RB             RC

                                                                                           Miss Brunt              Mrs Carby - Monday to Thursday

                                                                                                         Miss Burton - Friday 

The teaching assistants will swap between both classes each half term.

Ms Alizadeh        Ms Brennan

General Reminders

Water Bottles, Wellies, Book Bags and PE kits
Please could you ensure that your child brings a named water bottle to school every day.

We also ask that you bring in a pair of wellies, which will be kept in school, from your child's first week so they can access our outdoor learning environment. 

To help your child carry important letters and shared/guided reading books, they need to bring a St Peter's school book bag to school and not a backpack. We have limited space in our cloakrooms but each child has a designated tray for their book bag.

PE lessons kits must be kept in school on your child's peg. 

Important Dates:
Please note dates may change so keep a check on this web page. 

Tuesday 6th January - Return to school  

Tuesday 27th February - Reception eye test 

Friday 13th February - Break up for half term  

Monday 23rd February - Return to school  

Friday 27th February - Non-uniform Day - gift exchange 

Tuesday 3rd March - Bring £1 or more and wear red to support Midlands Air Ambulance  

 Thursday 5th March - World Book Day 

 Tuesday 10th March - Mount Pleasant Farm Trip

Thursday 12th March - Mother's Day Assembly - 9.30am

Tuesday 17th March - Parents Evening 

Wednesday 18th March - Parents Evening

Thursday 26th March - Easter Bonnet Parade - 2pm 

Friday 27th March -  Break up for Easter

Tuesday 14th April - Return to school 

Thursday 23rd April - Breakfast Club - 8.15am-9.00am

Monday 4th May - Bank Holiday 

 Friday 8th May -  Reception and KS1 magic show after school

 Monday 18th May - Sports Day - 9.00am-10.00am

 Friday 22nd May -  Break up for half term 

 Monday 1st June - Return to school

Wednesday 3rd June - Class photographs 

 Tuesday 9th June - Maths workshop

Friday 19th June -  Non-uniform day - Summer Fayre gift 

 Friday 26th June -  Summer Fayre in the junior playground

 Friday 17th July -  Break up for summer 

Our topic for this term is:

People Who Help Us 

Religious Education 

At St Peter's we use Jack in the Box which is a children’s Bible story resources designed for Early Years. It features Jack, a lovable Labrador puppet, who helps the children learn about the Big Bible Heroes of the Old Testament and the significance of Jesus' love for the world. We sit for worship time every week and use interactive stories and activities which encourage the children t explore and reflect on biblical themes.

This term our stories are:

 Jesus Calls his disciples

Jesus feeds 5000

Jesus walks on water

Jesus brings Jairus’ daughter back to life

The story of the good Samaritan

Jesus visits Martha and Mary

Jesus welcomes children

The story of the boy who came home

Jesus visits Zacchaeus

The generous lady

Jesus listens to Bartimaeus

Jesus rides a donkey 

Jesus washes the disciples' feet

The special meal

A sad day 

Jesus' friends see him again

Phonics

This.St Peter's we follow Supersonic Phonic Friends. It is an education initiative created by phonics and early reading experts Anna Lucas and Emma Carey. The program employs a fully systematic synthetic phonics approach, which is designed to build children's confidence in reading and writing by developing their phonetic knowledge and skills. Its key features are engaging characters, structured lessons and a focus on speaking and listening.

We have now completed the Firm Foundations stage where the children have secured a strong sound processing system which is critical to enjoyment and success in children’s later reading and writing skills. We have also completed Basics 2 where the children have learnt at least one spelling for 18 of the 44 sounds of the English language. Most children can hear up to 3 sounds in words, recognise spellings and read and write simple CVC words with the 18 spellings for sounds. Most children are able to read decodable texts with The Basics 2 spellings and make phonetically plausible attempts in their emerging stages of spelling in their writing journey.

We are now moving on to Basics 3. The Basics 3 teaches children the spellings for the further 26 of the 44 sounds of the English language. Children will use their auditory processing and memory skills from Firm Foundations in Phonics 1 and their Basics 2 skills to continue to recognise the spellings for the sound with Sam, segment and build with Seb and Bill, read and blend with Rex and Ben and write with Ron. They will continue to learn the early concepts of Choose to Use with Suze for some further multiple spellings for sounds and an introduction to Switch it with Mitch for alternative pronunciations of spellings for sounds. Children will learn their tricky words with Tess and read nonsense words with Nan.

