DEANSFIELD PRIMARY SCHOOL September 2009

Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome back after a summer that seemed to encompass most of the other seasons too. We may not be able to predict the Autumn weather for you, but here is our forecast for the coming school term.

Our main topic over the coming term is children’s experiences in World War Two. This will form a significant part of several curriculum areas:

·  in English, we will be looking at the life of Anne Frank, and interviewing friends and relatives who have memories of the war;

·  we will be creating PowerPoint presentations of the life of evacuees;

·  in art, Henry Moore’s shelter drawings provide inspiration for techniques in sketching and clay-work;

School visits and visitors will also play an important part in our ongoing research:

·  27th November to Tate Britain, where we will be looking at how sculpture has developed over the past eight decades;

·  December 8th to the Imperial War Museum and its vast range of fascinating facilities, including the Blitz Experience, Children’s War Exhibition and the WW2 Gallery

·  In school, we will be holding a World War Two day on 4th December, when we hope everyone will enter the spirit of the day by coming in costume . . . more to follow!

If you have any friends or family members who would be willing to participate in discussions of their wartime experiences, please let Mr Behan or Mrs Blyth know.

Our valuable educational visits programme can only proceed with your financial support and we will be writing to you shortly with more details.

It is important that homework is completed on time and brought into school. We expect children to write in their journals once a week, alternating between book reviews, recounts of something they have done and reports based on news stories or items of personal interest. Every child will be expected to read at home on a regular basis and to participate with you in “talk” homework on different themes. Please check journals for information on this. Regular practice of mental maths activities such as tables is also a key way of improving your children’s achievements at school.

Both 6B and 6W have the same PE days, Monday and Thursday. Please ensure that your children have an appropriate kit in school every day as on occasion we need to move PE days to accommodate other events (e.g. secondary transfer visits etc). PE Kit includes black shorts, a plain white t-shirt and trainers. Additionally, a reminder of the importance of coming to school in the correct uniform; no jewellery or make-up please! (Please see over for details).

Of course, you will not need reminding of how quickly the school year flies by! Later in the year, we will be:

§  enjoying our topic about all things Indian

§  heading off on school journey to Wales (18th May for those of you who already have next year’s calendar ready)

§  and entertaining you all with our end of year production.

§  In the next few weeks, you may well be accompanying your children to secondary school open days. We would be grateful if you could let us know in advance on which dates you will be visiting, as this enables us to plan around these.

Parent Helpers: We always need more Volunteer Reading Helpers who can commit time on a regular basis for 20-25 minutes at least once each week. We find that the 1:1 time with a child makes a real difference; please contact the school office if you can help; you will need to complete a CRB Form to help in this way. If you are able to help at other times in the classroom, please let your teacher know.

We would like to take this opportunity of stressing how important it is for all children to wear correct school uniform, the details of which are overleaf. Please remember that all school uniform and equipment should be named (including lunch boxes please!).

If you have any questions or worries, please don’t hesitate to make arrangements for meeting with us to discuss these.

Thank you for your support! Mr Behan and Mrs Blyth, Year 6 teachers