Early Years Handbook

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Contents P3 – 5- Inductions P6 – 7 - Transitions P8 – 9 - Routines P10 – 15 - Learning Environment and

Working Walls P16 – 18 – Outside Area P19 – 28 – Teaching and Learning P29 – 32 - Assessment P33 – 34 – Behaviour

P35 – 38 – Parent Workshops and Newsletters P39 – 41 - EAL P42 – 43 - G&T P44 - 46 - Website P47 – 48- Trips

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I nductions Reception parents and children are invited in to meet their

class teachers in summer 2 before the next academic year. An ‘All about me’ is sent to prospective families for parents

to complete with their children. These are used as a talking point to discuss interests,

hobbies, likes and dislikes. Teachers will explain a typical day in the life of a Reception

child and discuss any concerns or questions from parents. They will ensure that they get a clear understanding of the

child’s medical or social needs. If a child has an on-going medical condition such as sickle

cell anaemia or requires an Epi-pen or asthma pump please introduce parents and child to the SEN Leader to arrange a meeting to discuss a care plan.

Nursery teachers will carry out transition visits/Induction meetings in Summer 2 and Autumn 2 for children moving down from Little Stars to Nursery.

Meetings will take place at school. Children who are starting Nursery for the first time will be

contacted in Summer 2/ Autumn 2 to arrange a home visit. Parents will receive an ‘All about me’ book and any medical

or social needs will be highlighted at these meetings. Nursery teachers will pass on details to SEN Leader to

arrange meetings to make care plans where necessary. Teachers must ask parents about prior childcare/nursery or

school experience and request transition notes where available.

(See Appendix- All about me and Reception Child Enrolment)Examples of the All About Me.

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TransitionsLittle Stars to Nursery (Bessemer only) Head of Little Stars is to place children into their prospective

Nursery class. The child’s keyworker is to liaise with the prospective

Nursery teacher to create a transition programme for each child to visit their new setting before the end of the summer term.

Keyworkers will moderate with Nursery teachers and discuss Learning Journeys, abilities, needs and next steps.

Children and parents will be invited into Nursery to meet their child’s new teacher and have an induction in Summer 2.

Learning Journeys are to be handed to Nursery class teacher to follow the child through their Early Years journey.

Nursery to Reception

Nursery teachers are to complete final Steps levels on Target Tracker at the end of the year after moderation with Reception team.

Nursery teachers are to place children into groups for their prospective Reception classes.

Teachers to consider the following, when grouping children into their new classes, to ensure a harmonious and fair transition:* Gender* Ability* Friendship groups

(All Reception children begin school on the same day.)

Reception to Year 1

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Reception teachers place children in to prospective new Year 1 classes, if requested to do so, based on specific criteria given.

Office place children in to houses for Year 1 and Reception teachers share these houses with the children.

Parents are invited to a transition workshop in Summer 2 which explains similarities and differences to Reception and new rules, procedures and policies that children and families can expect in the new Key Stage.

RoutinesTypical Day in Nursery AM:

8.50am Main gates are opened into the playground

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9.00am Classroom doors opened – self-registration/name writing with parents9.05am Reading and formal registration on carpet9.10am 1st carpet session Phonics/Maths through songs, drama, stories9.30am Free-flow/independent learning/ focus activities11.30am 2nd Carpet Session Phonics/Maths through songs, drama, stories12.00pm Gates open and classroom doors open for home-time

12.00- 12.45pm Lunch time

Typical Day in Nursery PM:

12.45pm Classroom doors opened – self-registration/name writing with parents12.50pm Reading and formal registration on carpet12.55pm 1st carpet session Phonics/Maths through songs, drama, stories1.15pm Free-flow/independent learning/ focus activities3.20pm 2nd Carpet Session Phonics/Maths through songs, drama, stories3.45pm Gates open and classroom doors open for home-time

Typical Day in Reception:

8.50am Main gates are opened into the playground 8.55am Children come in and sit on carpet for morning writing and Register

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9.05am 1st carpet session Maths/CLL9.40am Free-flow/independent learning/ focus activities11.00am Phonics carpet session11.30am-12.30pm children’s lunch12.30pm Register and 2nd carpet session Maths/CLL- opposite to the morning1.00pm Free-flow/independent learning/ focus activities2.30pm Tidy up time and handwriting3.00pm Topic/’Other’ carpet session3.30pm Home time

Learning Environment and Working Walls

Learning Areas Each classroom throughout Early Years has an explicit

writing, reading, maths, role-play, creative and construction area.

