A new term!

This term our topic is:

‘How Many Colours in a Carnival?’

We will be learning all about different cultures and countries, and how they celebrate different events, as well as the changes of our features as we grow. During the term we will be visiting Drusillas Zoo and organising our very own Pennthorpe carnival for all parents and families to attend.

You can see more detail in our topic tree here.

The homework tasks, sent home each week in your child’s Learning Journal, will continue to help reinforce the learning that has taken place in the classroom, as well as keeping you informed about your child’s learning journey. These will come home every Friday, to be completed by the following Wednesday, unless otherwise specified. The children are still expected to read to an adult daily and we ask that you record this reading in children’s reading records. Every time your child reads twice, they move up a planet on our special Reading rocket wall. Once they reach the outer-most planet, Pluto, they will receive a prize of their choice. We use this as an incentive to get them to read as much as possible!

We are so pleased with the progress the children have made in reading so far this year and it is really important to keep up daily reading, as part of an ongoing routine. The following are suggestions for accessing reading material.

1. https://worldbook.kitaboo.com/reader/worldbook/index.html (Free)
2. https://www.readingchest.co.uk (This requires a subscription, however, your child can continue progressing at their reading level with a variety of books. Please contact us if you are unsure what colour/level your child is currently at. NB. this will be different to your child’s RWI colour band.)
3. https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/books/free-ebooks/ (Free)

The Year 1 children will be visiting Drusillas Park on Friday 24 January as part of our ‘How many colours in a carnival?’ topic this term. The trip will consolidate our learning about different carnivals and how animals are celebrated across the world.

We’re so excited to be able to offer the children some real-world experience of what they are learning in school. Trips are a brilliant way of making learning more tangible and memorable, as they enable the children to engage with the material in a more active and immersive way than can often be possible in the classroom. They are a powerful tool for broadening the children’s horizons, and also a lot of fun; we cannot wait to enjoy this day out!

Further information can be found in the letter here.

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.

Water bottles will stay in school for the week. These will be washed at the end of each day by your class teacher. During the weekends, water bottles can be taken home for a ‘deeper’ clean if needed. It is very important that the children drink water throughout the day, and using bottles in the classrooms helps to prevent spillages! If you do forget a bottle, just let us know and we can ensure that children have a cup to drink out of.

Children may be brought to the Year 1 classrooms via the rear classroom doors between 8:15am – 8:25am for registration, so please make sure your child is in school ready to start by this time. Children arriving earlier should be booked in for breakfast from 7:30am or join our Early Birds in the Pre-Prep Hall from 8:00am. When the children enter their classroom in the morning, we will ask them to take responsibility for putting their own belongings away. This will help us to create a calm start to the day and enable us to begin lessons quickly.

Collection at the end of the day is at 3.25pm. Please wait to meet your child outside the Year 1 classrooms at the rear of the Pre-Prep building, and make sure your child has ‘blobbed out’ with their teacher. If they are going to after school supervision, or a hobby, the children will be taken to that directly from the classroom.

If you’d like your child to join us for breakfast, or stay beyond 3:30pm for hobbies or after school supervision/supper club, 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 Year 1 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.

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

Please make sure your child’s uniform is labelled with their name, as it does make it a lot easier to reunite lost items with their owners.

On a Tuesday and Thursday, the children have their Games and PE lessons.  On these days, we ask that the children come to school wearing their Games Kit to reduce the amount of time spent changing. Normal uniform is not required at all on these days. Please note that in Year 1 kit is now in-line with the whole school sports kit – please see here for more information.

Swimming is on a Friday afternoon, and the children will be taken to Billingshurst Leisure Centre by minibus and return in time for school pick up time. A reminder that ALL children need a swimming hat as part of their kit, and boys should wear elastic ties unless they are able to tie their own. All children will swim unless there is a medical reason that has been discussed with your Class Teacher and Matron.

The children should 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 session on a Wednesday (you may want to pack an extra pair of socks on these days just in case!). If things get particularly muddy, these will be sent home to be washed, but please can they be returned to school as soon as possible.

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 the Pre-Prep. 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).

Our Wellbeing Ambassadors, who are children in Year 8, are available to support families at the busy drop off time by walking children from Reception to Year 2 down to the Pre-Prep. Please do use this option if you are in a rush and need to drop your child and leave.