Literacy

Firstly, this term we will be learning about winter. As a class we will discuss what we already know about winter and display our knowledge in the classroom. Then the children will go on a winter walk to experience winter through their senses to build on previous knowledge. Next, the children will draw a winter scene from their firsthand experience, building on their drawing skills from previous guided drawing sessions. The children will then write a sentence for their scene. We will formally introduce the children to simple grammar by modelling capital letters, full stops and finger spaces. Ensuring the children understand why we use this punctuation. 

Later in this term we will start our People Who Help Us topic. The children will be taught some of the features of fiction and non-fiction books and why we have different types of books. They will use non-fiction books to research a particular job role in the community and they will create an information poster. Building on their sentence writing skills from earlier this term the children will write sentences and captions about people who help us. We will also have visits from people in our local community to tell us about their jobs and how they help others.

Mathematics

We use White Rose Maths which is an initiative designed to enhance mathematics teaching and learning. It emphasises a comprehensive understanding of mathematical concepts rather than just rote learning, focusing on mastery and problem-solving skills. The program is into manageable steps, ensuring that children build a strong foundation before moving on to more complex topics.

This term our topics are

Alive in 5 

- explore number up to 5

- represent and subitise quantities 

- compare amounts and use the language of more/fewer

- begin to understand zero as an empty amount

Mass and capacity 

- compare how heavy or light objects are

- explore full, empty, more, less in containers 

- use informal measuring vocabulary through hands-on experiences

Growing 6,7,8

- build/count 6,7,8 with objects

- make pairs, combine groups and see number as built form smaller parts

 - explore patterns (like doubles, pairs) and early composition ideas

Length, height and time

- compare objects by length and height

- order items by size

- begin to talk about time through sequencing events and daily routines 

Building 9 and 10
- explore 9 and 10 in depth 

- build fluency with number to 10 using 10-frames and part-whole models 

- compare numbers and continue developing counting strategies 

Explore 3-D shapes 

- recognise and name 3D shapes

- identify 2D faces within 3D objects

- explore shapes in real contexts (play, construction, environment 

Understanding the World

In our topic we will be teaching the children about similarities and differences. On our community walk we will look at different types of houses and buildings. We will be encouraging the children to think about the purpose of these buildings and what they need for them to function correctly. The children will also have the chance to talk about their own opinions likes and dislikes. The children will also learn about important people in our community and how they help us. We have planned lots of visits from special people, so the children have first-hand experiences talking to and exploring different vehicles and objects. We will also be learning about Harborne and its role as part of the city of Birmingham. 

Personal, Social and Emotional Development

As a school we use SCARF which is a whole-school approach supporting primary schools in promoting positive behaviour, mental health, well-being, resilience and achievement.  More than just a PSHE scheme of work, SCARF supports great learning every day. SCARF represents our values for children of Safety, Caring, Achievement, Resilience and Friendship. 

This term we will be covering:

What's safe to go onto my body

What's safe to go into my body

Safe indoors and outdoors

Listening to my feelings

Keeping safe online

People who keep me safe

Looking after my special people

Looking after my friends

Being helpful at home and caring for our classroom

Caring for our world

Looking after money

Every other week the children will take part in a My Happy Mind session. It is a NHS backed program designed to support children's mental health and well-being. It combines the latest research and technology to teach children science-backed strategies for managing stress and improving resilience in a child friendly, age-appropriate way. 

Physical Development

This term in 'Get Set for P.E' the children will be learning 

To explore and remember action considering level, shape and direction 

To explore movement using a prop with control and co-ordination 

To move with control and co-ordination expressing ideas through movement 

To remember and repeat action moving in time to music 

To explore actions in response to a theme and begin to use counts 

Expressive Arts and Design

This term the children will be introduced to 'form'. We will look at the work of Lisa Stevens who was a sculptor for Aardman Animations who created characters for Chicken Run and Wallace and Gromit films. The children will have a chance to use lots of malleable materials including Play-Doh, clay and salt dough to create their own characters and work in the style of Lisa Stevens. They will be taught to use a variety of tools as well as using manmade, recycled and natural materials to impress items to apply simple decoration.

Make sure you check out our Art and DT page to see what we've been up to. 

In fortnightly guided drawing sessions, the teacher will model a variety of techniques and tools linked to the skills the children have been learning in their EAD lessons. 

Also, every week the children will take part in a music lesson. They start by learning different songs and thinking about their breathing techniques. Within this the children are taught about pitch, tempo, pulse and rhythm. They also have the opportunity to play the glockenspiel.