Update: reception - Y6 parents evenings

Dear Parents & Carers

As our parents evenings are next week (Tuesday 8th & Wednesday 9th February), I thought I should update you about how the evenings will run following the ending of the government’s ‘Plan B’ measures:

• We are happy for both parents to attend each appointment if they so wish.
• Please do not bring your children into the consultation with the class teacher.
• A lateral flow test should be taken before attending the parents evening.
• If you are unwell for any reason please do not attend.
• Feel free to wear a face covering if you wish.
• All classrooms & corridors will be well-ventilated (i.e. windows will be open) - please wear suitably warm clothing!
• Hand sanitiser units will be available at the entrance to every classroom.

A selection of your child’s books will be available for you to look through, before or after your appointment.

Since parents were last in school for parents evenings, we have developed a more effective feedback/marking policy for the children’s written work:

• Teachers now feedback to the children verbally (using notes they have written whilst reading the children’s writing) to the whole class at the beginning of a lesson. This replaces writing copious notes in the child’s book for them to read. We felt this was not an effective way of helping children improve their written work.
• In the books, teachers will highlight the aspects of the ‘steps to success’ the children have achieved. ‘Steps to success’ are aspects of writing to include in their piece of writing.
• Each half term the children will complete an assessed piece of writing. The teachers highlight what the children have successfully achieved in their piece in relation to the assessment ladder. The teachers also highlight what they’ve achieved on the assessment ladder – you will see these stuck in your child’s book after an assessed piece.
• Grammar exercises & other writing (e.g. give opinions of book/chapter, etc.) are ticked, dotted (if wrong) & stamped.
• Spelling will be addressed during whole class feedback or set as an individual target. You will not see any corrections in their books

When you see your children’s books, I’m sure you’ll agree that their writing shows great progress from September up until now.

After the parental consultation, teachers will also be asking you to fill in a short questionnaire. I would be grateful if you would complete this as we value your feedback.

We’re looking forward to welcoming you back into school for parents evening after so long – see you next week!

Kind regards

KD Williams

Headteacher