YearR-20202022

Dear Parents and carers,

At St Mark’s, we embrace changes that are going to have a positive impact on the children’s learning and education. As you may already be aware, the DFE have introduced a new EYFS framework, commencing September 2021.

What does this mean for your child?

Your child will follow the updated EYFS framework and will work towards the final assessment at the end of the Reception year, using the new ELGs (Early Learning Goals). These goals are short statements that teachers assess your child against at the end of the year. These statements will be shared with you all at the first parent’s evening. The 7 main areas of learning remain the same. These are:

• Communication & Language
• Physical Development
• Personal, Social and Emotional Development
• Literacy
• Mathematics
• Expressive Arts and Design
• Understanding The World

As part of the changes to the new framework, it also means that there is less emphasis on recording paperwork, meaning we, as adults, can spend more time with your child getting to know them and having those quality interactions. The new framework is also more aligned with the KS1 curriculum, further ensuring your child’s educational journey from reception to KS1 is building upon previous knowledge.

Reception Baseline

In addition to the informal, play based activities we have always done at St Mark’s in order to get to know your child and find out their starting points, a new statutory Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA) will also be completed with your child during their first six weeks of school.

The RBA is a short, interactive and practical assessment of your child’s early literacy, communication, language and mathematics skills when they begin in school. It will be undertaken 1:1 with your child by one of their familiar Year R adults and will provide a snapshot of where your child is when they start in Reception. The data gathered from these assessments will only be accessed by the DFE.

Once your child has reached Year 6 and completed their SATS the DFE can then measure your child’s progress from Reception to Year 6. This informs them of how well we as a school have supported your child’s cohort throughout their time with us.

If you wish to read further on the reception baseline, then you can find a parent booklet here;

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1004560/2021_Information_for_parents_reception_baseline_assessment.pdf

You can find out more about the data which will be collected about your child here RBA pupil data privacy notice

Many thanks for your continued support,

Mrs Baird, Mrs Hearn and Mrs Rushton

Welcome to St Mark’s!

It was so wonderful to be able to visit each of your children at home last week and start getting to know them, and you, in person. Thank you for extending such a warm welcome to us during these visits. The value of these visits was demonstrated on the children’s first ‘stay and play’ visits when many of your children initiated conversations with us with “you were at my house!” They really have helped the children to feel safe and secure during their first week, and we hope that you found them useful in getting to know us too.

Your children have been wonderfully resilient as they’ve come in for their ‘stay and play’ sessions and their part time sessions this week. They have enjoyed getting to know each other and us, and exploring their new environment. We have been so impressed with how well they have settled already, and how quickly they are picking up the new routines of school.

Please find below our curriculum newsletter for this half term. We will send one of these every half term to keep you up to date with what your child will be learning. Our topic this half term is ‘It’s good to be me!”

Year R newsletter Autumn 1 2021

Please could you watch the videos below. We hope that you will find them useful in explaining how we teach Reading, Writing and Maths at St Marks. 

English in Year R at St Mark’s (10 minutes)

Maths in Year R at St Mark’s (6 minutes)

If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to speak to us. 

Mrs Baird, Mrs Hearn and Mrs Rushton

What a wonderful time we all had learning about ‘People Who Help Us’ last half term! The children were so engaged in this topic and motivated to learn more about each job role; the uniforms these people wear, the equipment they use and the vehicles they drive. Discovery Time was a busy hive of activity every day which was fantastic to see! 

Thank you for helping your children with their reading challenge last half term. The children are enjoying it so much that we are continuing it this half term and new cards will come home on Tuesday 8th June.

We hope you have enjoyed the sunshine during the Half Term break and we look forward to welcoming the children back and starting our next topic ‘Stomp, nibble, crawl, exploring animals great and small’ after Half Term. 

Click here to read our latest Year R Newsletter. 

Thank you, The Year R Team.

Year R have had a great week back after the Easter holiday! The weather has been glorious and it’s been so wonderful to see so many children taking advantage of this to spend lots of time outside in Discovery Time. They have also shown so much curiosity and enthusiasm for our RE topic this week as we’ve learned about the Jewish faith and ‘Shabbat.’ 

Next week we will be starting our ‘People Who Help Us’ topic which will take us through to Half Term. We are really looking forward to sharing this topic with your children and hope they enjoy it!

Please find below our Newsletter for this half term which includes an overview of what we will be covering, plus some key messages. 

Year R newsletter Summer 1 2021

During the week beginning Monday 16^th November, we will be celebrating Anti-Bullying Week at St Mark’s! The theme this year is ‘United Against Bullying’. To kick the week off, we will be starting with an Odd Socks Day on Monday 16^th November!

WHAT IS ODD SOCKS DAY?

Odd Socks Day is a key part of Anti-Bullying Week! To celebrate that we are all unique, we ask that children wear odd socks to school on Monday 16th November. Last year over 13,000 schools took part in Odd Socks Day and this year, we are joining them!

Andy Day (Cbeebies/CBBC) and his band Andy and the Odd Socks are supporting the Anti-Bullying Alliance to help bring Odd Socks Day to life again this year. Have a listen to the brilliant song they have recorded especially for Anti-Bullying Week – The Kids Are United!

WHY IS ODD SOCKS DAY IMPORTANT?

The day sends an important message to pupils that they should be allowed to be themselves, free from bullying and helps us celebrate Anti-Bullying Week in a fun and positive way. We will be reading a great fiction book under the Odd Socks theme this year and also completing other fun activities during the day, which will help us celebrate both our differences and our unity within our St Mark’s community.

WHAT DO WE NEED FROM YOU?

Just make sure your child wears odd socks to school TOMORROW!