These areas are set up every morning with activities for the children to access independently.

Each area must have learning questions and key vocabulary that indicates the key learning taking place.

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Each Nursery Class must have a sound wall, Maths wall and topic display.

Each Reception Class must have the following learning walls:- Sound Wall – Each classroom throughout Early Years must have a Phonics display or a ‘Sound Wall’ that reflects the sounds that have been taught throughout Reception that week. If Phonics is split into ‘set’ classes or groups, ensure all sounds are represented on this wall. - Word Walls - ‘Essential Words’ should be displayed on the ‘Literacy Working Wall’ as and when they are taught to reflect the scheme of work. In addition to this, there should be a ‘High Frequency Word Wall’ for all Reception high frequency words. The Essential Word Wall is reflective of the discrete teaching of words taking place that week. The HFW wall displays generic Reception HFW words and is to be used as a learning wall.- Magpie Wall – The Magpie Wall is for topic related vocabulary e.g. character names, adjectives, synonyms, antonyms, similes.- Maths Learning Wall – should reflect children’s work or pictures of children using Maths in role-play. Quotes of how children use mathematical language can be displayed. - Golden Rules – Whole school behaviour system called the ‘Golden Rules’ must be displayed in the classroom.- Medical Information – Photos of children with allergies to be displayed.- Maths and Phonics Groups – to be displayed with next steps.

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An example of the Learning Environment Audit

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Outside Area

The outside area is zoned into the different areas of learning: water play, sand pit, construction area, messy play, mud

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kitchen, moving and handling, reading den and role play areas.

Each area must include mathematical and writing opportunities.

Staff plan for the outdoor learning on a weekly basis. Outdoor planning must ensure: Activities are based around the current topic They build on children’s previous learning LQs are displayed in cursive print to identify the learning

taking place There are pictorial and written instructions of how to use

certain areas Key words / vocabulary related to the activity are included

Environments will be assessed during Environment Audits, Observations and Learning Walks.

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Teaching and Learning

Planning Use Gap Analysis on Target Tracker to plan. Nursery teachers are to provide weekly plans (see appendix),

covering all 7 areas of learning. Reception teachers to provide flipcharts covering all areas of

learning. Nursery teachers plan for 2 carpet sessions per half day

session as well as adult focus activities. Reception – Reception teachers are to produce weekly plans

for Maths, CLL, phonics and ‘other’ using flip charts. They will plan for 4 carpet sessions per day: 1x CLL, 1x

Maths, 1x Phonics and 1x Topic/Other as well as adult focus activities.

Planning for carpet sessions and focus activities in both Nursery and Reception must include: A LQ Success criteria/ steps to success Teacher notes Opportunities for AFL Key questions and vocabulary Resources and differentiated groups Letter-join font

Children’s work should be filed in folder or completed in books (Reception only).

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An example of a MTP

An example of the Nursery Adult Focus planning sheet

An example of a LQ and activity for CLL

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Focus activity frequency/expectations Reception

1 CLL focus activity to be carried out each week by teacher.

Maths carpet sessions to be practical with each child using a maths pack and the resources available after for children to further explore the concepts. Any children identified as needed extra support to work with an adult after the carpet session.

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1 other focus activity delivered by teacher each week, eg; UW, EAD or PSED

1 other focus activity delivered by the TA over the course of the week covering either UW or EAD and PSED

PE to take place once a week 1x 1:1 reading session and 1x guided reading session for

every child each week, one delivered by the teacher and one by TA

Nursery

Nursery teachers should plan for at least one adult focus activity per session depending on the time of year and the independence levels of the children.

They should also plan at least one 1:1 reading session and one guided read for every child each week.

They should plan for one phonics and one maths focus activity a week.

Adults in nursery not carrying out focus activities should still be included in the planning, whether they are carrying out observations of specific children or scaffolding child-initiated learning in particular areas.

Free-flow Independent activities will be set up in the indoors and

outdoors environment for the children to access independently, whilst teachers and support staff carry out teacher planned focus activities.

Phonics in ReceptionTeachers to follow the Bessemer and Keyworth Phonics Scheme of Work.

