A new term!

At the start of the new academic year, we warmly invite parents to join us on Monday 8 September, from 6:30 – 8:30pm, for our Parent Information Evening. This will be a brilliant opportunity to meet the team and find out a little bit more about the year ahead in the Beehive. Individual parent consultations will be taking place later in the term, on Tuesday 14th October.

This term our topic is

‘All About Me’ and ‘Why Do Leaves Go Crispy?’

The children will have the opportunity to settle into the Beehive by sharing information about themselves, their families and their friends.

We will be reading ‘Stick Man’ and ‘The Very Helpful Hedgehog’, experimenting with our senses and using skills that will develop our gross and fine motor skills. We will cover all areas of the EYFS curriculum during these topics, paying particular attention to the Prime Areas, which include: Personal, Social and Emotional Development, Physical Development and Communication and Language.

You can see more detail in our topic tree here.

Arc Pathway is our online system for sharing observations, making assessments of children’s progress and sharing reports. You can also use this to share key moments from home.

If you have not yet signed up to use Arc, please use the link here to do so. Please let Sophie know if you have any questions.

Beehive will be following the Read Write Inc phonics programme throughout the year, which is aligned with the rest of Pre-Prep and delivered during timetabled sessions every day. The children will follow the carefully constructed Nursery scheme, moving on to the Read Write Inc Phonics programme when ready. Parents are invited to a Read Write Inc Phonics Workshop on [date] to learn more about the scheme, and how you can support your child learning to read at home.

Each week we will have a ‘letter of the week’, and we encourage the children to bring in an item from home that begins with this letter on their designated ‘Show and Tell’ day. They will then have an opportunity to Show and Tell their item, which helps cement their learning, as well as develops their confidence to speak in front of the group. You will be made aware of the letters we are working on weekly via the Beehive noticeboard.

Tuesday 2nd December is the Honey Pot and Beehive trip to Christmas Little Street. This will be a fabulous adventure for all the children, and more information will follow nearer to the time.

For all absences, please complete the absence request form via the Parent Portal. Please see the guide here on how to request an absence for your child.

Please ensure your child is well enough to attend school each day. If they’ve required Calpol in the morning, they aren’t well enough for school, so please don’t send them in.

If your child will need any prescribed or over-the-counter medication administered during the school day, please complete the following form here. No medication can be administered without this form.

A reminder children may be brought to the Beehive between 8:15am – 9:00am for registration. Children arriving earlier should please be booked in for breakfast from 7:30am or join our Early Birds in the Beehive from 8:00am.

Parents have the flexibility to choose whether to collect their child before lunch, at 12:00pm, or to have them stay for lunch and be collected at 12:30pm. If you are collecting your child at midday before lunch, we ask that you collect your child from the Beehive in the Pre-Prep building.

The afternoon session begins at 12:00pm, children attending just afternoon sessions, and arriving at 12:00pm, will not be served lunch.

The afternoon session finishes at 3:00pm, please wait at the Beehive door and we will bring your child and their belongings to you.

From 3:00pm, Beehive children are invited to join classroom club, with quiet games, drawing and an opportunity to rest before going home or joining an extended day club or care.

• Classroom Club (free) in the Beehive 3:00-3:30pm
• Care until 4:00pm (charged) in the Beehive 3:30-4:00pm
• Care until 5:00pm (charged) in the Pre Prep Hall with Honey Pot & Reception 4:00-5:00pm
• Supper Club (charged) in the Library / Dining Room 5:00-6:00pm

Please note Honey Pot and Beehive children will now be provided with a hot supper at 5:00pm in the Dining Room in the main building.

If you’d like your child to join us for breakfast, or stay beyond 3:30pm, please contact extendedday@pennthorpe.com to arrange this.

As well as your pocket-sized diary, parents can also view the Autumn Term calendar via the website and Parent Portal.

Please do have a look through and pop important dates in your diary.  Of course, sometimes plans need to be updated, and so any changes will be updated on our electronic calendar and communicated to you as soon as possible.

The key events for our Beehive parents include:

• Please join us for a Parent Information Evening on Monday 8 September 6:30-8:30pm
• Open Morning is on Friday 26 September
• There will be a Pennthorpe Alumni Celebration on Saturday 27 September
• Whole School Harvest Festival will be held on Friday 3 October
• Pennthorpe’s Golf Day at Cowdray Park is on Saturday 4 October
• EYFS Class Teacher Parents’ Evening is scheduled for Tuesday 14 October
• Pennthorpe Fireworks Night on Wednesday 5 November
• Our Whole School Remembrance Service will be held on Tuesday 11 November
• Nursery visit to Christmas Little Street on Tuesday 2nd December
• Save the date for our annual Pre-Prep Christmas Production on Thursday 4 December
• The Pennthorpe Carol Service will be held on Tuesday 9 December
• Carols Around the Tree takes places on Thursday 11 December
• Friday 12 December is the end of term with school finishing for Beehive at 11:40am.

Our brilliant Friends of Pennthorpe, as always, will be doing lots to support our school and community this term. Key things for you to watch out for include:

• The FOP Christmas Fair on Friday 5 December

Beehive uniform remains much the same in the Autumn Term, a Pennthorpe sweatshirt, polo shirt, jogging bottoms or shorts. We ask that the children wear white socks and black shoes.

Whilst the sun is shining, please apply sun cream to your child at home, before the beginning of their session as we will be outside as much as possible. We cannot provide sun cream in school so it is essential that children bring this in themselves.

The children should also have their play coat, waterproof clothing and wellies in school at all times, as we will get outside in all weathers at break times, as well as for our Forest School sessions on Wednesdays. If things get particularly muddy, these will be sent home to be washed, but please can they be returned to school on the following Monday.

Please make sure that children have spare clothes in school, including pants and socks, as there will be lots of opportunities for the children to get messy! These can be kept in a drawstring bag on your child’s peg. Please name everything clearly!

On Mondays and Thursdays, the children have PE so please ensure they have named trainers in school. The Sports Department will support the children in changing their shoes as this is an important part of their development. Any support in encouraging your child to dress and undress independently would be very much appreciated!

Please ensure that all items of uniform are named including shoes, wellies and trainers.

Uniform is available to order online, for further information please click here.

To help ensure a smooth and safe start to the school day, we kindly remind all families that the drop-off lanes are strictly for ‘drop and go’ only.

Instead, please park up in the car park, or find a safe place to park on the neighbouring roads (being considerate of our neighbours, especially with regards parking near to junctions or driveways).