Welcome to Alverstoke Church of England Junior School Year 3 - September 2020 - Email-Alverstoke Junior ...

Welcome to
  Alverstoke Church of England
          Junior School
       Sharing God’s grace with love and hope

     Year 3 – September 2020

      www.alverstoke-jun.hants.sch.uk
Email – admin@alverstoke-jun.hants.sch.uk

Welcome to Alverstoke Junior School
Dear Parents/Carers,

We are so sorry that we can not meet you in person to share this key information. We do
hope that you are all safe and well.

We hope to reassure you be emailing this presentation along with some advice and
guidance from our current Year 3 and Year 6 pupils. We are extremely mindful that you
and your child may have lots of questions and we hope that we have done our best to pre-
empt and answer some of them.

We hope that many of you will be able to visit the grounds of the school next Tuesday,
where there will be an opportunity for you to meet your child’s class teacher for next year
in person.

This presentation will signpost ways in which you can contact us and what you can do if
you need further help or advice. We will continue to work in close partnership with our
colleagues at the Infant School and will ensure that you are welcomed physically into the
Junior School when it is safe to do so.

You will note that where we have mentioned timings of the school day these are likely to
be subject to change due to government guidance on ensuring the safety of children at
this time. We wanted to give you a sense of how a ‘usual’ school day works but will be in
touch with changes before your child starts with us in September.

Please stay safe and be reassured that we will do everything possible to reassure your
child on entry to our school to ensure that they are safe and happy in their learning.

Year 3 Teachers and Classes

              3GK                    3T

Mrs Garside         Mrs Kennett   Mrs Trivett

Emotional Literacy Support Assistant
      and Home School Link Worker

                             Mrs Ruth Proost
Mrs Proost has a wealth of experience in supporting children and their
families. She is available daily between the hours of 8:30am-4pm.

Every Wednesday Mrs Proost holds a dedicated ‘drop in’ session for parents
(8:30-10:30am and 11-12noon). Appointments can be made or you can just
walk in. Appointments with Mrs Proost can also be made for other days of
the week too.

To get in touch with Mrs Proost please either call the school office on 02392
580450 or send her an email via admin@alverstoke-jun.hants.sch.uk and
she will contact you.

Senior Leaders

Mrs Clare Slowther       Miss Marissa Ballard Miss Louise Harrowsmith
   Headteacher              Deputy Headteacher                     SENDCo

 Miss Amy Church         Mrs Sammy Swainston               Mrs Julie O’Brien
     Maths Lead                  English Lead               Business Manager
     Mrs Slowther, Miss Ballard and Mrs Proost are Designated Safeguarding Leads.

Office Staff

Mrs Julie O’Brien   Mrs Helen Vine     Mrs Kate Jones
Business Manager     Finance Officer    Admin Officer

Core Christian Values

      At Alverstoke Junior School our core
      Christian values are Love, Hope and Grace.
      The values permeate the school - “The
      school values of love, grace and hope are
      evident throughout the school.” Ofsted 2017.
      The values form an integral part of the
      language used with the children by staff
      daily, and weave golden threads through our
      curriculum. Our Collective Worships, which
      are held daily, provide us with opportunities
      to come together as a school community and
      celebrate our values.

What is a Church of England School?

‘Church schools must be both distinctive and inclusive.
Their Christian distinctiveness must grow from their
rootedness in their local context and be invitational, in
the sense of providing opportunities to model Christian
community without insisting on a prescribed
response. Their approach to education must be based
on a Christian understanding of human flourishing.’
The Way Ahead document (2001)

Philosophy for Children
                        (P4C)
We are very proud at Alverstoke Junior to be one of only a few schools
to be awarded the Gold award for P4C by SAPERE.

P4C enables children to develop their questioning and philosophical
thinking.

P4C sessions are timetabled for all classes. Enquiries begin with a
stimulus, which could be a book, a short clip, a picture for example.
From the stimulus, the children begin to identify questions to explore
and have opportunities to share their views. P4C questions are at the
heart of the new curriculum – What makes a hero? How will we be
remembered? Who decides what is right and wrong? To name just a
few.
   ‘P4C is a powerful pedagogy (a way of teaching and learning) which
   encourages children to ponder, puzzle, think for themselves and ask
                questions about important things in life’

Our Creative Curriculum

Our new curriculum from September 2020 is concept based (e.g. Legacy,
  Change, Power) with key overarching P4C questions which the children
  will explore as they work through different subjects.
 The first unit in Year 3 is titled: “What makes me, me?” where the children
                        will engage with learning linked to:
                           Science – The human body
                  Geography – Where on Earth is Alverstoke?
                                 Art – Self Portraits
                    PDL – Mental Well-being and resilience
 At the end of a project the children have an opportunity to showcase their
                           work to a variety of audiences.