Autumn 1: Phonics is delivered in base classes At the end of Autumn 1, teachers moderate and update

Phonics groups and next steps This information informs Phonics sets: HA, MA, LA sets HA set to have one TA

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MA set to have 1 TA LA set to have 2 TAs (this may be revised depending on

needs and size of sets.) These groups will be re-assessed every half term. Higher

ability children to begin phase 3, middle and lower to repeat phase 2 and lowest ability to do phase 1/2.

Spring term, higher ability to repeat phase 3, if ready middle ability to start phase 3 and lower ability to repeat phase 2.

Summer term, higher ability to go onto phase 4 and ensure broad experiences of using what they have learnt in a variety of ways with discrete learning of phase 5, middle ability to start phase 4 ensuring consistent recapping of phase 3, lower ability children starting phase 3 if they have not already done so.

Maths Maths in the Early Years is to be topic led so that children can contextualise their learning. Maths through song, drama and stories is what we aim for. Refer to the EYFS documents for strategies and next steps. Maths in Reception follow the White Rose Scheme of Work.In order for the children to master fundamental mathematical concepts and develop their mathematical fluency, where possible, we employ the CPA approach and offer real-life contexts for their mathematical learning.

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Fluency In Reception and Nursery, we aim to teach so that children have a deep understanding of number. Representing Numbers We want to develop children’s number sense so that they understand the number rather than just recognising the numeral. Children need to understand that numbers can be represented in many ways, not just as a written numeral. We use many different objects and pictures to show that numbers can be represented in lots of ways. Some ways to represent five 5:

Children sometimes need lots of practise to recognise numbers in different forms. Counting When counting, children need to understand… • That we need to say one number for each object counted (touch counting).

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• The final number we say is how many altogether. Some children continue to count after they have reached the final object as they don’t connect the numbers they are saying to the objects in front of them. • That we can count objects in any order and the total stays the same.Recognising amounts Another skill that is very important is recognising small amounts without the need to count them. Initially this should be by using concrete objects such as those shown above but as children progress, allowing them to see groups of dots in different arrangements helps them to mentally ‘see’ how many objects are there without needing to count. This is a very important skill when children begin to add and subtract. Using dice is a good way to practise this skill before moving onto objects in different arrangements.

Understanding that the total stays the same even when the objects move When children first start to use numbers, they often do not understand that if we move objects into another arrangement the total stays the same. We practise this with many different types of objects but a useful tool is using a tens frame to be able to move counters around.

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Reasoning Reasoning in maths helps children to be able to explain their thinking, therefore making it easier for them to understand what is happening in the maths they are doing. It helps them to think about how to solve a problem, explain how they solved it and to think about what they could do differently. In Reception and Nursery, some examples of reasoning are: • true and false statements eg adding one to a number always makes it smaller • spotting incorrect maths eg 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10 • explaining how we know something or how we worked it out Problem Solving Problem solving in maths allows children to use their maths skills in lots of contexts and in situations that are new to them. It allows them to seek solutions, spot patterns and think about the best way to do things rather than blindly following maths procedures. In Reception, problem solving might include: • spotting, following and creating patterns • estimating amounts of objects • predicting how many times they can do something in a minute • sharing objects between different groups – particularly when the amount of groups change and the amount of objects stays the same

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• finding different ways to partition numbers eg 5 could be 5+0, 4+1, 3+2 etc

CLL - Reading and WritingReading and Writing across Early Years evolves from Phonics primarily. All aspects are elicited through topic and books. Ensure you use as much drama, song, role-play and creativity to ignite imaginations and inspiration. Ensure you provide opportunities for children to read and write independently throughout the whole environment in Free-flow activities. Phonics scheme

Phonics scheme in Nursery:

To introduce a ‘sound of the week’ using Jolly Phonics songs, stories and actions.

Children to bring in an object from home, that has that initial ‘sound of the week’, to add to the class ‘sound box’.

Nursery refer to Phase 1 of ‘Letters and Sounds’ scheme of work.

Phase 1 is to be taught all the way through nursery, even when all children are learning phase 2 phonemes, phase 1 activities should be taught to support developing listening skills.

Phonics scheme in Reception:

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To follow ‘Letters and Sounds’, from Reception to Year 2. Using Jolly Phonic songs, stories and actions as mnemonics up to phase 3.

High Frequency Words: Week by week break down of words to be taught in Reception.

These words are to be stuck in the front of each child’s reading diary as reference for parents.

