Dear parents/carers,

Just a few reminders as the Reception children begin full-time school next week...

Morning/Afternoon Arrangements

School hours are 8.55 - 3.15.  The class door will open at 8.50 and close at 8.55. 

Our main priority is the safety and welfare of your child.

Please allow your child to come into school independently by saying goodbye to them before they come into the classroom.  It is impossible to ensure that every child is safely in our care if the doorways and classrooms are crowded.  If your child is anxious or distressed saying goodbye to you, please rest assured that we will look after them and support them to settle and feel secure in our lovely, caring environment.

Throughout the day the children are continually encouraged to line up, fasten and unfasten their coats and organise their belongings themselves to develop their independence skills. We would be really grateful if you could support this by encouraging your child to zip up or button their own coats at home, as well as helping them to identify their name labels on all their belongings.

Home Time

Our main priority is the safety and welfare of your child.

With this in mind, each child is directed to their carer individually and obviously this does take quite some time. Please be patient with us as we familiarise ourselves with the names and faces of all those involved in collecting your child from school.  We operate a password system on those occasions when your child is collected by somebody unknown to the staff or different to their regular carer. It is helpful if you inform us in advance of any changes before home time.

If your child needs to come back into school for anything they have left behind, please wait until all of the children have been handed over safely.

Lunchtime

The school dinner menu is available to view on the school website: https://www.emmausschool.co.uk/school-dinner-menu/

If your child is packed lunch, please ensure their lunch bag is washable and clearly labelled with their name.

Homework

Children will bring home reading books in their homework bags every Friday, to be returned every Wednesday.  Books will initially be wordless picture books.  Daily reading for 5-10 minutes per day has a hugely positive impact on young children's reading development.  In addition to reading books, every Friday our homework and reading record sheets will be attached to their Learning Log book.  This will enable you to support your child to continue learning at home and embed their understanding of the topics taught in school each week.  We also hope that you will sign the reading record sheet in their homework log book each time you read/discuss their wordless reading book with them.

Please return your child’s Learning Log book in their homework bag every Wednesday.

P.E./Outdoor Kits

Please send in your child’s P.E. bag, wellies and outdoor waterproofs as soon as possible. PE lessons are timetabled for every Monday morning.  Please provide spare underwear, socks or tights to be kept in their PE bag, in the event your child needs to be changed in school.

Wellies are stored on the welly racks outside each homebase in our outdoor area (please label wellies before leaving them on the racks).

Please ensure all of your child’s belongings are clearly labelled and encourage your child to attempt dressing and undressing themselves at home.

Snack

We encourage the children to drink water throughout the day as regular hydration helps to maintain concentration. Your child may bring into school their own bottle of water or still fruit juice each day, labelled with their name.  In addition, please provide a healthy snack of fruit or a breakfast/cereal bar each day (labelled with their name).  It would be helpful if the children did not bring their snack in lunchbags or backpacks.  The children are also provided with school milk on a daily basis and school fruit.  A payment for milk will be requested when your child turns 5 years old.

We hope you find this letter useful, it will be available to view on our Class Page on the school website.  We firmly believe in the importance of establishing positive home/school links and hope you will always feel able to share any worries or concerns with us.  Please check for notifications via the school app and if you need to contact us, our email address is reception@emmaus.liverpool.sch.uk

It was lovely to meet you during our induction meetings and show you around our beautiful learning environment.  Please return any outstanding admissions forms as soon as you can to ensure we have all the information we need for your child.  We look forward to an exciting learning journey with you and your child and are hopeful that we can all return to some kind of ‘normal’, after the difficult year we have all just experienced.

Many thanks for your support,

Emmaus Reception Team