The Year 3 Topics
Autumn Term:
What makes me, me? Identity
Human body and Art
What is resilience? Survival
Stone Age to Iron Age

Spring Term:
What makes a tradition? Culture
Ancient Civilisations with a focus on
Ancient Egypt

Summer Term:
How do you look after the Earth? Responsibility
Amazon rainforest
What makes a strong community? Collaboration
World War Two

Visitors and Trips
Our curriculum is enriched with a wide variety of trips and visitors
       to bring learning to life. In the past, Year 3 have visited:

                        Butser Ancient Farm
                          Highclere Castle
                       Portsmouth Cathedral

  Other year groups have visited places such as the British Museum,
    Marwell Zoo, The Wolf Sanctuary in the New Forest to name a few.
    Children have two opportunities to take part in residential stays
     throughout their time at the school – Stubbington Study Centre in
                     Year 4 and Avon Tyrrell in Year 6.
 Trips for next academic year will be planned in line with Government
                  guidance and the new curriculum topics.

Foundations of Learning

Our Foundations of Learning, which are common across the Bay House
cluster of schools, exemplify the learning behaviours which we feel enable
children to become life-long learners. Through our curriculum, the children
will have opportunities to develop their resilience with tasks and problem-
solving, their creativity as they design and make a range of items as well as
their collaboration and relationships as they learn to work successfully
alongside their peers, to illustrate just a few.

School Rules

        1)   We do as we are asked straight away
        2)   We take care of our school
        3)   We speak politely and never swear, tease or bully
        4)   We do our best and work hard
        5)   We keep our hands and feet to ourselves

At Alverstoke we firmly believe there are never excuses for rude, aggressive
 or bullying behaviours and this will never be acceptable in our school. We
  will always support children to make the right choices and never allow
                   them to disrupt the learning of others.

Rewards and Sanctions

Rewards                            Sanctions
- For behaviour                    - Loss of points
Recognition stars and Marvellous   - Partner class
Me Awards                          - Spend time with the HT/DHT
- For work                         - Internal exclusion
Recognition stars, Marvellous Me
Awards and Foundation of
Learning stamps and sticker (the
latter awarded by Headteacher)
- For being exceptional
Phone call home

Skill: Group Work

In Key Stage 2, children are supported to be even more independent
when working in groups. Independence and Resilience are two of our
Foundations of Learning. Independence involves:

-   Further developing their listening skills
-   Hearing carefully to understand and appreciate alternate
    perspectives
-   Building on and enhancing peer contributions
-   Explaining ideas clearly and succinctly
-   Intuitively taking turns
-   Helping others through encouragement
-   Pulling the group’s ideas together into an end product.

How you can help: Look for opportunities to practise group work at
home, such as baking a cake together, with one person reading the
recipe and the other weighing out the ingredients, or collaborating with
siblings or friends on making a LEGO model.

Skill: Extended Writing
Children develop their Key Stage 1 skills by:
1. Writing independently at even greater length
2. Spelling independently and using a dictionary
3. Developing their writing by using more sophisticated sentence
    structures
4. Using a range of grammar with conscious awareness of the impact
    on the reader
5. Planning first, completing a draft, considering composition and
    effect before independently proof reading and editing their work
    and finally publishing their final piece
6. Decreasing the scaffolding/amount of adult help (relative and
    appropriate to need) as the independent expectation increases
How you can help:
a)   Encourage your child’s communication skills by making plenty of time to
     talk as a family
b)   Give them lots of experiences to inform their writing, such as visit to the
     countryside, the beach and museums (when allowed). It is easier to write
     about what we know.
c)   Keeping a diary is another great way to practise writing.

Communication – Working Together
Verbal communication                  Written communication
1. Catch the teacher informally on     Weekly newsletters via email
   the playground at the end of the    Letters via email
   school day                          Text messages
2. Home School Link Worker – Mrs       Written reports – July
   Proost                              Facebook – please follow us
3. Unit newsletters and outcomes        for regular updates
   – inform you of your child’s
   learning and opportunities to
   welcome you into the school to
   see your child’s work
4. Parents’ Evenings x4
• September - Meet the Teacher
• October and February –
   Individual Parents’ Meetings
• July – Open evening

School uniform
Uniform – available from the School office via Scopay. Skoolkit
in Fareham also stock our sweatshirts and cardigans.
Trousers, shorts and skirts – black or grey
Polo shirt – red or white (preferably with logo)
Jumpers or cardigan with logo – red
Shoes – black
Summer dresses – red gingham dress
Sandals

PE Kit – available from the school office via Scopay
Red shorts and white t-shirt (available from school with school
logo)
Winter – additional dark coloured tracksuit (available
from school with logo)
Trainers suitable for indoor and outdoor wear

Please label all of your child’s clothing – 32 of the same
unnamed jumpers are hard to give back at the end of the day!
No jewellery is to be worn, except for small stud earrings .

Equipment

We ask, due to limited storage space, that children only bring a small
rucksack/book bag with them to school.

