Keeping in touch with parents and carers

We believe that having good communication with, and knowing our children’s parents and carers well, means that we can do an even better job of meeting children’s needs. We currently have several ways of trying to make sure we keep in touch with you regularly but we are always interested in any ideas you have! Here are some of the things in place at the moment:

• Face to face contact at the door at drop off time.

• Out and about mornings – members of school staff are often out and about at the beginning of the day and this is a good way to have a chat or catch up.

• Easy to make an appointment – if you would like a meeting with the class teacher then telephone the school office and we will arrange a convenient time (or a chat on the phone if it’s easier) as soon as possible.

• At the beginning of each new theme we send you an information sheet with what your child will be learning, any trips or events coming up and ways to help at home.

• We email a weekly newsletter every Friday with information about the learning going on in different Year Groups and bits and pieces of useful information. The newsletter is also always up on the board outside school and goes on the website.

• The school website is growing all the time and has lots of information on it. We hope this is an easy way for you to find out information about what’s going on in school.

• Phone the school office between 8.30am and 4pm and our friendly team will answer any day to day queries you have - if your query is about learning or your child’s progress then they will make a time for you to speak with the class teacher.

Progress and letting you know

We are very clear at Knights Enham Nursery and Infant School that school is about learning and that this is why we are all here! We strongly believe that children learn best when they feel safe and secure, are happy and are enjoying high quality learning experiences. Children learn best when they are active and sometimes this might be through play experiences. Whatever the learning looks like, however, the aim is for children to be making progress in their learning – whether that is their ability to make good relationships, develop their imagination, widen their vocabulary, learn to spell, work out maths problems, develop their painting technique or any of the other many areas of our curriculum!

We keep careful observations and records of children’s progress in school. These might be on observation notes, on our planning, when we look at children’s work and it will be part of us knowing each child really well. In Foundation Stage we then look at the Early Years Foundation Stage guidance called Development Matters to see where this fits with age stage bands that suggest Age Related Expectations. At the end of Foundation Stage (end of Reception) we use all our observations and notes and knowledge about each child to decide if they have reached the Early Learning Goal in all the different areas of learning. In Key Stage One we use national benchmarks to help us record what stage each child is working at and we report these to the government at the end of Year Two.

The government also ask us to do a quick phonics check in the summer of Year One for all children and also for any children in Year Two who did not meet the expected phonics level in Year One.

All our children have a personal folder where we keep observations, records of meetings with parents and also a tracker sheet which we update in the middle of each term with the latest levels that the child is working at. A few weeks after each half term we will ask you in to school to meet with the class teacher and share the progress that your child is making. You can share the tracker at this meeting and this will help you see how your child is getting on and also how you can best support them with their learning.

At the end of each school year we will write a report about your child’s learning over the last year. The report includes all the levels that your child is working at and how this compares with age related expectations. You will have the opportunity to discuss the report with the class teacher before the summer holiday.