Ingleby Mill Primary School October 2013 Newsletter

Autumn has arrived and with it the crisp mornings and sunny days long may the good weather continue because it means that children have many opportunities to be outside in the fresh air for both break times and for learning.

attend on either of the given evenings, teachers are willing to meet with you by appointment at a mutually convenient time. School Council Each Key Stage 2 class has now voted in its representatives for the School Council. These are influential and important roles because the children themselves decide what school can do to improve. Their work is in evidence around the school: litter bins (KS1 Bright Ideas Group), Soap Dispensers, Fundraising Activities, sitting in on interviews for staff, extension to the Adventure Trail, supporting with community events such as Parent Teacher consultations and the annual Remembrance Service The focus of our work this term is: looking at how we will plan our school curriculum in light of the changes to the national curriculum; ensuring that children understand and follow the schools rules and routines; ensuring that children know what they need to do to improve their learning in reading, writing and maths; continue to ensure that all teaching is good or better in every single lesson (it is already good we want to make it outstanding!); ensure that all children make good progress in their learning; School Financial Audit The schools financial policies, procedures and governance were externally audited in September against the new School Financial Value Standards and Im delighted to report that they were awarded Full Assurance. The auditor commented: The Headteacher and School Administrators operate with integrity and transparency. Effective leadership and governance arrangements are in place. Dates for your diary: Thursday 17th October Proposed industrial action by NASUWT and NUT (more information to follow) Thursday 24th October Children break up for the Half Term Holiday (25th Oct is PD Day for Staff) Monday 4th November Children return to school

Harvest Celebrations Thank you so much for the donations you made for our Harvest festival. The tins and dried goods have been donated to local charities. The Harvest assemblies were celebrated with Father Clay of St Francis of Assisi church: he was very impressed by the childrens singing. We are celebrating our own bumper harvest of the fruit and vegetables the children have grown with a Come and Share Soup lunch for those who regularly volunteer in school. Some of the children will make soup and bread and share it with the people who help them.

Sporting Events
Children from Y6 took part in a Tag Rugby tournament at the end of September against other primary schools from Yarm, Kirklevington and Ingleby Barwick. The children were excellent ambassadors for the school and demonstrated very sporting attitudes too. Well done to everyone concerned! Parent Teacher consultation evenings will be held on 16th and 23rd October from 3.30 5.30. This is an opportunity for you to meet with your childs teacher to discuss how he/she is settling in, what their learning targets are and how you can support learning at home. It is also the time to share concerns/celebrations. If you are unable to

Advice in Supporting Learning at Home. A number of parents have asked how they can help their child with learning at home. We recognise how important your childs success at school is to you and we share your high aspirations for the children of our school and community.

why authors use particular words and phrases and what characters feel about an incident or each other! Try to put time aside to read every day even ten minutes makes a difference. Encourage your child to join the library and to enjoy a range of reading experiences; read books about topics that interest your child (dinosaurs, dragons, castles, animals, football, swimming, art, music).

One great thing all parents/carers can do to help is to read with their child every day. Research shows that it's the single most important thing you can do to help your child's education. Parents sometimes think that once a child can read fluently, they no longer need to be heard read: the opposite is true! The more years a child shares books with an adult, the greater their enjoyment of reading and the stronger their success in learning. In early years and KS1, children begin to read using picture books, telling stories about what they see. They learn to distinguish different sounds then begin to learn to read words using phonics (the sounds letters make individually and when blended together). They learn about real and alien words and need to be able to distinguish between the two e.g. on, up, in, ip. They also learn tricky words which do not always follow a phonic pattern and need to be recognised on sight. Children are taught to blend sounds together to make new words and this also aids their own writing as they can apply their knowledge of sounds to attempt to read, write and spell new or unfamiliar words. Children are taught to read for meaning and as they progress through school, they are expected to be able to answer questions which increase in complexity and difficulty about what they have read. Some of our older children read very complex books and enjoy the challenge of explaining

You can also help your child with maths at home. Learning number bonds (making 5, 10, 20, 100) e.g. Number bonds to 10: 10+0, 9+1, 8+2, 7+3, 6+4, 5+5, 4+6, 3+7, 2+8, 1+9, 0+10; learning multiplication and division facts by heart; practising adding and subtracting 1/10/ 100. These are all key skills in maths and they form the bedrock of learning in numeracy. In the new national curriculum, children are expected to know their multiplication tables by heart to 12x12 by the end of Y4 and this needs constant reinforcement and practice in school and at home. Again, teachers can offer advice on how to make this fun using playing cards, rhymes and competition and there are lots of games on Mathletics. Practical activities such as shopping, baking and cooking support childrens learning in maths because they need to calculate, weigh, measure, estimate.. Children benefit most when home and school work together and helping your child with his/her homework is a good start. Learning at home should be fun. Please do not get into arguments with children over homework. If they (or you) are struggling, simply speak to the childs teacher and we will do what we can to support your child. For more advice see www.bbc.co.uk/parents/primary_support