Children do need to bring a water bottle into school daily, again these
can be purchased from the school office at a cost of £1.10. Please note
that all of the above colours may not be available.

Children do not need to bring pencil cases or items of stationery as we
provide them with all necessary equipment.

We also ask that children do not bring into school any toys, trading
cards etc. as children inevitably get upset if items get damaged or go
missing.

Your Child’s First Day At Alverstoke
What to bring:

-   Small rucksack or book bag
-   PE Kit
-   Coat (if needed)
-   Water bottle

The Government has recently given guidance on changes that must be
made to ensure safety of pupils e.g. staggered start and collection
times. We will confirm details about timings and where to drop off and
collect your child before the start of school in September.

Timing of our Pre-Covid School Day
     (Subject to change for September)
8:45 – Two members of staff on duty on the main playground.
Children arriving come straight into school to start their morning task.
8:55 – Register and official start of school day. Lessons begin.
10:25 – Collective Worship
10:45 – Breaktime
11:00-12:00 - Lessons
12:00-12:50 - Lower school (Yrs 3 and 4) Lunch – opportunities to
play hockey, basketball, tennis, board games and so much more …
12:50-3:00 - Lessons
3:00-3:15 - End of day routine
3:15 End of the school day

   We ask for safeguarding reasons that you please do not enter the
 building via the pupil entrances. Please enter the school by the front
  entrance if you wish to make an appointment or see Mrs Slowther.
 Children should not arrive on the school site before 8:45am due
      to the playground being unsupervised until this time.

Break and Lunchtimes
                (Subject to change for September)

Breaktime 10:45-11:00
Snacks – healthy snack – fruit, vegetables. Please label with your
child’s name to be put in the class snack box

Lunchtime 12:00-12:50pm
Packed lunch – healthy lunch – lunchboxes are placed in the school
servery after morning register. Please make sure lunch boxes are
labelled.
School Dinners - red (meat), green (vegetarian), purple (picnic) and
yellow (jacket potato)
Dinner Money – please pay for your child’s school dinner (£2:40)via
Scopay in advance. Many thanks.
Eligible for Free School Meals – please contact the school office.

Clubs
We are very proud of the variety of before and after school clubs that
we offer children here at Alverstoke Junior School:

-   Gymnastics
-   Chess club
-   Karate                  Please note that due to the current situation
-   Choir                  we are not able to offer before or after school
-   Science club            clubs. This will be reviewed at October half-
-   Art                    term and following the government guidance.
-   Forest
-   Football
-   Squash
-   Tennis and more …

Peripatetic music lessons (during the school day): piano, woodwind,
brass, drums, guitar and singing.

Homework

     We are planning to review our homework policy, and possibly how
       homework is set in the early weeks of your child with us in Year 3.
    During partial closure, we have been using Google Classroom to set home
              learning and would like to continue this in some form.
Children will be given weekly reading and spelling tasks. In the past children
         have received maths OR English homework each week, with an
                       approximate 20 minute time guide.

Accidents, Medication and Absence
Accidents – if your child has an accident in school, you will receive a
yellow form at the end of the school day. If they have bumped their head
you will receive a call from one of the office team.

Medicines – if your child takes regular medication or requires
medicines to be given in school for a short period of time, please
complete a consent form from the school office.

Illness – please report illness via the school office on the first day of
absence by 9:15am. Please keep the office informed about your child’s
recovery and when you expect them to return to school.

Holidays – can only be authorised in exceptional circumstances. You
must complete a request form available from the office. We will consider
all applications in relation to statutory guidance. Unfortunately fines
will be issued for 10 or more unauthorised sessions out of 100.

Year 2 to Year 3 handover
The staff at Alverstoke Junior have been working really hard over the
     last couple of months liaising with your child’s current school.
         Class teachers are in receipt of the cohort’s most recent
      Assessment Data as well as missed learning so that it can be
          planned for in the ‘catch-up’ curriculum in September.

                     Moving to Year 3
We hope that you have all had the opportunity to watch the videos
   made by Mrs Slowther and the class teachers. We are beginning
   to receive the ‘About Me’ tasks from children, in response set by
                       their new class teachers.
We hope that you will be able to join us next Tuesday, 7th July for a
   walk around the grounds and socially distanced opportunity to
                     meet the Year 3 teaching team.
Our current Year 3 and Year 6 children have been thinking of you all
     and have put together some guides and thoughts for you all.

And Finally…
       How Can Parents Be Involved?

-   Friends of Alverstoke Junior School (PTA)
-   School trips
-   Support in class with activities such as cooking, sewing etc.
-   Giving talks to children about jobs
-   Helping in any expert areas of the curriculum
-   Listening to readers across the school
-   Helping your child at home with homework

-   Please collect forms from the school office for DBS checks

* We are very much looking forward to welcoming your child. Have
a lovely summer and do not hesitate to contact us should you have
any questions via admin@Alverstoke-jun.hants.sch.uk