Home and School
We place great importance on close links between home and school. Staff are always willing to meet with parents but it makes things so much easier if parents can make an appointment in advance. If you have a problem or a query then please CONTACT US and we will try to sort it out. Please let us know of anything that may be helpful to us regarding your child.
EMERGENCY CONTACT FORM Please make sure that we have your up-to-date contact details so we can contact you if your child needs you during the school day. If you change your mobile phone, move house or want to change your child’s contacts list please complete a new copy of this form and return to the school office.
LOOK AND SHARE sessions are offered each half term and give all parents/carers an opportunity to celebrate progress and encourage steps towards new goals. Please try to find time to attend with your child. The days and times of sessions are changed to suit all timetables throughout the year.
LEARNING AND PROGRESS REVIEWS between teachers and parents are offered in the first half of the Autumn and Spring terms so that you and your class teachers can evaluate progress and set targets for individual children. These are essential opportunities to ensure you know how well your child is learning and how to support them to secure consistent progress.
INTERIM REPORTS are sent home in the second half of the Autumn and Spring terms and give a concise picture of children's attitude to learning and behaviour for learning in and out of the classroom. Your teacher may request that you make an appointment to discuss any issues and we encourage you to do so.
TERMLY NEWSLETTERS give parents general information on their child(ren)'s learning in the coming months. Parents are invited to support learning at home through talk, background reading, researching websites and visiting places of interest. Click HERE for links to websites that can be used to enhance each child's learning. For the latest newsletters please see HERE
Summative Reports and Standards are sent home at the end of the Summer term and give a detailed picture of learning, attainment, rate of progress, attitude and behaviour in school. You are invited to respond to this report in writing or make an appointment to see your class teacher if you wish.
PARENT HELPERS
Parents can volunteer to come into school on a regular basis to help with reading, art activities or a variety of other very useful areas. We also keep a list of parents who are not available on a regular basis but are willing to be called upon to help in other circumstances. All of our helpers are greatly appreciated as they voluntarily contribute to the organisation and smooth running of the school.
We have recently introduced a scheme which allows parents to make a date with the class teacher to be a helper for a morning or an afternoon. We hope that this will help parents to keep in touch with their children’s learning.
LIBRARY
The school is fortunate to have an excellent library facility. We encourage children to use it as much as possible for reference purposes and to borrow books to read for pleasure. It would be an added bonus if parents could continue this encouragement at home and to further instill in children a caring attitude to books so that they remain in good condition for others to borrow.
HOMEWORK
Our school homework policy was written after consultation with other local primary schools and Thomas Gainsborough School. A copy of this policy is available to all parents.
Every child brings home their reading wallet with at least one book every day. We greatly value the input of parents in the reading process and would ideally like all of our pupils to read to an adult and talk about their book at home every day. The reading wallet also contains a reading record where the teachers and the parents can write comments on the children’s reading and comprehension of their books.
Reception children bring home a 'No Mum's Allowed' (NOMA) pack every two weeks. These packs give lots of ideas to talk, explore and learn together and are devised to encourage the participation of parents and carers other than mums in supporting learning at home based on research that shows the great value of male role models and the effect of their positive attitudes to learning.
KS1 and KS2 children also have Access to 'My Maths' so that they can practise any areas where they feel unsure or that have been highlighted by teachers.
The older children may also have another maths or a language task and may be asked to carry out collection or investigation activities connected to a class topic. They are always given plenty of time in which to complete this home learning.
If your child is experiencing a difficulty in a particular area, the class teacher may suggest some extra activities at home in order to overcome this or to improve a basic skill.
Children work very hard in school and we do not want them to become overtired or disaffected and so we would ask that parents ensure that learning at home is not laboured but a pleasurable shared experience. If you experience difficulty in completing homework or daily reading stop and then contact the class teacher for advice.
COMMUNICATION
'Parentmail' is used for all newsletters and updates for efficiency and environmental reasons. Parents are asked to supply the school with current e-mail addresses for parents/carers and to check regularly for correspondence.
Please ensure that your e-mail account is set to accept 'Parentmail' so that you do not miss important information and news.
Should a paper version be required, please submit a request to the school office.
“Piota” is used for our school App - We take great care to ensure that we provide you with as much information about school life as we can and we have several ways of communicating this with you. The app allows you to see some of the learning in your child’s class, send in notification of your child’s absence, receive reminders or urgent messages and check lot of helpful information e.g. uniform and staff list.
Our school app can be downloaded at the app or android store. It is free and is available for all mobile devices. Please search for Piota Schools from the app store and then select Nayland Primary School. You will only need to select Nayland School the first time you log on. Once you have downloaded the app you will need to choose your child’s class in the push notification settings. This will ensure that you receive relevant notifications. To do this click on settings and select your child’s class, you can choose more than one class.
Questionnaires show that parents/carers are predominantly happy with all aspects of Nayland Primary School, however, on the rare occasion when a parent needs to complain, please follow the procedures in the link below.
EXTENDED SCHOOL
Breakfast Club, After School Club and Pre-School provision is available on-site at Woodland Corner. Pre-school provision is also available in Leavenheath through Ladybirds Playgroup.
WOODLAND CORNER LADYBIRDS PLAYGROUP
For a list of contacts providing extended school services including parental support, childcare and study support please see HERE.