Dear Parents and Carers,
Welcome back to school! We hope you all enjoyed the break and we have enjoyed welcoming the children back into their classes this week. Don’t forget to check the blogs at the end of the newsletter to see what your child has been learning in class!
As it is a new term, we have begun teaching our new wider curriculum themes. Each year group has a different theme that links together wider curriculum subjects including History, Geography, Art, DT, Music, Science, Computing and PSHE. Making links in this way helps the children see connections between the things they know and also helps them to remember more of what they learn. Each theme is also built around a high quality book that is read regularly to the children in class.
Our themes this term are as follows:
| Nursery | Living and Growing |
| Reception | Towers, Tunnels and Turrets |
| Year 1 | Fee Fi Fo Fum! |
| Year 2 | Blooming Marvellous |
Further information about what your child will be taught, including how you can help at home, can be found in our parent overviews.
Nursery Summer 1 – Living And Growing
Reception Summer 1 – Towers, Turrets And Tunnels
Year 1 Summer 1 – Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum!
Year 2 Summer 1 – Blooming Marvellous
We are excited to invite parents and carers of Reception children to our Spring Sing-a-Long. Reception have been working hard to learn lots of songs and are very much looking forward to sharing them with you!
The event will be taking place on Friday 24th April at 9:15am and 2:30pm in our school hall. Reception children should come to school wearing bright, spring colours on this day. All families are invited to the event and we can offer a maximum of two tickets per family. Tickets cost £1.00 and should be paid for on Parent Pay.
We look forward to seeing as many of you there as possible!
This week, we were pleased to welcome the W.I.S.E. Team into school to work with Woodpecker Class on developing their understanding of emotions. During the first session, the children explored a range of different emotions and discussed how our feelings can act as important signals, helping us recognise when something is happening in our lives. They also learned that all emotion are valid and play an important role in our well being.
The session included engaging activities and discussions, giving pupils the opportunity to share their thoughts and begin building strategies for recognising and expressing their feelings in a healthy way. Woodpecker Class showed great engagement and enthusiasm throughout.
This marks the beginning of a series of four sessions with the W.I.S.E. Team. We look forward to seeing the children continue to develop their emotional awareness and resilience over the next few weeks.
On Thursday 23rd April, we are hosting a Fussy Eater workshop at 9am. This workshop will be run by NHS professionals and will help encourage children to try and experience a range of foods. Children and parents will attend the workshop together and there will be a range of food available to try!
If you would like to attend, please sign up in the school office. There are limited spaces and only parents who have booked a space will be able to attend.
The government has recently published guidance on screen time for children under the age of 5. It is recommended that children aged 2-5 are limited to a maximum of one hour per day, as 90% of all brain growth occurs before the age of 5.
The full guidance can be found here and a summary of key recommendations below:
The school will be closed on Monday 4th May as it is a Bank Holiday.
If your child brings a packed lunch to school, please ensure that their meal is healthy. We do not have any facilities to heat up food in school.
Have a lovely weekend!
Mrs S O’Hara
Head of School
This week in Oak Class we have been immersing ourselves into our new text for this term, Billy’s Bucket. In the story there is a birthday party for Billy. We surprised our children by putting up decorations in the classroom and we played different party......
Reception have had a fantastic first week back at school. The children have loved reading our new focus story, Little Red Riding Hood, which we will continue to explore throughout the first half of summer term. They enjoyed learning key vocabulary and creating actions 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
Assistant Headteacher & Designated 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 | 98.2% | ||
| Bumblebee | 95.2% | ||
| Year 1 | |||
| Rabbit | 92.7% | ||
| Squirrel | 96% | ||
| Hedgehog | 90.5% | ||
| Year 2 | |||
| Kingfisher | 96% | ||
| Woodpecker | 96% | ||
The whole school attendance this week is: 95.21%