Welcome to Autumn Term!

Dear Parents,   

We hope you and your families had a lovely summer and are ready for Autumn term. We are excited to start our new topic ‘Our Wonderful World!’. Throughout this unit, the children will embark on a journey of discovery, exploring the wonderful world around them, starting with themselves, their families, and their immediate environment. We will begin by helping the children discover what makes them unique, explore We will be thinking about how we grow and change. We will be talking about our bodies, naming the different parts and finding out how we can keep them healthy. We will also investigate what our bodies can do, including our senses and the ways in which we use them.

Reading will be on a Monday and Tuesday. Children will receive reading book (initially this may be a picture book to encourage storytelling) and they will choose a storybook for you to share at home. Children will also receive a reading record, we encourage you to write a comment in the record after you have shared school storybooks with your child, all comments are very useful! Please ensure children bring in their book bags every Monday, they will then be returned to you on a Tuesday.  

We have hall time on a Monday afternoon and Friday morning. This will be used for a range of physical activities including gym, dance, yoga, parachute games, Busy feet and Sticky kids. Reception children will now change into their PE kits for their sessions; please ensure all items as well as gym bags are clearly named. It is also helpful if children are wearing appropriate clothing that is easy for them to change into/out of. Gym bags will be kept in school and sent home every half term.   

Please send in water and a healthy snack (fruit/vegetables) for the children each day. Please ensure that your child can open and close the lid of their water bottle independently as they will be allowed to access their bottle by themselves throughout the day as well as during snack time. Please continue to halve grapes/tomatoes lengthways to avoid them being a choking hazard.   

Cooking sessions will take place when linked to our activities, we kindly ask for a £3 contribution towards the cost of ingredients for this term. This is greatly appreciated and helps ensure that we can provide a wider range of learning experiences for the children.  

At Pen y fro, we are very lucky to have such extensive outdoor areas, which give our children the space and freedom to play and explore. There will be a choice of outdoor activities so please ensure that your child brings a named coat to school each day.  We would really appreciate it if you could leave wellies in school throughout the school week.   

Forest school will be held on a Thursday  (beginning Thursday 17th September). Please ensure that your child comes to school dressed appropriately for this (usually this means wellies and waterproofs) as then we can get outside straight after registration which allows the children to have more time outdoors. As the weather can be extremely changeable, please assume that we are going out whatever the weather is like first thing as it often improves through the morning. It would be advisable to send gloves, hat and scarf as it gets colder.   

Finally, just a reminder for children to keep their own toys at home as it can lead to upset if toys are lost, broken or if other children want to play with them.   

Thank you in advance for all your support and cooperation. If you have any questions or concerns please contact us.   

Many thanks,  

Miss Shaw (Class Teacher) and Mrs Edwards and Miss Evans (Teaching Assistant)