Useful Information

We value your role as the children's first and most enduring educators and always want to hear about the children's achievements. We have a few different ways of keeping you updated.

We are asking parents to contact staff via the school telephone if there are any concerns or changes to your usual routines. Please telephone school directly if your child is unwell and isn't attending the session. For other communication, if the office staff are unable to answer questions or you still have concerns they will arrange for a member of staff to phone you back after the school session is ended.

We also use Class DOJO to share communication around children's learning and achievements. We will update this with pictures and news regularly. You can use DOJO to send a message with news from home, significant achievements and home learning.  You can also use it to request an appointment or phone call if you do have concerns. Queries or concerns will not be dealt with directly via DOJO but I will phone you to speak with you.

Dojo:

We welcome the opportunity to work in partnership with parents and carers at this early stage in your child's education and invite you to join Class Dojo to make communication even easier. If you have any problems signing up to Class Dojo or need your login, please ask either myself or one of the other team for the details. We value your contributions about your child's learning and we wish to work with you to ensure your child has the best possible start in their learning journey. Please feel free to share your child’s successes and achievements at home by sending a private message and photos on Class Dojo and through our home learning books. You can tell us about your child's interests and any new learning you have noticed. We will then include this in their learning journey at school and use it to inform our planning and assessments.

Newsletters, letters and text messages:

News letters are sent out each term and have the key dates and events on. More detailed information is sent via letters in the children’s book bags. Text messages are usually sent to remind you of any upcoming events or if we need to get a message out quickly. 

Parents evenings:

There are parents evenings scheduled for each term. You will be notified about your child's first parents' evening closer to the time. This will be an opportunity to discuss how your child has settled into Foundation Stage and to view and contribute to your child's learning journey. If you have any questions or concerns about your child's learning or development at other times, you can arrange to discuss these with me.

We understand that occasionally you may have concerns you would prefer to discuss privately. Please phone the school office and they will arrange for me to call you back if required.

Thank you for your support.

Reading at Home

At Treeton C of E Primary we see reading as a priority as it is a vital skill for life. Once children have mastered the basics of decoding words it is important that they continue to read regularly both in school and at home to build up fluency and confidence. They also need to develop a deeper understanding of the texts they read by asking and answering questions.

We read with your child on many occasions each week in school. Each week your child will ideally read twice, usually in the form of a  reading group with their class teacher and individually with a teaching assistant. There will be many other opportunities for reading through their Literacy lessons and daily phonic sessions.

We consider reading to be the main focus for homework and we ask that you make time to read with your child three times a week. We check reading diaries each week and award stickers for reading 3 times at home.  Your child will be provided with a phonetically decodable book either in a physical form or through our 'Bug club online book bag'. Bug club logins will be given to you within the first few weeks of school- once we have got to know the children a little more. This can be accessed through tablets, iPad's, computers or phones. They will also receive a coloured book band reading book which they may find slightly more difficult to read as these are not always fully decodable books. Therefore this gives children the opportunity to practise other reading strategies alongside phonics.

Your child will also receive a 'phonics pack' with sounds and tricky words which they have learnt over the year in phonics. This will be added to weekly. More information on this will be shared over the first few weeks in school. Their phonics home learning challenge will either be words to learn linked to the phonics sounds they have learnt that week or a phonics task again linked to the phonics they have learnt that week.

If you have any questions about how we teach reading or what you can do at home to support your child's reading please feel free to ask. Thank you to everyone who has supported us with the reading initiative so far. Rewards will be announced at the end of term.

Better Reading Partners

As a school we encourage parents and carers to come into school to support with reading. As part of this initiative we offer some training around reading with children. If you feel you could spare a regular slot each week to come in a read with children in school please see myself or any of the staff who will be happy to help. Existing better reading partners state that they not only enjoy their time in school but that it has also helped them to support their own children's reading at home.

Home Learning Challenges

Over the year your child will receive a range of home learning challenges.

First and foremost reading with your child is key. We value support for reading as our main home learning focus. Therefore we ask that you read with your child 3 times a week. Your child will be provided with a phonetically decodable book either in a physical form or through our 'Bug club online book bag'. Bug club logins will be resent to you within the first two weeks of school. This can be accessed through tablets, iPad's, computers or phones. They will also receive a coloured book band reading book which they may find slightly more difficult to read as these are not always fully decodable books. Therefore this gives children the opportunity to practise other reading strategies alongside phonics.

Your child will also receive a 'phonics pack' with sounds and tricky words which they have learnt over the year in phonics. This will be added to weekly. More information on this will be shared over the first two weeks. Their phonics home learning challenge will either be words to learn linked to the phonics sounds they have learnt that week or a phonics task again linked to the phonics they have learnt that week.

Once the children are settled into their new school routines an open ended home learning challenge for children to complete will be provided, based on their learning from the week. Home learning books are given out on a Friday and returned the following week on by Wednesday. Often the challenges are hands on and practical. Videos and photo's can be sent to dojo to record and share the children's learning. We look forward to seeing the work you do at home.

Thank you