Welcome to our Downview Primary School!

We hope you have had an incredible Summer and are ready for the start of your exciting learning journey with us! This first half term we are very excited about getting to know you all and starting our adventures together. 

At Downview we use an online learning journal called 'Tapestry' to document our activities and learning in school. This enables us to share the children's experiences, as well as any 'wow' moments across the year.  Once you have your log in details, you will be able to view and share any exciting events from home with your teachers.

Homework

Once the children have their reading diaries, we will be asking you to read 5 times a week for approximately 5-10 minutes. This could be practising reading your sounds or reading from one of our scheme books. Please record each read in your diary so you can start working your way to your 100 reads book prize!

We may set 'mini' challenges across the year to support our learning in school, and we welcome any pictures or photos sharing special events or news from home.

Phonics

At Downview we use the Song of Sounds phonics programme to teach the children to read and write. Song of Sounds is a systematic, synthetic phonics programme which runs from EYFS to Year 2.  The programme introduces children to the sounds that they can hear in words (phonemes) and their written equivalent (graphemes). Children then learn how to blend the sounds together to read words and segment words in order to spell them.

You will find information about which sounds we are teaching in our Topic Web and Curriculum Overviews. We will be running a Phonics Workshop later on in the Autumn Term, but if you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.

PE and Woodland Days

As part of our learning, we will have weekly PE lessons and sessions in our Woodland classroom.

The children should wear their PE kit into school on their class PE day. During the colder months, children may wear tracksuit bottoms or sweatshirts as outlined in our example uniform posters below.

We ask for wet weather gear to be provided for our sessions in the Woodland classroom. This can include items such as waterproof trousers, jackets or rain suits, and wellington boots. Your child's wet weather clothing can stay in school, but will be returned to be 'refreshed' at points throughout the year.

Food and Drink - Snacks

We offer a free healthy snack daily. Please note, the snack includes produce from a wide range of fruits and vegetables including carrots, apples, strawberries, pears, bananas, oranges and raisins. You may put a healthy alternative in your book bag, however we ask that any substitute is nut free, fruit or vegetable based where possible and does not refrigerating.

Milk

Fresh milk is supplied through Cool Milk daily. Please sign your child up for this service if you would like it using the link below. If your child requires a milk substitute, such as soya or oat milk, we are happy for you to provide us with a carton which we will share at snack times as appropriate. At present, this is not a service that Cool Milk provide.

Water Bottles

Please ensure your child has a named water bottle with them every day. The children have access to their water bottles throughout the day, and we have drinking water in our classrooms which we can use to refill the bottles as needed. Please ensure no juice, milk or fizzy drinks are brought into school.  

Hot Dinners

In England, all children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 in state-funded school receive a universal free school meal. You must register and select the meals for your child at least 2 weeks in advance from Chartwells (see link below to Parent Pay). If you choose not to have the free school meal, you must provide your child with a packed lunch. If your child has any allergies, please notify Chartwells directly and they can provide appropriate menu choices for your child.

Please also notify your class teacher if your child has any allergies.