Reception

Hello Everyone,

We hope that you had a wonderful half-term break and enjoyed the beautiful weather together.

As the new term begins some of us are returning to school and some of our school family are enjoying school at home! We look forward to seeing some of you and hearing from others.

If you are returning to Elf Owls there is a video for you to watch about some changes to our day.

We are very lucky to have Miss B still working with us in  Elf Owls and she is looking forward to seeing you all soon.

I will still be uploading some learning activities on our class page each week. Adult conversations will still have take place via phone call or email as guidelines stipulate that this is the safest option.

We would encourage you to use the Oxford Owl website for reading as we have been advised not to send home reading books at this point.  Let me know if I can support with this.

We look forward to being reunited soon.

Best Wishes

Mrs Bennett, Miss B, Mrs Howlett and Miss Taylor

Stay safe at home. Remember, there is always someone to listen if you do not feel safe. Follow this link to the Childline website: 

https://www.childline.org.uk/get-support/contacting-childline/

Happy 2020 to you all!

Welcome back to you all after the Christmas break. We wish a very happy new year to all of our Elf Owls and their families.  We would like to thank you all for your very generous Christmas gifts.

We have a very busy and exciting term ahead of us.  There are some slight changes to our timetable in Elf Owls this term:

• Mrs Bennett will be having a non-teaching day on a Thursday.  Miss Taylor will be teaching the Elf Owls on a Thursday morning and Mrs Dickson will be teaching the Elf Owls P.E during the afternoon session. Please keep an outdoor and indoor named P.E kit in school during the week. Miss Taylor and Mrs Dickson both currently work at the school and are both highly experienced and looking forward to working with the Elf Owls. Please ask if you have any questions about this.
• Forest School will start again on Wednesday 16th January for Elf Owls.  Please continue to provide your child with warm, waterproof clothing.  The children should bring this to school in a named bag.

We will provide you with more information as the term progresses.

Many thanks

Elf Owls Team

Teaching Staff

Teacher – Mrs Nicola Bennett

Teaching Assistants – Mrs Nikki Howlett, Mrs Helen Belcher

Hello,

We are the Elf Owls and we are the foundation class at Great Milton C of E Primary School.  

We enjoy an airy spacious classroom with the addition of two outdoor areas: one under shelter and one offering a larger space to explore which features a range of climbing equipment and role-play areas, mud kitchen, reading tent, a stage for singing and dancing, a large sandpit and areas for growing plants and vegetables.

We enjoy exploring at school and spending our time learning. We become independent and active learners. Our teacher plans our lessons and topics mostly around our interests. Our teachers record some of our learning on tablets which are shared along with our books and observations at parents evening. Our activities are based and planned around the three prime areas of learning and the four specific areas of learning from the 'Development Matters Curriculum'.

Our parents and carers are encouraged to bring us into the classroom each day and help us start our daily school routines. They can also speak to the teachers about any concerns or share messages.  

We have some daily sessions including our “Funky Fingers” and phonics lessons as well as some adult- directed tasks. We have the opportunity each day to spend time planning what we would like to discover and take part in and then we are encouraged to review how successful we have been.

We are provided with a reading book that can be changed daily if required, along with access to an interactive program called “Bug Club”.  Each Elf Owl is allocated levelled reading books suited to our individual ability and is updated as required - it also encourages us to answer questions about the book we have read.

We are very lucky to have a lovely teaching assistant who works with us full time depending on our class size - sometimes we have two if our classes are big!

We join the whole school for lunchtimes in our hall and sometimes enjoy lunchtime activities, for example Book Club, Art Club and spending time with our kind and caring Year Six buddies and other friends.  We join in with some whole school events, assemblies and worship when our teacher feels we are ready.  We are part of the whole school and have two children from Elf Owls that are part of the School Council and an additional two that are our Eco Councillors. We are asked our opinions and have our voices heard and are part of a variety of school projects.

Before we start school we are able to come and meet our teachers and new friends for the afternoon.  My teacher and teaching assistant also come and meet us in our homes and have the time to chat with our grown ups about what we like doing, how we enjoy learning and anything else they feel is important.  My teacher also tries to visit our nurseries and pre-schools and finds out from our pre-school teachers how we enjoy learning.  They do this to help us settle into school as quickly as possible.

Please remember to check book bags on a daily basis for any new correspondence.

Nicola Bennett