Dear Parents,

A happy new year to everybody! I hope you all had a good break and that the children are keen to be back at school!

Reading
I would be really grateful if any parents were able to volunteer on a weekly basis to hear children read. If you had even an hour a week to spare this would be fantastic – the children love reading to an adult on a 1-1 basis. Please let me know if you can help them.

Equipment
Just a reminder that all children do need their own pencil case in school every day. This should contain: a suitable handwriting pen (not biro), pencils, rubber, sharpener, ruler, coloured pencils and felt tip pens. Other equipment is optional (eg calculator, compass, protractor) as we have these in school. Rulers are particularly useful for drawing straight lines and underlining titles!!

It will also be helpful if children can have an art shirt in school to protect their clothes when painting – an old men’s shirt is ideal.

Presentation of Work
Although the quality of the children’s work is high, it is sometimes let down by its presentation. This term we will be focusing on ensuring high standards of presentation as well as good quality work. This includes neat writing, clear titles which are underlined (with a ruler), additional pages being stuck in straight, incorrect work crossed out with a single line etc etc. I would be grateful if you could help by encouraging your child to be as neat as possible with their homework. In particular, if topic homework is done on plain paper, children should draw themselves pencil lines to ensure their writing remains horizontal.

Homework
Literacy and maths homework will continue to be set on a Tuesday to be given in the following Monday. Literacy homework will now include spellings which will be tested through a dictated paragraph on a Monday morning. I would expect to see evidence of learning and practice in the homework book. There are 20 words which all include the same spelling pattern. Some words are straightforward and some more difficult. I would expect all Year 6s to be getting 18 – 20 correct each week. There are some words that Year 5s might find difficult but I would still expect a score of at least 15. If you would like to discuss this with me, please either email or talk to me after school. The spelling test will be done in the homework book so you will see how your child did. Some of the words not learned one week will roll over to the next week (so there will be 20 +).

If homework is not given in on time, then the child will miss Monday playtime. This rule is strictly adhered to with very few exceptions. Please encourage your children to take responsibility for completing and handing in their own homework. Similarly, if a piece of homework has not been completed with enough thought or care, children may be asked to repeat it.

Topic Homework
This will be set for a half term and one piece should be given in every Friday. Again, is this is not handed in, the child will miss Friday playtime.

PE
PE is on Thursdays and Fridays. The first three weeks will be Gymnastics and the second three weeks will be indoor (Sportshall) Athletics.
If your child has pierced earrings, these should be removed for PE and long hair must be tied back.

 If your child is unable to take part in a PE lesson for medical reasons, please let me know by letter/email. This eliminates any misunderstandings on my part as to who is and who isn’t doing PE and why. Thank you for your help.

Topic Work
This half term our topic is Wilbraham Past and Present. We will be investigating the villages of Great and Little Wilbraham, using current maps and historical maps as well as Google Earth. As part of this topic I will be taking the children on a long walk around the villages. On this day they will need to come to school in walking gear (the timing will depend on the weather forecast – I will send out a letter nearer the time.) I would also like to invite any parents to come with us on the walk, particularly ones that have knowledge of local history who might be able to point out areas of interest. I will be asking the children to do some research into the local area for homework, but if you have any information you think would be useful, please let me know. We will be looking at Census details from 1911. If anyone has details already about their family from that time or their house, that would also be helpful. Similarly, if anyone has a relative or friend in the villages who would be happy to come and talk to the children about how the area has changed that would be great.

We will be going out and about in the village at other times over the half term, so please could you ensure that your child brings their coat with them!

In Art/DT we will be concentrating on skills related to paper. Many children need lots of practise with using scissors for fine detail, so we will be doing lots of paper craft. We will look at the work of Matisse and aim to create work in a similar style just using coloured paper, scissors and glue.

It would be helpful if you could give your child a few challenges at home to check their skills with cutting, both straight lines and around fine detail. Old Christmas cards would provide plenty of opportunities! You should look for straight edges to be smooth with no raggedy bits and for the cutting to go just to the edge of the object without cutting bits of it off. If your child finds this difficult, please give them lots more practice. (This fine motor control will also help with handwriting.)   

Appointments
If you need to see me for any reason, I should be available after school every day for quick chats. If you would like a longer discussion, appointments are available on Thursdays. Please either see me or make an appointment via the office. Otherwise, please do email on llatham@greatwilbraham.cambs.sch.uk.

If you have any questions or queries, please do not hesitate to ask.

Laura Latham