A new term!

This term our topic is:

Once Upon a Year 1 Story…

This exciting topic is one which the children will thoroughly enjoy, as we will be exploring castles across the UK, fairy tales, dragon stories, Knight training and the medieval era. Our English lessons will be based around texts such as The Kiss that Missed, Zog, various fairy tales and packed with lots of story writing and poetry.

You can see more detail in our topic tree here.

We are so pleased with the progress the children have made in reading so far this year. Please do keep up daily reading as part of an ongoing routine, as this does wonders to build your child’s confidence, fluency, and expression.

We will continue with our spelling quiz and setting new spellings on Thursdays. Please encourage your child to practice spellings daily to enable them to spell the words correctly, not only in the spelling quiz but in their independent writing.

Our Year 1 children will be visiting Hever Castle, a real life fairy-tale castle, on Monday 19 May.

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!

More information will follow nearer to the 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.

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.

This term we will continue with the Pre-Prep’s bespoke Wellbeing Scheme, which will focus on self-belief and achieving a ‘good goodbye’ as they move on from Year 1 at the end of the year. Our PSHE work will lead to discussions on belonging to groups, emotions and how to deal with feelings.

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.

Your child may well have already shared with you that we have been doing some transition activities, to prepare them for the move in to Year 2. It is really beneficial for the children to get to know the Year 2 staff team better, and therefore, we will be doing more and more of this over the coming weeks, to make the transition, when it comes, as smooth as possible.

Tuesday 1 July will be our Moving Up Day, where all the children will spend the day in the Year 2 class rooms. That evening we will also be hosting a ‘Meet the Teacher’ evening, where parents are invited to come in to school to find out more about day-to-day life in Year 2, and get to know the Year 2 team.

More information, along with Year 2 class lists, will follow towards the middle of the term.

As well as your pocket-sized diary, parents can also view the Summer 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 include:

• Friday 2 May is Year 1’s ‘A Day Fit for Royalty’ Dress Up Day.
• All parents are invited to a Supporting Reading at Home Tea & Talk on Tuesday 6 May
• EYFS & Year 1 Class Teacher Parents’ Evening is on Thursday 8 May with appointments starting at 4:00pm
• Our Whole School Come & See What We Do Afternoon is on Monday 12 May from 2:00pm
• Pre-Prep Celebration Huddles (by invitation) on Friday 16 May and Friday 27 June at 10:10am
• On Monday 19 May the Year 1 children will visit Hever Castle
• Thursday 22 May is Whole School Pyjamarama Day 
• Sports Day followed by our Pennthorpe Family Summer Social will be taking place on Friday 23 May
• Tuesday 10 June is Year 1 & 2 ‘Let’s Go to The Beach’ Day
• Music for a Summer’s Evening on Tuesday 17 June
• Tuesday 1 July is our ‘Meet the Teacher’ evening, an opportunity to meet key staff for the next academic year
• Prizegiving for pupils in Years 1 – 8 will take place on Saturday 5 July from 10:00am-midday
• There will be a Pre Prep Summer Send Off on Thursday 10 July
• Friday 11 July is the end of term with school finishing for Year 1 at 11:50am

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 Summer Term Friends of Pennthorpe meeting is scheduled for Tuesday 29 April at 8:30am. Everyone is welcome to attend to help develop upcoming FoP plans
• Bags of Support collections on Friday 2 May and Friday 4 July
• After school Pop Up Treat Shop on Friday 9 May
• The Friends of Pennthorpe Father’s Day Shop will open its doors on Wednesday 11 June
• The Friends of Pennthorpe AGM will be held on Tuesday 24 June
• After school Ice Lolly Sale on Friday 27 June
• Friends of Pennthorpe Second Hand Uniform Shop on Tuesday 1 July

As it is the Summer Term, all children should now be in summer uniform. 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.

Please make sure your child has a sun hat and sun cream in school during the Summer Term, as the weather gets warmer. Please also apply sun cream before the children come to school 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.

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. Swimming attire must be navy or black and 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.

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.