WELSH HOUSE FARM COMMUNITY SCHOOL AND RESOURCE BASE

Phonics/Reading Opportunities

In RB, children will broaden their knowledge of graphemes and phonemes for use in reading and spelling. They will learn new graphemes and alternative pronunciations for these and graphemes they already know. 

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Reading with your child    

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This book has been carefully matched to your child’s current reading level. If your child is reading it with little help, please don’t worry that it’s too easy – your child needs to develop fluency and confidence in reading.

Listen to them read the book. Remember to give them lots of praise – celebrate their success! If they can’t read a word, ask them to decode (sound it out) and blend it. After they have finished, talk about the book together.

Your child will also be sent home with a reading diary. Please do complete this every time you read, and let us know how your child is getting on at home. If you have any questions or comments you wish to make, please write them in the diaries and we will respond.

Please remember to take care of the reading books. Any water bottles or snacks being sent into school need to be stored in an alternative bag. 

Reading for pleasure 

In order to encourage your child to become a lifelong reader, it is important that they learn to read for pleasure. The sharing book is a book they have chosen for you to enjoy together.
Please remember that you shouldn’t expect your child to read this alone. Read it to or with them. Discuss the pictures, enjoy the story, predict what might happen next, use different voices for the characters, explore the facts in a non-fiction book. In addition, after reading the book you can pick out some words and help them to expand their vocabulary by discussing alternatives for these words. The main thing is that you have fun!

Writing Opportunities

In RB, children learn to write by:

• Saying what they are going to write about out loud.

• Composing a sentence orally before writing it.

• Sequencing sentences to form short narratives.

• Re-reading what they have written to check that it makes sense.

• Using the Clicker programme on laptops and Ipads. 

• Using the Speak to Type tool on Word.

Throughout the year, children are given many opportunities to write for different purposes. Children will write both fiction and non-fiction pieces such as re-telling a story, instructions, acrostic poems, diary entry, describing a character/setting. This gives children the opportunity to demonstrate skills such as handwriting, vocabulary, punctuation and grammar which are taught throughout the week. 

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Mathematics 

In RB we adapt the White Rose scheme, and focus on helping children acquire a deep and long -term understanding of maths that they can use in different real -life situations. A variety of physical resources such as Numicon, Unifix cubes and counters are used to support the teaching of maths. 

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Homework

Homework is sent home on a Friday. Please can this be completed and brought back to school by Wednesday. If this timeframe does not suit your family arrangements, please do let me know and we can adapt accordingly.  As part of their homework, we will be sending home weekly spelling lists. Please help your child to learn the spellings throughout the week. Please do note that from September 2026, work not completed at home will need to be completed in class, during a free play session. 

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Inspire Workshops

We will conduct a variety of parent inspire workshops throughout the year. Our workshops take on themes related to the children’s EHCP targets. The workshops give you the opportunity to come into school and work alongside your child, giving you the chance to see how lessons are taught and what the expectations are. 

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Attendance/Punctuality

It is very important that your child attends school every day. However, if your child is sick then please phone the school and inform them. Picking your child up from school and dropping them on time is extremely important. It supports your child settling into the classroom and ensures that they do not miss out on any learning. 

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Communication

Please ensure that you download the ARBOR app onto your phone. If you have queries or concerns we are always here to support your family. Please do not hesitate to inform us either in person, email or phone call. Please download this app onto your phones. 

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Parent information

Your child is welcome to bring in a healthy snack from home. We also recommend that you send in a water bottle every day. As we frequently engage in creative activities, we do recommend that you send a spare set of clothes.