Writing strategies to include- ‘stretching out and robot arms’, ‘say it, say it, count it, write it’. Mnemonics to be used on success criterias, shared at the beginning and end of each lesson and on work sheets. A copy of these to be sent out to parents during Autumn 2.

Handwriting in Nursery:

Mark Making Friday. To explore large scale mark making patterns and sound of the week.

Children are to be taught letter formation during Phonics using the ‘Read Write Inc’ letter patter.

Handwriting in Reception:

Handwriting will be taught within the Phonics lesson. Children in Reception to be given 10 minutes per day of

discrete handwriting lessons from Spring term using the ‘Read Write Inc’ letter patter.

Reading expectations in Nursery

Each child must bring to school each day, a school book bag to hold a reading diary and a choosing book.

If a child is beginning to segment and blend words then a Read Write Inc book can be sent home.

Children will once a week read with an adult on a one to one basis and in a small group with their teacher for a book talk session.

Reading VC/ CVC words will be taught in phonic lessons during the summer term using the duck mnemonic to support segmenting and blending words.

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Reading expectations in Reception

Each child must bring to school each day, a school book bag to hold a reading diary and a choosing book.

If a child is beginning to segment and blend words then a Read Write Inc book can be sent home.

Children will be read with on a one to one basis with the teacher and pre-readers will have a small group book talk session and established readers will have a guided read session once a week in Reception.

The reading diary must be updated at the end of each read with the name of the book being sent home, the date, and a comment must be made about successes and challenges and next steps to extend learning.

This process will be explained to parents in the Reading Workshop so that they can also reflect this method when reading with their children at home.

Each class will have a tick-list to keep track of which children have read and the adults will initial to show they have read with the child.

Children who are not on track must be highlighted to the Early Years Leader for one to one reading interventions to be set up with a Teaching Assistant on a daily basis.

Reading will be taught during literacy and phonics using the duck, skippy the frog, eagle eyes and chunky monkey mnemonics will be taught to support the children. A copy of these will be sent to parents in Autumn 2.

Assessment System25

A long observation is to be completed within the first 2 weeks of a child starting school, then 1 every term onwards. The Next Steps need to be displayed and completed by the next term. Gaps in assessment from the first long observation need to be filled in, by setting up activities in the environment where the children can show what they are able to do.

All new children starting school must be baselined. This assessment is carried out by the teacher and support

staff. This information will inform baseline assessments on

whole class progress trackers and individual progress trackers.

Teachers will make next steps and plan according to these.

After two weeks the Steps Tracker should be highlighted to show each child’s baseline level for each area of learning.

The characteristics of effective learning should be reported on in June to give an overall impression of the child’s interests and likes and added to their report.

After the baseline a focus cycle will begin where groups of 5 children will spend the week as the ‘focus’ child. During their week they will have a long observation and a selection of smaller incidental observations across the areas of learning. These will be marked off on the Focus Cycle Chart. Each child should have a cycle once a term resulting in four sets of observations, including their baseline, which should show progression from when they began to when they leave.

Intervention Groups

Targeted intervention groups will be carried out and will meet the needs of the children.

The Early Years Leaders must liaise with Inclusion to ensure interventions are necessary and relevant.

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Children will be targeted using data from Target Tracker and teacher assessment. Interventions that we currently offer are: Talking tables for reluctant speakers Terrific talkers for language enrichment Number fun Fine motor skills Daily readers

Maths and Literacy (Reception) Reception children have writing folders. Each piece of work completed will be independent and will

have: A learning question Success criteria A date A level against the EYFS Level of support

Maths activities will be uploaded onto Target Tracker as annotated photographs or pieces of work with an explanation of the activity, quotes and a level for each piece.

Teachers are to create groups for Literacy and Maths based on children’s abilities and next steps.

These groups and next steps will be reassessed half termly to ensure children are working towards the correct next steps and each class needs to ensure every member of staff has a copy of these and that they are displayed in the classroom.

