Together Everyone Achieves More

Welcome to Reception

School Office School office is cashless. All payments must be made online. We use SchoolComms to text and email parents. If you have a smartphone, you can download the School Gateway app from your app store (Android and iPhone) All you need are your email address and mobile number that school holds on record for you. Once these details are registered you’ll be given a PIN number to complete your registration. If you have trouble logging in please contact the school office for help.

Lunchtime School meals for all Reception and KS1 children are free! KS2 meals are £2.10. Your child simply needs to request a meal at the morning register. Your child can have a school meal every day or on specific days of their choice. Packed lunches must be healthy and follow the school guidelines

Parentview Parent View gives you the chance to register what you think about the school. This information is used by the leadership team to inform strategic decisions as well as by Ofsted when they inspect the school. There’s a link on our website. Search ‘Parentview’ in Google or go to https://parentview.ofsted.gov.uk Follow the on-screen instructions to enter your email address and password . You’ll be sent an email with a link to activate your login. Log-in and answer 12 simple questions.

Curriculum Children in Reception follow the Foundation Stage Curriculum. This is made up of the three prime areas of learning; Communication & Language, Personal Social & Emotional Development and Physical Development. The skills developed within these three areas of learning are fundamental to learning in the four specific areas of learning; Literacy, Mathematics, Understanding the World & Expressive Arts & Design. Children are assessed at the end of the Reception year against ‘The Early Learning Goals’. Each area of the EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage) curriculum has an Early Learning Goal, which is the standard that a child is expected to achieve by the end of their reception year in order to meet the standards for their age.

Reading We follow the Read Write Inc phonics programme. Children learn a new sound each day and after each set of 5 sounds they practise blending the sounds together to read words. Every child learns differently and some children will develop this skill sooner than others. Once your child is able to blend they will bring home a reading book. Before this your child will bring home a story book which they can change as frequently as they want. Please read daily to your child as this is very important in their journey in learning to read.

Enriching the curriculum Our aim is that our children experience fun, interesting, exciting learning, focused around a variety of practical activities with tangible outcomes. A broad and balanced curriculum Creating a buzz and an excitement around learning

Encouraging children to take risks We do not shy away from risk and actively encourage our children to experience more risky activities, such as fire building and tree climbing, in an environment that can support them to do so as safely as possible.

Uniform Please ensure ALL of your child’s belongings are clearly labelled. This make it much easier to return any lost items. Wellington boots and waterproof trousers are a good investment for the colder winter months. We learn outside at all times in the year! PE tops come in four colours, representing the four school houses. If you are not sure what colour top your child needs please come and ask.

Preview home learning Learning in any subject can be significantly enhanced by pupils undertaking work out of lesson time. Pre teaching home learning - Research into pre teaching shows that previewing work can double the rate of pupil progress. The idea behind the weekly pre teaching homework is that through familiarisation, talking about and practicing things at home, will enable a child to have a far higher rate of success when they come to visit a subject or task in class. Preview home learning tasks are things that you can do together with your child to give them a higher chance of succeeding in the week ahead. Homework can be a difficult and controversial issue at school and at home. It can become unhelpful to the learning process, particularly, where it is viewed by pupils as a chore or even a form of punishment. Some parents prefer homework to consist of formal pages of maths and English. By visiting the ‘Learning Zone’ section of the school website www.lhaines.herts.sch.uk, you can find many of these sorts of tasks as well as numerous other enjoyable educational sites and games.

Behaviour for learning The more we know about your children, the more we can use that information to motivate and better engage them in class We are trying to instil self-motivation to want to learn in all our children We can do this best with your help. If your child has any success to celebrate outside school, let us know so we can celebrate them in school

School hours It is very important that your child arrives and is collected on time. 8.45am - 3.20pm If your child is late for any reason and arrives after 8.55, the classroom door will be closed and you must take them to the school office to be registered. They will receive a late sticker which will be stuck in their link book

Attendance and holidays As parents, please help us by: Ensuring your child arrives on time Ensuring your child is properly dressed in the correct uniform Encouraging good behaviour Notifying us if your child is ill Avoiding appointments in school time Not taking holidays in term-time

HALLIWELL ELTON JOSHUA SMITH House system All children and staff belong to a house House points are collected and celebrated weekly in assembly

Reward & sanctions Rewards Sanctions Verbal praise & encouragement Sharing their achievements with their peers Class bear Star of the week (later in the year) Headteacher stickers Sanctions Behaviour ladder Thinking time Sent to another teacher Reflection Parents informed

Questions ?