Dear Parents and Carers,
We have enjoyed welcoming all of the children back to school this week following the Christmas holidays. We hope that you all enjoyed the time together over the break.
All year groups have begun learning about their new curriculum themes this week. Our themes change every half term and link together learning in the different subjects. Each theme begins with an exciting entry point to inspire the children and get them excited for their learning! For example, this week in school we have had food tasting and the chance for children to meet some rainforest animals.
Our curriculum overviews for each year group are below. These explain what your child will be learning in class and also contain ideas for how you can support their learning at home, as well as recommended reads.
Our curriculum themes for Spring 1 are:
| Nursery | Off We Go! |
| Reception | Ready, Steady, GO! |
| Year 1 | Sensational! |
| Year 2 | Welcome to the Jungle! |
Reception Spring 1 – Ready, Steady, GO!
Year 1 Spring 1 – Sensational!
Year 2 Spring 1 – Welcome To The Jungle!
Year 2 children were very excited this week to meet some rainforest animals as part of their learning about South America and the Amazon rainforest. They learned about a range of animals, including snakes and tarantulas, and even got to touch and hold some of them! All of the children were very sensible and considerate towards the animals. Year 2 will continue to learn about the rainforest during their Geography lessons this term.
Our next Time to Talk session will be on Thursday 16th January at 8:55am. We will be sharing our school priorities for the rest of the academic year and we would value your input into this process. Our Time to Talk sessions are also a chance to meet informally with other parents, catch up and work together. If there is anything you would like us to cover during these sessions, please do let us know.
Everyone is welcome and we hope to see as many of you there as possible. Refreshments and hot drinks will be provided!
Last term, we welcomed a speech and language therapist into school to share information with families about how you can support your child’s speech and language development. The Barking and Dagenham Family Hub promote a different strategy each month about how you can support speech and language development at home. This month’s strategy is to imitate and repeat after your child.
As you are aware, school will be closed from 1:30pm on Tuesday and there will be no afterschool club. We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your continued support during this very difficult time.
DBI Letter Funeral Arrangements
We hope you have a lovely weekend.
Mrs S O’Hara
Head of School
This week at Nursery, we have been learning to use positional language to describe where something is. We learnt the meaning of the words ‘in’, ‘on top’, ‘under’, ‘in front’, ‘behind’ and ‘next to’. We then continued to develop our understanding of position and direction......
Our new topic in Oak Class is ‘On the Move’. This week we have been reading ‘Car, Car, Truck, Jeep.’ We have been learning the names of different vehicles and making vehicle sounds. Today we have had great fun taking turns to drive vehicles through......
Reception have had a busy and exciting first week back! They were introduced to their new topic – ‘Ready, Steady, Go!’ The children particularly enjoyed exploring our new role play area which is a train station. They had fun pretending to be on the train......
This week in Year 1, we compared fruit and vegetables. We discovered where they grow: under the ground, on the ground or on the branches of a plant. We compared their taste, finding that fruits are sweeter and we compared oranges with tangerines and celery......
On Tuesday, Year 2 took part in a workshop about rainforests and the animals who live there. We learnt about how they adapt to their habitat and what they need to survive in the rainforests. We met lots of different animals and even got to......
Please note: If your child is absent you must inform the school on the morning of the absence. Please do this by phoning the school office on 0208 270 4655 or emailing us at office@dorothybarleyinfant.org.uk.
We aim for the best education for your children at Dorothy Barley Infant School. Full Attendance and Punctuality are essential for your child to make the maximum progress.
To reach the school target pupils must not have any more than 6 days off per academic year. If you need to make appointments for your child, please aim to make them out of school hours or during school holidays. Thank you.
Children with 100% attendance each half term will receive a certificate. Pupils with 100% attendance for the whole year will receive a special reward.
| Attendance during one school year | Equals this number of days absent | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 90% | 19 days | ||
| 80% | 38 days | ||
| 70% | 57 days | ||
| Outstanding 100% |
Good 96% – 99% |
Requires Improvement 91%-95% |
Inadequate (PA)Below 90% |
Do you know our Child Protection and Safeguarding Team?
Mrs Ratford
Deputy Headteacher & Designated Safeguarding Lead
Mrs Osborne
SENCO & Designated Deputy Safeguarding Lead
If you have a concern about a child, please see a member of our Safeguarding Team.
In an emergency call 999.
| Class | Attendance | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Reception | |||
| Ladybird | 97.86% | ||
| Bumblebee | 91.03% | ||
| Butterfly | 95.00% | ||
| Year 1 | |||
| Rabbit | 98.40% | ||
| Squirrel | 93.85% | ||
| Year 2 | |||
| Kingfisher | 98.52% | ||
| Woodpecker | 91.11% | ||
| Tawny Owl | 92.59% | ||
The whole school attendance this week is: 94.72%