Monitoring Cycles

To ensure consistently high standards SLT and Early Years leaders will carry out regular monitoring, which includes:

Lesson Observations (TA x2 per year and Teachers – see PM)

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Weekly planning checks Learning Journey and Maths/Literacy book scrutiny Learning walks Environment Audits Pact Book monitoring Pupil Progress Meeting / Tracker Updates Performance Management

BehaviourThe ‘Golden Rules’ need to be displayed in each classroom and each class can also have their own set of classroom rules if they wish.Each class has:

A recap of the Golden Rules/ class rules / individual expectations at start of each session

A ‘sun’ and ‘cloud’ on whiteboard for instant reward or reprimand (by writing name under either)

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2nd reprimand to miss 2 minutes of Free-flow 3rd reprimand to miss 5 minutes of Free-flow Biting – child is sent home and both parents informed Hitting – 5 minutes time out and both parents informed Low level disputes – 2 or 5 minutes time out depending

Rewards: Treasure chests for whole class rewards Writing, Maths and Star of the week certificates for

individual rewards Stickers for instant individual rewards

In Reception treasure chests are used to further promote individual and whole class achievements.

Classes compete with each other to see who can collect the most treasure chests.

During golden assembly on Friday at 11.20am, treasure chests are counted and Bessy Bear or Lenny Lion is given to the class with the most chests.

Awards for star, writer and mathematician of the week, from each class are also given out.

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Parent Workshops and Newsletters

Parent workshops for: Phonics Home school diaries Reading Maths

Workshops will take place in the autumn term. During spring term an extra workshop for intervention

group parents will also take place. These will be carried out by the Early Years Leader in

Reception and the Nursery manager for Nursery. Packs with activity ideas and relevant resources will be

given to parents attending the workshop and sent home to parents of target children for a small fee.

Parents are to complete evaluation forms for each workshop.

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A newsletter and homework is to be sent out weekly/ bi weekly to parents.

The newsletter informs parents of current topics, trips or issues related to the key phase.

It must also include ‘peek of the week’ to say what the children have been learning during the week and what parents can do at home to support their children’s learning, Phonics for each group, Essential Words taught that week and upcoming events.

Homework should reflect what children have been learning or to fill in gaps.

Parents have the option of handing homework back to you, which you can add to Tracker to demonstrate an example of home/school links.

Home School Diaries will be filled in by parents with photographs, pictures or a written observation to show places the child has been or special achievements. The children will then have time to share their diaries with the class and this will be used as another example of a home/school link.

Celebration Days

To take place every term as an opportunity for parents or carers to come in and share their children’s home/school diaries and to join in with their children’s learning.

Celebration Day evaluation forms to be filled out by parents.

Safeguarding Please ensure you read the Safeguarding Policy and

Medicine Policy and ensure you are all aware of safeguarding procedures and designated persons, if you are not sure see the Head teacher.

Non-prescription medication is NOT ALLOWED to be administered.

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Only prescribed medication is allowed to be administered and it must have the child’s name, dosage and expiry date clearly visible.

Such medication is to be kept in the fridge in the main school office.

Every member of staff must read and sign that they have read ‘Keeping Children Safe in Education.’

Questions to consider: Does a child have an Epi-pen? Asthma pump? Allergy? Is every adult that comes into contact with this child

aware? Do any children have a care plan? Have you seen it?

Have you made others aware of it? Do any children require a designated person to be their

intimate carer? We have a care of duty to all children, please do not ever

leave a child in soiled or wet clothing, please change them as soon as you realise. (See Southwark’s Incontinence Policy)

Yearly Overview Planner

Early Years Leaders – For a month by month breakdown of jobs to do, please refer to the yearly overview planner in the appendix folder.

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An example of an Early Years newsletter

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EAL

New arrivals

The office will give you 2 days’ notice to prepare for a new arrival.

The child will receive a translated welcome booklet, a guided tour of the school, a visit to the EAL library to collect a bilingual book and a ‘buddy contract’ for the child’s new buddy* to sign! If required, you will also receive some laminated resources for you to use with the child to aid communication in class and support you with teaching basic English vocabulary.

Please arrange for the new child to be ‘buddied up’ with another child in your class (two children if in year 1 or younger!). It would be helpful if

Tips for supporting new arrivals:

Translate resources Picture cues Sentence starters Dictionary Use the Google Translate app

(on iPad) to immediately translate writing using the camera tool

Sit child with your MA/HA children (good modelling of English)

Encourage child to write in their home language until ready

Encourage parents to continue to use their home language at home, if they’re not secure with English

1:1 everyday reading of an English book with an adult. Change book regularly.

Also provide the child with a bilingual book for them to read independently – visit the EAL library regularly to swap books.

