A new term!

This term our topics are:

‘What Can I See in the Jungle?’ & ‘Why Can’t We Have Chocolate for Breakfast?’

We will continue to cover all areas of the EYFS Curriculum during these topics, paying particular attention to the prime areas: Personal, Social and Emotional Development, Physical Development and Communication and Language.

We will be making rain catchers, measuring rainfall and exploring our own woodland jungle during Forest School. There will also be lots of craft activities including large group collages and making bird feeders to sell at our Beehive Market to raise funds for some exciting changes to our garden – more details to come! We will learn about the importance of jungles and rainforests and how we need to look after them, and learning about the different animals that live there.

The second half-term topic will be ‘Why can’t we eat Chocolate for Breakfast?’. We will be learning how to keep ourselves healthy and also learning some new cooking skills. We finish the term learning about the Easter story and preparing for the Easter service.

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 James Davis know if you have any questions.

Please encourage your child to find objects for our sound of the week each week. The children really do enjoy standing up and telling us what they have found during our circle time. Each week, the letter for the following week will be displayed on our board. We will be continuing our RWI sounds, focusing on using pencils for the letter writing, instead of the white board pens we have been using to date.

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 in any doubt, please contact Matron to discuss your concerns.

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 Spring 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 can also be found in Mr Murray’s Start of Spring Term Letter here.

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 Spring Term Friends of Pennthorpe meeting is scheduled for Tuesday 14 January at 8:30am. Everyone is welcome to attend to help develop upcoming FoP plans.
• Bags of Support Collections on Thursday 30 January and Friday 28 March.
• Pop Up Treat Shop on Friday 14 February from 3:00pm
• Friends of Pennthorpe Second Hand Uniform Shop & Blueblood Sports Pop Up Shop on Tuesday 11 March.
• ‘A Night in Bloom’ Ball on Saturday 22 March 2025. For further information and to book your tickets click here.
• The Friends of Pennthorpe Mother’s Day Shop will open its doors on Tuesday 25 March.

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

With the continuing cold weather, please can you ensure your child has a named Pennthorpe hat, scarf and gloves in school each day.

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 Tuesdays. 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 Tuesdays 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.

Please do not park in the drop-off lanes at the front of school if you are coming past the gates to drop your child into school, or collect them from outside of the Beehive. These lanes are intended for dropping-off 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).