Welcome to the first blog!

We would just like to say a huge well done to all the children who have done a brilliant job settling in at Garrick Green and to the Year 1s in our classes who have come back to school with a really positive attitude. They all seem happy to be here which is fantastic - long may it continue! 

We are particularly impressed that the children are all coming round to the classrooms without the adults needing to follow them. This is an amazing step!

Thank you to all the adults too who have followed all the strict rules on timings, where to be at what time and for emailing us when you need to say something. You should have all received an email from Mrs Herron or Miss Banner on Friday - if you did not receive an email please can you let us know as we may need to update our contact details for you.

This week we will be assessing the children. This sounds very formal but it's all done through playful activities and the children really enjoy showing us what they can do. This is so we can see at what point they are at with their learning and allows us to plan for future teaching. Assessing Reception tends to carry on for quite a while as they are still adjusting to their new setting and becoming familiar with the adults. Whilst we are working with certain children at a time, the others will be doing free flow play between the inside and outside areas and the children are free to follow their own interests and build up relationships with the other children around them. 

The Year 1s will also be assessed to see where they are and they will do small writing, reading and maths tasks to ease them back into the school environment and so we can see what level they are too. They have also started their PE lessons which they enjoyed!

The children are mostly enjoying being outside at the moment and we have been very lucky with the weather. We will see how many children still want to be out in the rain in their waterproofs! 

We have started dough disco and squiggle. This is movements to music to encourage their motor skill development which will help with their writing. The children have thoroughly enjoyed this and can probably tell you about it! 

We are doing a bit of calm time in the afternoons which is like mindfulness for children. The day can seem very long to some of them and it just helps them to process everything. They also get very tired as they are busy all day so it's just a few moments to stop and breathe!

Please email your child's teacher if you would like to ask anything - we would prefer you to ask than sit at home worrying.

Have a good week!