WELCOME!

If your child is to join us for the first time we welcome you as parents and look forward to a happy and successful association over the coming years. If you already have a child here we are pleased to renew the links between us.

Confidence in a school comes from knowing and understanding what is happening within it. We hope you will extend your knowledge through contact and discussion with members of staff and myself, and take advantage of the occasions for consultation. The links between home and school are of vital importance in a child's education. It is important that mutual understanding and trust should be the basis of our shared responsibility.

Welcome to our classroom. You will find links to our year 3, 4, 5 and 6 classrooms, which displays work we have done through the years of 2000 - 2001, in each curriculum area.

Year 3 Work

Year 4 Work

Year 5 Work

Year 6 Work

The wearing of a school uniform gives an immediate sense of belonging to a school community and the wearing of school uniform is compulsory at all times except for occasional non-uniform days for which parents are notified in advance.

Our uniform is neat, simple, easy and cheap to purchase. We keep a large stock of ties which can be bought from the school secretary at the school office priced £2.

We normally have a supply of second hand uniform which can be purchased from the welfare assistant at 50p per item. (shirts, skirts, trousers, cardigans, jumpers). When your child leaves the school, or grows out of any items of uniform that are still in good condition, we would always be happy for you to donate them to the school to replenish our stock of second hand uniform.

School uniform is welcomed by parents who are relieved of the stress of their child's uncertainty about what to wear for school. The high standard we set in appearance is a signal to the community outside the school of our expectations in effort, work and behaviour. A school uniform also contributes to the pupils' sense of belonging and helps them take a pride in their school. If a child fails to wear school uniform, their parents will be contacted immediately and asked to take the child home and put them in regulation school uniform. The local education authority will support us over this. We request that parents put their child's name on each item of clothing.

Painting Shirt - Parents are requested to supply their child with an old shirt to cover their school uniform when doing any clay work or art work etc.

The junior phase of education seeks to build upon the experiences and skills learnt in the infants' school. As children progress through the junior stage they will develop and extend the skills of reading, language and numeracy already begun in their infants' school. They will encounter new areas of learning and will explore other areas in more depth.

The subjects in the National Curriculum for primary children are:-

Every child will learn all subjects and will be encouraged during their four years at Grafton Junior School to take an increasing responsibility for themselves and their own learning.

The National Curriculum provides targets for pupils in each subject which set out what the pupil should know, understand and be able to do. These are called attainment targets.

For each subject the attainment targets are divided into levels 1-6. The levels get steadily harder, so children will still be stretched as they get older and learn more. At age 7 your child will probably be at level 1, 2 or 3 in the two subjects tested (Mathematics, and English). A typical 7 year old will be at level 2. Some pupils will already be higher, others will not yet have gone beyond level 1. A child will normally move up one level every two years, but not every child will move at the same speed, and any one pupil may not be at the same level in each subject.

In class, the teacher will do continuous evaluation in all subjects. You will be told each year how your child is progressing in an annual report, and in regular meetings with staff and the Headteacher, who will make time available throughout the year. Any parent may view any National Curriculum documents by appointment through the headteacher.

What you can do to help your children at school

• Talk with them about what they're doing at school.
• Encourage them to find out things.
• Read books with them and sign the home reading sheet daily. Make sure they do their spelling homework four times a week.
• Introduce them to the local library and help them choose books.
• Encourage and help them to learn their tables.
• Play number games with them where they have to work out answers quickly in their head.
• Let them help you in the kitchen weighing out food or working out shopping lists, etc.
• Encourage them to draw or paint and talk with them about their pictures.

As a parent, the biggest help you can give to your child is to show that you are interested and see the value of what he or she is doing at school. Such support can have a real effect on your child's performance - and on his or her future.

Finally, schools cannot work in isolation, teachers need your support and understanding in their efforts to help your child do the best he or she can.

HOMEWORK

If children work their hardest during the school day, they should not need to spend hours on homework. We expect and encourage children to do their very best during the school working day. However in all year groups, the learning of tables and spelling, regular home reading and any other task are expected. A teacher may ask a child to take unfinished work home to complete and we would hope for parental support. In Year 6, children may be set specific tasks for homework, to prepare them for their SATs. These may include Maths, English and Science tasks.

The government's guideline is that in the lower school (years 3 and 4) children should spend twenty minutes and in the upper school (years 5 and 6) children should spend thirty minutes each night on homework tasks.

On occasions, if a parent requests extra homework, a teacher may recommend a book or books or suggest things to read or write. In this case, the homework would be under the control of and set by the parent. No teacher can be expected to mark work set by a parent.