Regular contact with parents, if possible. Find out as much as you can!

Translate letters etc. for parents, if necessary

Pre-teaching of key vocabulary, especially Topic vocab and Numeracy vocab (use your TA if possible).

Individualised target setting, personalised tasks etc.

Don’t panic if child is silent for the first few weeks!

Be mindful of why the child has joined school (refugees, asylum seekers etc.)

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you buddied them up with someone who is a confident English speaker.

Arrange for the child to sit with confident English speakers (not your SEN table!) and use Bing/Google Translate to translate their work into their own language, if required.

Allow the child to write in their own language until they are comfortable with trying English. This can take weeks!

After their first week at school, the SEND team will work with the child to complete a ‘My First Week at Bessemer’ sheet. The child can write, draw or type about their experiences, which will help us to know how we can further support them, as well as assess their proficiency in their home language.

EAL assessment

For children new to English in KS1 and KS2, please assess their Reading, Writing and Speaking & Listening using the ‘EAL assessment grids’.

These are based on Language In Common. They can be found on the Public Staff EAL 2014/15.

Assess Maths as normal using the school assessment sheets.

Please write the date every time you have evidence for the objective, then highlight when the objective is fully met.

You need to complete the assessment grids as soon as possible

Tips for supporting new arrivals:

Translate resources Picture cues Sentence starters Dictionary Use the Google Translate app

(on iPad) to immediately translate writing using the camera tool

Sit child with your MA/HA children (good modelling of English)

Encourage child to write in their home language until ready

Encourage parents to continue to use their home language at home, if they’re not secure with English

1:1 everyday reading of an English book with an adult. Change book regularly.

Also provide the child with a bilingual book for them to read independently – visit the EAL library regularly to swap books.

Regular contact with parents, if possible. Find out as much as you can!

Translate letters etc. for parents, if necessary

Pre-teaching of key vocabulary, especially Topic vocab and Numeracy vocab (use your TA if possible).

Individualised target setting, personalised tasks etc.

Don’t panic if child is silent for the first few weeks!

Be mindful of why the child has joined school (refugees, asylum seekers etc.)

EAL learners’ list of possible grammatical errors:

Verb endings/tenses (lack of knowledge that many past tenses are irregular; confusion with present simple + present continuous, e.g. I am having dinner every day; inaccurate use of past participle, e.g. I buyed it … My house got a phone)

Pronouns – accuracy and use of referral pronouns

Word order e.g. verb at end of sentence, verb/noun interchange

Spelling patterns – knowledge of familiar spelling patterns/MT interference e.g. ‘k; instead of ‘c’, ‘c’ instead of ‘s’. Spelling errors due to mis-pronunciations

Overuse of some connectives to link clauses and pieces of text e.g. and….and etc.; and then….and then….

Repetition – reliance on same simple sentence structure

Use of article. e.g. ‘the’, ‘a’, ‘an’ may be missing, use of ‘a’ instead of ‘the’ etc.

Incorrect use of prepositions/prepositional phrases e.g. at the holidays.

Range of vocabulary limited (playground language; use of imprecise nouns e.g. ‘dog’ instead of ‘fox; ‘broken’ for ‘hurt’)

Inappropriate use of vocabulary/stylistic errors

Inaccurate use of plurals/lack of

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(i.e. 2 weeks) after the child has started at school so that you can show progress.

The levels are as follows: Step 1 (S1)Step 2 (S2)Level 1 Threshold (1T)Level 1 Secure (1S)

… then when the child reaches National Curriculum level 2, you stop using the EAL grids and move on to using the regular school assessment sheets.

(If a child is already at level 2 or higher, do not use EAL assessment grids!)

Some other bits and bobs…

If a child in your class needs to attend an EAL intervention or the EAL drama group sessions, these are compulsory so please make sure they always go!

Use the EAL register to check who speaks another language in your class. The register will be updated with levels from the tracker on a termly basis.

The SEND team will carry out learning walks each term. These are to see how we can further support EAL children in your class.

G&TGeneral info

Definition of Gifted and Talented:

Gifted children are those that demonstrate an exceptional ability to excel academically in one or more academic areas.

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Teachers – please use the G&T register to check who is gifted or talented in your class, so that you can adapt your planning.

The G&T register will be updated termly. If you would like to add someone to the G&T register,

please highlight the G&T indicators sheet and email it to the SEN department.

