The Journey Begins!
The start of the year has been an exciting adventure for your children. They have all done incredibly well in their first week and many of them have settled into life at St Patrick’s surprisingly easily. Please do not worry if your child is still tearful at the gate in the morning. This is a very normal experience for some of the children at this stage of the year. We would like to reassure you that the tears often stop within seconds of you saying goodbye, with all children settled very quickly in the morning. We understand that it is difficult to see your child upset but a quick goodbye often works best. Nearly all of the children have settled very quickly and are ready to start with our programme of learning.
The Next Step…
From Monday, most of the children will be starting a full school day from 8:50 a.m. to 3:10 p.m. If you arrive after 9:00 a.m. please take your child to the School Office and a member of the office team will sign your child in to school and bring them to the Foundation building.
We will ask you to say goodbye to your child as you bring them through the Fort Road gate because we will now be unable to let you have access into the Year F learning areas. This is to promote your child’s independence and to ensure that we can quickly settle the children with their early morning activities. Please bring them through the Fort Road gate, say goodbye and then they will walk along the path by themselves and into the Year F canopy. This is an important step, although most children are already doing it, which is wonderful! We recommend that you do not stop and wait for them to go around the corner, as this often makes the children hesitate and unsettled.
Baseline
Over the next few weeks, we will be completing a statutory assessment with each child, which provides us with an opportunity to assess your child in each of the 17 aspects of learning in the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum. This will provide us with useful information about each child’s starting points with their learning, as well as identifying next steps in their learning. We will be able to share your children’s successes with you at our first parent consultations later in the Autumn term, as well as our first ‘Fabulous Friday’ (details to follow in a few weeks!)
Bits & Bobs
Please ensure that your child has their own named water bottle. We encourage all children to access their water bottles throughout the day, with access to the water trolley available all day. We have sinks available for the children to refill their water bottles. The children are not allowed to bring juice into school unless medical consent has been provided.
The children do not need to bring rucksacks or pencil cases into school. In the next couple of weeks, we will provide your child with a bookbag for letters and reading books. They should bring this into school every day. We offer fruit to each child every day, so the children do not need to bring snacks into school.
Finally…
Look out for your child coming home with one of our bears, Nick (Blue base) and Boris (Yellow base) in the next few weeks. Over the year, each child will be given an opportunity to take Nick or Boris home for the weekend (or even a school holiday!) The first children will be bringing the bears home this weekend…
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