Squirrels
Welcome to Squirrel Class!
We are very excited to get to know you and your children, below you will find information which will guide you through your child’s first term at Leigh Primary School.
The school day
School starts at 8.45am, and pupils in Squirrel Class are to be dropped off in the yellow coned area on The Green. Here Mrs Prockter, Mrs Cheshire or Mrs Marsh will be in the coned area ready to greet your little Squirrels as they arrive and to lead them into the classroom. If you arrive after we have left the coned area, please bring your child to the front office, so that we can ensure they are registered correctly.
At the end of the school day you will need to collect your child from the yellow coned area on The Green, please rest assured that we will keep your child with us until we can see their adult has arrived to collect them. Collection time for the Squirrels is 3pm.
Staff
Mrs Cheshire and Mrs Prockter are the teachers of Squirrel Class and Mrs Marsh is Squirrel Class Teaching Assistant. Mrs Prockter works on a Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and Mrs Cheshire works on Thursdays and Fridays.
Forest school and outdoor learning
At Leigh Primary we are a Forest School, once settled in, Squirrels will be participating in Forest School sessions. All outdoor clothing will need to be supplied by yourselves for Forest School and outdoor learning sessions. Please could you ensure that your child has a pair of waterproof trousers, a water proof jacket (or a waterproof all in one) and a pair of wellies that can be kept in school at all times (please name them clearly). We very much want to give your children the opportunity for as much outdoor learning that we can outside of the forest school slots. Therefore they will need this outdoor equipment in school at all times to enable us to do so.
Learning
In Squirrel Class we follow the Early Years Foundation Stage, which encourages children to develop independence, early writing and numeracy skills, phonic awareness, social skills and physical skills. Lots of work in Reception is child initiated and play centred, and there is a free flow between outdoor and indoor activity. Some work, as pupils move through Foundation Stage, becomes more structured and teacher led.
Topic
Each term we focus our learning around a topic, our topic for this term is ‘Festivals’. The children will be learning about a number of different festivals including, Divali, Christmas and Hanakkah, we will also have a focus on Bonfire night and Rememberance Day.
Reading
We encourage you to “read” at home with your squirrels. This will take the form of talking about and sharing books to begin with. Al children have now been given a reading book and reading record from our reading scheme. Sometimes these books may seem easy – sometimes they may be challenging! We try to ensure pupils have a good range of reading experiences which challenge sufficiently but also allow them to enjoy the stories for their own sakes. Please try and read with your child every night and make a note in their reading record of how they got on.
P.E
Squirrels will take part in P.E sessions once they join us full time. You will need to ensure your child has their P.E kit in school at all times from week 4. We fully intend on having 2 P.E sessions per week, one will be on a Tuesday led by our P.E specialist and the other will be a gymnastics session taking place on a Monday or Wednesday.
Tapestry
In Squirrel Class we believe learning take place all of the time, not just in the classroom and take into account your child’s home learning as well the learning which takes place at school when assessing their progress within the Foundation Stage. We will be encouraging you to get involved with your child’s learning journey by sharing pictures, notes, stories etc. about times outside school through an online Learning Journal called Tapestry. Tapestry allows you to share pictures, videos and notes about your child’s learning at home; it also allows you to view any photos, videos or comments we have added to your child’s Learning Journal at school. You will receive a letter at the end of week two with more details about Tapestry and how you can get involved.
Click here for our curriculum leaflet Autumn two
In Squirrel Class we operate an open door policy. If you have a question or query, no matter how big or small, please feel free to come a speak with us in the yellow coned area (complying with social distancing) before or after school. If you would like to speak to us about anything confidentially please make an appointment through the school office where we will be able to talk with more privacy.
Mrs Prockter and Mrs Cheshire
