Dear Parents/Carers,

I hope you have all had a lovely summer and enjoyed the break with your wonderful children. This is just a quick letter to introduce myself, let you know about some of the routines for Year 1 and what we will be learning this half term.

As you know I am Mr Simon Lloyd-Jones and I am Deputy Head and will be teaching Year 1 this year. I will be supported in class by Mrs Harris and Mrs Franklin in the morning and Mrs Condon and Mrs O’Sullivan in the afternoon.

When the children come into school in the morning they will enter through the main door and go straight to the cloak room where they will hang their coats up on their pegs and wash their hands. The children will then put their lunch bags and boxes on the white shelves outside our classroom before going into class where I will be waiting for them. At breaktime the children are able to bring their own fruit boxes for snack. Please can these be labelled to make it easier for the children to remember which belongs to them and speed up sending things home at the end of the day. The children can also bring their own labelled water bottles into school which can be stored in the classroom. We will have our own area of the Foundation Phase yard which we will use at breaktime and lunchtimes until further notice and will not be mixing with other classes. At the end of the day the children will be brought to your chosen pick up point by one of the teaching assistants in class.

Our topic this term is ‘Healthy Bodies Healthy Minds’ and as part of this topic we will be learning about the parts of the body and what they do to help us. We will also be finding out how to keep healthy and look after ourselves. Our Literacy focus this term is Recount and Explanation writing and this will be linked with our topic as well. In Maths we will be starting with number and working on numbers to 100. Some of our activities will include understanding the value of numbers, recognising, writing, ordering and comparing numbers. We will also revise addition and subtraction and be using non-standard units to measure the length of our bodies.

Our PE day is a Friday and until half term we will be enjoying dance sessions in the gym with James. Please can the children come to school in clothes suitable for doing PE, such as shorts or joggers, t-shirt and sweatshirt.

Homework is not compulsory in the Foundation Phase but I will be providing opportunities for the children to reinforce their learning at home throughout the term by completing activities from our Homework Menu. There is a mix of activities covering all areas of the curriculum which the children will enjoy completing with you at home.

Your child will also be taking home a reading book this week. Please complete the ‘Reading Journey’ so I can keep track of the books your child has read. Books will not be changed unless there is a comment from a parent. It is good practice for the children to read a book more than once so they become more familiar with the vocabulary used and gain confidence reading independently so please don’t worry if the same book is sent home on more than one occasion.

Obviously parents and carers are unable to come into school at the moment and with staggered drop off and pick up times I will not have a chance to see you to discuss any questions you may have. I will be using class dojo to communicate with parents and send pictures of what the children have been doing in school. Class dojo is also the easiest way to get hold of me to discuss class matters. Please do not use Class Dojo to say if your child is not going to be in school as this will need to be communicated to the school office. You can also get hold of me using my email address which is tuckers27@hwbcymru.net

Microsoft teams has also been set up where I will be posting letters and additional information. Further information on teams will come shortly. One of the main reasons for getting used to teams is in the event of another home-learning situation (which we of course hope will not happen), where teams will be the main vehicle for providing home learning.

I look forward to working closely with you and your children this year. If you have any questions at all, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Many thanks,

Mr Simon Lloyd-Jones
Deputy Head and Year 1 Class Teacher