Laurance Haines School Enjoy, Care, Aim High and Succeed Together

Welcome to Year 3 Mr Tipton Mr Stephenson Miss Lane. Teaching Assistants Mrs Shehzad Miss Cheung Mrs Ciucan PPA – Mrs Gomez, Mrs Green, Mrs Morgan - Wednesday

New curriculum The Government has introduced a new National Curriculum which took effect from September 2014. At Laurance Haines School we have used INSET days and staff meetings to review our previous curriculum and adapt it in light of the National Curriculum changes. To date we have successfully: •agreed aims for our curriculum •developed 2014-2015 curriculum maps for Years 1 to 6 •resourced and developed progressive medium term coverage planning for new topics •revised our weekly planning formats for all subjects

New curriculum The different National Curriculum subjects are taught through a chosen theme Children are set learning challenges in the form of open, exciting, questions – for example, how would you survive in the rainforest? We are aware of the danger of 'tenuous' links and ensure that English and maths - whilst sometimes present in themed work - are also taught daily as separate subjects Similarly, other subjects such as P.E. and computing are taught separately as well as within themes

Year overview

½ Termly topic overview

Core learning

Timetable

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 recent questionnaire that was sent home is very important to us 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. 8.50am - 3.20pm If your child is late for any reason and arrives after 8.50, the classroom door will be closed and you must take them to the school office to be registered.

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

Uniform Our school uniform provider is Mapac. See school website for details or call 01923 255 525. School uniform and jewellery PE kits should be house colours and black shorts.

House system EBURY COLNE GADE CHESS

Link books The link book is designed to improve communication between home and school. It is used to record the class timetable, weekly homework and reading books. It should also include useful reminders, such as PE kit prompts or planned visits. Parents are encouraged to use this book to comment upon their child’s homework, reading or anything else you would like the class teacher to know. A member of the class team will check this book every day, so they will be aware of any comments made or reading books that need changing.

Lunchtime School meals for all Reception and KS1 children are free! KS2 meals are £2.00. You do not need to register for free meals. 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 follow the school guidelines sent home with your annual consent forms.

Access to class Our 3 classes have 3 different entry points Only Nursery children can enter the Nursery garden. Your children are very welcome to use the school grounds after school to play but please ensure that you supervise them. Unfortunately our car park does not accommodate parental parking or dropping off. If you have a medical condition or disability, please contact Mrs Dodd.

Reward & sanctions Rewards – house points, certificates, excellent book, class dojo Behaviour ladder – whole class Class rules – owned by the children.

Educational visits Parental consent form Butterfly World – rainforest animals British Museum – Egyptians Chiltern Open Air Museum – Iron Age.

Parentview Parent View gives you the chance to register what you think about the school. This information is used by the LHS leadership team to inform strategic decisions as well as by Ofsted when they inspect the school. 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.

Questions