THIS WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS
Welcome back to and a Happy New Year to all our families.
This week in assembly, we started our term by considering the following question:
It was very humbling to hear how many of the children said their mum, dad, uncle, grandparent or another relative. They all gave such amazing reason to explain why they want to be like them as well. For example, ‘They are always so kind to me and I want to make sure I’m as kind as them.’ We also linked this question into looking at the achievements people have that mean we now see them as heroes, such as Rosa Parks, Sir Edmund Hillary or Simone Biles. We discussed how many of these didn’t set out to be heroes and many had huge obstacles to overcome to achieve what they had dreamed of. We discussed what values these heroes all had to show to achieve their goals. This culminated with the children coming dressed as their hero today. It was great to hear some of the children explain why they were dressed as they were, for example, “I came as the surgeon who saved my life last year!”
This week, the Year 3 children visited the computing department at New College to use some programs that are not possible in school. They all had a fantastic time. The other Key Stage 2 year groups will attend during the remainder of the school year.
Firstly, thank you for supporting your children with their reading at home. At Lainesmead, we believe that reading with your child is invaluable. Not only does it help your child to become a confident reader, it also helps your child to develop a love of reading, increases their vocabulary and helps your child to become more imaginative, which also helps them to become better writers. Being a good reader will also influence your child throughout their life.
“A strong reader at 10 years old will earn 21% more per hour at age 38 than someone from the same background with poor reading skills.” –
Hooked on Books
To ensure that all children are reading at home at least 5 times a week, children’s reading logs will be monitored closely. Teachers will check reading logs each week and will keep a record of how many times your child has read at home during the week. Our policy states that this should be at least 5 times. When a child has not read at home 5 times during the week, the teacher will put a note in the log as a reminder. Usually, this reminder is enough. However, if the same thing is noted in the following weeks, your child’s teacher and then the year group leader will ask to meet with you. During this meeting, we will talk about what we can do to support you so that this reading does take place. In the final instance, you will be asked to meet with a member of our school’s senior leadership team.
Look out in the next few newsletters for helpful hints and tips about how to support your child with reading at home!
CERTIFICATES OF EXCELLENCE
This week’s certificates went to the following children for amazing work, attitude and showing the school values:
Germany: Nikhil France: Jesse
Spain: Corey Iceland: Michael
Canada: Ella Russia: Harry
Mexico: Kavinmukil South Africa: Jacob
Brazil: Macauli China: Maria
New Zealand: Emily Australia: Kavenayan
It was a real pleasure to see so many of them share their work and talk so confidently about what they had achieved during the week, especially when it was going from not understanding something to being completely confident, such as Emily with adding fractions.
Well done to South Africa class (99.7%) and Iceland class (98.3%) for their high attendance in the last week before the Christmas holidays. Both classes rolled the dice and moved to the same reward on our ‘Class-opoly’ board – extra time with PE equipment.
We will continue to keep a very close eye on attendance this term. We are in the process of putting together many of the ideas from the poster competition we ran before the holidays. Look out for the results soon!
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
Tuesday 15th January
Year 1 Phonics Workshops – 2:30pm and 6:00pm
This is a must attend event! Phonics packs will be given out to all parents in attendance
Wednesday 23rd January
National Handwriting Day
Monday 28th January
Australia Day (Australia Class)
Wednesday 30th January
Whole school Maths Day
Week beginning 4th February
Tuesday 5th February
Safer Internet Day
Wednesday 6th February
New Zealand Day (NZ Class)
Thursday 14th February
2:30pm – Fabulous Finish