Please also let the SEND team know if you think a child should be removed from the register.

Please ensure that work is sufficiently challenging for your G&T children!*

Provision for G&T

There are a variety of approaches that will be used to provide opportunities for the children to be challenged:

Extension in lessons* Differentiation in lessons* Challenging homework*

Definition of Gifted and Talented:

Gifted children are those that demonstrate an exceptional ability to excel academically in one or more academic areas.

An example of a highlighted G&T indicators sheet:

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Enrichment activities both in and out of school for individuals e.g. chess lessons for KS2 children gifted in Numeracy.

After school clubs Teaching of specific thinking skills (e.g. thinking out of a

box) in interventions Working with outside agencies and providers Music, Art, Computing and sport opportunities etc.

WebsiteThe school website is updated regularly. Each class has a class page. The class teacher updates each class page every half term. It should contain photos of trips, children working, children’s work and links to support learning. Previous year group pages have been archived and saved on the website so that you can have a look at what was done last year. All letters, topic homework and class newsletters are uploaded to the website so that the parents are kept informed. Please ensure all letters are sent to the office so that this is kept up to date.

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Please ensure that dates in the school diary are accurate as the diary is uploaded to the website on a regular basis to ensure parents know what is happening.

Updating your class page Log into school website in address bar

bessemergrangeprimary.co.uk/wp-admin The peekaboo page will appear type in your username and

password The dashboard page will appear Click on Bessemer grange primary school at the top left of

the page The school web page will appear Click on year groups Click on classes Click on your class Click edit in the grey bar at the top Edit your page where necessary Go to class page Preview page When you have finished update then check and log out

before closing down

Inserting pictures – Website pages

- Save your selected photos onto your desktop (you do not have to change the size)

- Login as usual - Open the dashboard- On the left-hand side scroll down and click on the icon

underneath the green square called PHOTO GALLERY- Click on add gallery images- Click add new- Name your gallery

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- Add images (left of screen on blue box)- Click upload files- Select your images from the desktop and drag them into

the upload box- Select the images- Add selected images to the gallery- Click save (top right hand side of screen)- Open class page- Edit page as usual insert writing etc- On the tool bar select the camera icon (insert photo

gallery)- Go to gallery and choose your gallery - Click insert- Update page

TwitterWe have a school twitter account. Please try and Tweet when you are out and about. To do this please follow the following instructions;

Open twitter https://twitter.com Type in the school user name email :

zbruton.210@lgflmail.organd the password b3ss3m3rgrang3

To tweet click the purple feather at the top on the right hand side of the page

A separate window will open. Type your tweet into this box. To add photos click upload photos.

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TripsVisits and trips are encouraged at our school. There is a standard trip letter which is saved on the shared area. This letter must be completed and sent out two weeks before each trip. Every trip letter must be sent to the office to check. It will then be forwarded for printing. Try and limit the number of paid trips as this can become quite expensive for parents. The office will collect all permission slips and trip money so please ensure you send these documents to them if they come to you. Email, written and text consent is fine for parent to give.A medical kit is kept in the office for each class plus first aid kits, which need to be taken on each trip. There are ‘high vis’ jackets for you to use for trips. All trips must be written in the school diary. Some trips will be booked for you. If this is the case, an email will be sent to you with the trip details.

Travel Tickets

Travel tickets are free when using public transport in London. If you wish to travel out of London a coach will need to be booked. Please ask the office to assist you with this. Free tickets need to be ordered and are posted to the school office. To book your free travel tickets please follow the following instructions;

Open the TFL webpage tfl.gov.uk

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Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the schools and young peoples link on the right hand side of the page

Scroll to the middle of this page and click the school party travel scheme link on the right hand side of the page

On the right hand side of this page click the blue sign in tab

Complete the login User name: Bessemer8se5Password: Oakl3af

Complete the form as prompted

Risk Assessments

At our school we use an online risk assessment. This needs to be completed before the trip takes place. To complete the risk assessments follow the following instructions:

Open the webpage www.southwarkvisits.org.uk Enter your log in details on the right hand side Everyone’s user name is their surname and initial

(Benjamins R) and the password is bessemerg1 Click the blue add bar and enter your visits name Continue to complete the prompts until the form has been

submitted An email will then be sent to Sarah and the trip

coordinator. We will then sign the form and you will be emailed your risk assessment for your trip.

Parent guidance letter

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