Meerkats | Marcham C of E Primary School

The Meerkat Class Newsletter

Class teachers

Mr Josh Clack (Monday, Tuesday, Wed (am), Thursday, Friday)

Mrs Ferryman (Wednesday pm)

Teaching Assistant

Mrs Nicola Pillbrow

Dear Parent and Carers,

Welcome back to a brand new academic year at Marcham Primary School and … welcome to the Meerkat class! It has been a rollercoaster ride these last few months and it is so amazing to have you back in school. Things are a tad different now due to COVID-19 but I hope you are feeling refreshed and ready to get stuck into a new term. I am very excited for the year ahead and I hope you are too, as we have a lot of exciting topics to explore over the next couple of months.

For those I have not met before, my name is Mr Clack, and I will be teaching the class every week, with the exception of Wednesday afternoons, with Mrs Ferryman kindly offering to teach the class French and RE. We are also very lucky to have the support of Mrs Pillbrow.

As for what the class will get up to this term, in KS2, our autumn topic is all about the Romans, a fascinating period which lasted over 500 years. The Romans were great thinkers whose historical footprint is still with us today. We will learn about the Roman Army, their tactics and how they managed to invade vast areas of the globe such as Syria, Greece and the United Kingdom. We will be exploring the systems of Roman government, such as kings, the Republic and the dictatorships of famous Roman Emperors. Furthermore, we will also be exploring the Roman invasion of Britain and how this event has impacted our lives today.

This term, PE will take place on Thursday and Friday afternoons. Each term, the class will focus on one sport in order to prevent cross contamination of our school P.E. equipment. However, P.E kits will be needed to be in school for the whole week as we may have extra outdoor slots available to us. After each week, the kits will then be needed to return home on the weekend to be washed. It is your child's responsibility to ensure that their named PE kit is kept in school throughout the week. If your child does not have their PE kit in school, they may have to use PE kits provided for them to ensure that they are complying with statutory requirements. Children should not wear jewellery in school, apart from stud earrings (which we advise should not be worn on PE days) and watches. In regard to swimming, we are still unclear as to when we will be able to resume our swimming lessons at the local leisure centre. Nonetheless, more information will be provided if anything changes.

Homework for the class will be set on a Wednesday, to be returned the following Tuesday, unless specified otherwise. Every week, I will send out a SpellingShed homework that aims to practice our weekly spellings, as well as revise patterns and rules so that the children become more confident spellers. I will also be setting TimesTableRockStars homework to help motivate the children to learn their multiplication and division facts up to 12 x 12. This is especially important, as this year sees the introduction of a statutory times table assessment for all year 4 students around the country. If you would like more information about this, please feel free to ask me any questions.

This year, I am promoting the ‘Top 100 Books List’, a collection of the ‘best’ books to read in year 3 and 4. The members of KS2 and the PTA have been searching high and low to provide the school with as many copies as possible, so it would be appreciated that the books are cared for when they are taken home. It is essential that you listen to your child read 4-5 times a week to help build their reading speed, fluency, their use of vocabulary and improve their writing and spelling. I will be keeping a log of the books that the class are reading, as well as sending home a reading record bookmark for an adult to sign. These can then be exchanged for house points and raffle tickets in the classroom. Also, when your child has finished reading a book, they should bring it back into school and exchange it for another, ensuring that an adult in school has recorded it.

Finally, I will be posting a video on September the 28^th that will hopefully answer all of your questions regarding our class, recent changes and how everything works. Please send in your questions to the office by September 25^th. I look forward to your questions, as well as getting to know your children as individuals. I am always available, so if you have any questions or wish to speak to me, please can you let the office know so that we can arrange an appointment. Thank you for your support.

Kind regards,

Mr Clack

Key Dates:

Homework: Due – every Tuesday and set every Wednesday

P.E days – Thursday and Friday afternoons.

28^th September – Class information video