Routines, baselines and progress.
I hope that all families have a had a great weekend after an energy filled initial week of school.
The school term has well and truly started across all year groups with a focus on establishing routines to set positive learning behaviours in classrooms. The impact of setting expectations at the beginning of any learning or process is important. It helps us to work out how successful we have been and how we can improve. The expectations for ‘school readiness’ extend beyond the school gates too. I know that parents have been speaking to children about routines for bedtime, getting bags packed for school, preparing their P.E. kits for the right days, and perhaps getting to the MTR or bus on time.
At school, we work together to ensure that setting the right expectations at the start of the year will help us to know how we can get better. As such, throughout the coming weeks, all children will be having opportunities to read with the teacher, take part in class quizzes or complete writing tasks that help us to establish baselines for children. We use these to help inform starting points for children and so we can plan how to help them make progress.
At home, you may see just how much progress your children have made in their independence, their confidence or their resilience in daily routines or ‘school readiness’ over the coming weeks. And just as teachers use baselines to establish starting points for learning, so too will families be able to work out how to support each child’s next steps, how to give more opportunities for independence or resilience.
The commitment we all make is that we are all working together to ensure our children, and their progress, are at the heart of our decisions.
In the coming weeks, there will be a chance to join virtual Parent Teacher Meetings where you can talk with teachers about how children are settling into school. These meetings are an important first step in sharing how children are settling into school, with a distinct pastoral and wellbeing focus, which we know is a precursor to readiness for routines, baselines and progress.
Have a lovely week ahead,
Stephen Sharma
Head of Primary
