Welcome to Class 1

Dear Parents and Pupils,

The summer term is already upon us, and the Easter break is fast becoming a distant memory! We do have a fun-filled and action-packed summer term ahead of us!

We have the GNAA clothing collection on Monday 29th April 9am at school.

We have the Bank Holiday weekend to look forward to on Monday 6th May. Let’s keep our fingers crossed for some nicer weather for that weekend and for the Summer Fair on Sunday 19th May.

Just a reminder that Sports day is on the first Tuesday after half term (Tuesday 4th June at 2pm), and a date for later on in the term for your diaries, is the Class One Assembly for Parents and Families – Wednesday 12th June at 9.15am. More details to follow!

I am delighted to say that we have welcomed some lovely new children into the class. In Nursery we have Olivia, Sadie, Phoebe and Penny!

We have an exciting Learning Context to start the summer term – On Our Doorstep! This topic will allow to explore where we live, visit places of interest in our locality and celebrate all things Cumbrian! As there is a statue of Queen Victoria in Bitts Park, we are also learning about her and the Victorian era!

In Art – We will explore colours and colour mixing. We shall look at famous works of art depicting flowers and plants.
In Design and Technology – We will be tasting and evaluating a range vegetables and fruits. We shall sample different flavours of soup and design our own recipe and create recipe cards, and, if time allows, we shall make fruit kebabs!
In Computing - We will be looking at greetings cards and create an e-card using search engines and Word.
In Geography – We will be locating (and visiting) places of interest in Carlisle, create a ‘Come to Carlisle’ guide, and we shall map the school field and gardens.
In History – We will learn about Queen Victoria and the Victorian era and explore historical places of interest in Carlisle.
In Science – We will be investigating green plants. We shall grow plants, create a ‘bean diary’ label plants, learn about photosynthesis and the transportation of water. We shall conduct an experiment to find out what conditions a plant needs to grow well.
In PSHE - In Relationships - We will find out about the NSPCC underwear rule, discuss the difference between being unkind, teasing or bullying, find out who can help us, learn how to listen carefully and how to pass on praise!
In Growing and Changing – We will think about things we can do now that we couldn’t when we were babies, think about how to look after a new baby, label external body parts and veins and find out how to keep privates private!
In PE – We will continue to have Fraser who delivers our weekly cricket lessons, Rowan who delivers multi-skills each Friday and Bethan who delivers tennis each Monday! We shall also be practising for Sports Day (June 4th) which everyone will be invited to!
In RE – We will learn about the Hindu creation story and how to look after the world we live in.

Routines

Many of the routines remain the same, the doors open at 8.40 am for an 8.55am register.

School finishes at 3.30pm.

Homework and Reading.

Reception children
All children are well into the routine of reading at home every night. I really cannot stress how important reading is particularly at this early stage of learning. Reading feeds into everything else your child does at school. Please remember you do not have to finish the reading book, 5 or 10 minutes of reading the book, talking about the characters and what has happened in the story is the perfect amount of time.
We will give out spellings on Friday and ask that the spelling book is returned to school on the following Friday.

Year 1 children
All Year 1 children have reading books to read at home each night, weekly homework and a set of phonic related spellings to learn and practise. We will give out homework on Monday and spellings on Friday and ask for both to be returned to school by Friday.

Communication.

Mrs Evans, Miss Simpson, Miss Hughes and I are always available for a chat at the start, or the end of any day and we would urge you to come in and see us at your earliest convenience should you have any concerns, or questions about what is happening at school.

Equally, should you need to speak to us on the telephone, or arrange an appointment to speak confidentially to us, please leave a message with Mrs Lawson and we will contact you as soon as we possibly can. You can email me at head@irthingtonvillage.cumbria.sch.uk

I check my emails daily and will of course respond accordingly.

If there is no one in the main office, please leave a voicemail and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

Many thanks for taking the time to read such a lengthy letter and I hope that you do find the information helpful. We are all really looking forward to the term ahead with your children and hope that they all enjoy the curriculum, the visits and other exciting opportunities that we have planned for them.

Yours sincerely,

Lynn Harrison. 

Headteacher