Welcome to Moor Hall Primary School2020/2021 - Transition Information for Parents

Welcome to Moor Hall

A very warm welcome to Moor Hall Primary School. Sadly, we find ourselves in the situation where we can’t welcome you into our school for our usual transition meeting.

This presentation will give you key information about the school to support the transition process for your child.

Any information we send to you will be saved onto the school website under the ‘Children’ tab/’New Reception Intake’.

Our School Vision - The Moor Hall Child

Our vision for the school centres around the whole child.

During their time at Moor Hall, we strive to ensure that children develop into achieving, responsible, confident and healthy individuals.

Strong school/family links underpin this.

Early Years Staffing 2020/2021

Mrs Shaw – Early Years Lead Ladybirds Class Teacher

Miss Hoare – Butterflies Class Teacher

Mrs Davey - SENDCo/Assistant Head teacher

Starting School in September

From September 3rd – 19th, we will be inviting your child into school during short afternoon sessions for ‘stay and play’. We will increase the frequency of these sessions over the two-and-a-half-week induction period. This will help the children to get to know our school’s setting and also meet their teachers.

We will share the timetable for these sessions with you once classes have been allocated (w/c 6th July)

With a planned, supportive and phased transition, we are aiming that children will be able to be in school, for as long as any of the other KS1 year groups, by the 21st September. This is, of course, dependent upon government guidance.

The Early Years curriculum

Areas of learning1. Communication & Language

2. Physical Development

3. Personal, Social and Emotional Development

4. Literacy

5. Maths

6. Understanding the World

7. Expressive Arts & Design

The Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum is a continuation of pre-school learning curriculum that your children will have accessed in their pre-school settings.

We cover all areas of the curriculum throughout the week in a creative way.

The curriculum is delivered through a balance of formal learning and free-flow provision.

Early Reading and Phonics

We use the ‘Letters and Sounds’ programme as a framework for teaching phonics in school and utilise Jolly Phonics resources. At school, we will develop a love of reading through regular story sessions, book corners, Talk4Reading, guided reading sessions and ‘Reading Challenge’ texts. Children will be issued with books, wordless or with print, when they start school.

When possible, we will have a parent phonic meeting to explain the teaching of phonics in greater detail. We will let you know in September.

Early Writing and letter formationIn school, we encourage early writing by exploring mark making in a range of different media and materials. There are opportunities for children to mark make both in the classroom and in the outdoor area. We focus on good habits for pencil grip.

Children are taught to segment the sounds they hear in words which supports the writing process. Teachers explicitly teach hand writing and the correct formation of letters daily.

They will write for a range of purposes such as labels, captions, headings, instructions building to sentence formation.

We will be sending you a copy of your child’s name and alphabet for them to practice letter formation.

Early Maths

At Moor Hall, early maths is delivered based on a practical, mastery approach. Children are guided through new concepts in small steps with lots of opportunity to use concrete manipulatives and work practically.

Children will cover number, shape, space and measure throughout the year.

We encourage children to form numbers accurately; this will be practiced creatively through lots of air writing, chalk and paint – not just with a pencil.

Children will work within and around numbers to 20.

Outdoor Area

Working in this area is a crucial part of children’s learning and development. We aim to be outside daily as the outside provision is very much an extension of the indoor provision.

Facilitating:

• Physical development with moving and handling

• Staying healthy

• Understanding the world

• Exploring and using different materials.

• Being imaginative

Tapestry

‘Tapestry builds a very special record of a child’s experiences, development and learning journey through their early years and primary education. Using photos, videos and diary entries, a teacher or early years practitioner, along with the child’s parents, ‘weaves’ the story of the child and how they are growing and developing.’

We use Tapestry to record our assessments of the children and communicate children’s learning with parents.You will receive information from the office regarding setting up an account in preparation for September.

‘Me to You’ communication

The children will be provided with a plastic folder which needs to be kept in their school bag every day. This is a way of communicating information between home and school such as change in collection arrangements, requests for a phone call or health concerns. A member of the Early Years team will reply to your message.

Please send any letters in this folder and a member of staff will take them out.

Any (non-email) messages from school will be sent home in this folder.

How can I get them ready for starting school?

Please try and make sure your children can do the following in order to make transition to school as smooth as possible. Showing them how to:• Toilet independently

• Wash hands properly

• Dress and undress including shoes (PE lessons)

• Put on coats, including how to fasten zips and buttons

• Use a knife and fork

• Sit at a table

• Read and write their name

If your child struggles with any of the above, please let the class teacher know.

What does my child need to wear?

School uniformItems with a Moor Hall emblem are available from Marks and Spencer. Further information about uniform will be emailed to you from the school office.

PE kit

What does my child need to wear?

Outdoor Area

Clearly named and in a named carrier bag please.

This bag can remain at school.

Thank you!

Thank you once again for your patience during this challenging time. We hope that this presentation provides you with information that is useful.

If, after you have received your child’s class allocation and the timetable for ‘stay and play’ sessions, you have any further questions, please email enquiry@moorhall.bham.sch.uk and we will create a Q&A sheet for all parents.

We’re looking forward to seeing you all as soon as we can.