit should be kept in school for the half term and we will send it home for a wash at the end. Please ensure children have practiced getting changed into their PE kits and back on their own as to limit the amount of time spent changing and increase the amount of time running around and enjoying PE.  

It is particularly important that any shoulder length hair is tied back and earrings are removed for their own and other children's safety. 

Outdoor Area

We use our outdoor area all year round. Something very useful for the children to have in school is a pair of wellies. We do have some spares but often children prefer to wear their own. We are also planning on having garden based activities during the week, so any spare garden gloves or trowels will be greatly appreciated. The children also should bring their coats in every day just in case we have a sudden downpour. 

Forest School

We are very lucky to have Ms Ringrose and our lovely wild garden which backs onto our outdoor area. Children will take part in forest school on alternative Thursdays with half of the class completing it one week and the other half completing it the next. As the weather gets colder and wetter the children will need to bring in clothing that you don't mind getting wet or muddy. e.g. old joggers, waterproof coat, waterproof trousers if you have them. Children will be expected to come in Forest School clothing with a spare pair of shoes to be worn in the classroom.  

Children's belongings

Please do make sure that all your child's belongings are labelled with their names. This will help us out greatly and save us a lot of time as the children learn to look after their own things. This can be simply done by using a marker pen.  

We encourage the children not to bring in things from home such as a special teddy or toy. We would hate for these special things to get lost or broken. They can also cause a distraction too from the children's learning. 

On occasion we may invite children to bring in something but we will always inform you of this first.

Communication 

It is very important to us that we work with you to get the best for your child. If you would like to chat to us the best time is after school (unless it is something urgent for that day, then let us know in the morning) or if you contact the office via email or phone and we will make time to see you. The school office are very good at helping to solve any day to day issues such as ordering school lunches etc.