Welcome to Skylark Class! 🐦

Welcome to Skylark Class! We hope you have all had a wonderful summer break filled with plenty of fun, laughter and special memories. We can hardly believe that a new school year is already here!

We are so excited to welcome the children back to our new and improved school and are looking forward to everything the year ahead has in store. We have lots of exciting learning opportunities planned, and we hope the children will enjoy exploring, discovering and learning together as part of our newly named Skylark Class, with their teacher, Mrs Harding-Lee.

Our Learning This Year

We are kicking off the year with an exciting journey back in time to Ancient Greece! We will explore this fascinating civilisation and discover how the Ancient Greeks influenced and shaped many aspects of the world we live in today.

Later this half-term, we will delve into the world of Greek mythology, learning about some of the famous Greek Gods and Goddesses and discovering the stories, beliefs and influences that have continued to capture people's imaginations for thousands of years.

Throughout the year, our learning will generally be organised around a key History or Geography theme, with opportunities to make meaningful links across other areas of the curriculum.

We have some fantastic topics to look forward to, including:

• 🏛️ Ancient Greece
• 🌋 Natural Disasters
• 🛡️ The Romans and their Empire
• 🏙️ Megacities
• 🌍 Our Ever-Changing Environment

We love making learning as exciting and memorable as possible, so if you, a family member or someone you know has knowledge, experience or a particular skill that could bring one of these topics to life, we would love to hear from you!

Ready to Learn

To help the children feel ready, focused and prepared for their day, we encourage them to bring a healthy snack for morning playtime and a named water bottle, which they can refill throughout the day.

This year, children will bring their PE kit into school and get changed at school for their PE lessons. School uniform should be worn at all other times.

Our current PE days are:

• Monday
• Wednesday

Reading at Home 📚

We are starting the year with a fresh focus on reading and would really appreciate your support in encouraging your child to read regularly at home.

Our aim is for every child to complete at least four reads at home each week. This could be reading independently, sharing a book with an adult, reading aloud or talking about what they have read. Every opportunity to read helps to develop fluency, vocabulary, comprehension and, most importantly, a love of reading!

Times Tables 🔢

Another important focus for Skylark Class this year will be times tables. The children will be working hard to develop their speed, accuracy and confidence in preparation for the Year 4 Multiplication Tables Check later in the year.

There are lots of fun ways you can support this at home, including:

• Using Times Tables Rock Stars
• Singing along to times table songs
• Practising through games and challenges
• Counting forwards and backwards in multiples
• Asking quick-fire times table questions during everyday activities

Even a few minutes of regular practice can make a huge difference to the children's confidence and fluency.

We are incredibly excited about the year ahead and can't wait to see the children grow in confidence, independence and enthusiasm for learning. Thank you in advance for your continued support — we are looking forward to working together to make it a fantastic year for Skylark Class!

Home Learning in Skylark class 

Homework and Spelling

Homework is set each week and is linked to the spelling rule we are focusing on in class. Your child will receive a personalised set of spelling words and activities to support their learning.

Spelling activities will be sent home every Friday and should be completed and returned the following Friday. This regular practice will help to reinforce the spelling rules we have been learning in class and prepare children for their weekly spelling test, which takes place every Friday morning. These tests allow us to assess their understanding and identify any areas where further support may be needed.

Recommended Home Learning

We recommend that children spend:

• 10–20 minutes reading each day
• 30 minutes per week completing their designated spelling activity

Regular reading and spelling practice at home will help to build confidence, develop vocabulary and support your child's progress in class.

'Nurture, Inspire, Achieve to be the best that we can be'

In Skylark class, we are committed to living out our school values. We encourage every child to be the best they can be and work in a positive environment of praise and nurture to ensure they all achieve their learning goals.