Primary News - September 7 2020 second part

Dear Parents and Students,

First of all, a warm welcome to all of the students who have returned after the summer break, as well as the new students joining us. Despite the rain on the first morning, it has been an absolutely fantastic start to the new school year and already the classrooms are buzzing with exciting activities and projects. Students are enjoying the outdoor areas for playing and exploring. I have also been impressed by how smart our students look in their new school uniform.

The Curriculum Evenings took place this week via online webinars, during which Class Teachers went over important information. Should parents have any concerns or questions, please contact your Class Teachers directly. Parents should also refer to the Primary Students Handbook for general information, along with other Key documents on the school website.

In week 2, we will be offering the after-school supervision for our younger students in Nursery-Year 2. If you would like to register your child, please follow this link. Further information will follow in regards to the after-school Activities and Clubs offered to students. And don’t forget to sign up for the Enrichment Saturdays for further fun activities.

Please continue to follow the Summer Update from the Principal for reopening guidance. Our main priority remains the health and safety of our students. We ask parents to ensure that they have signed the Declaration forms for their children.

Have a great weekend and keep safe,

Katarina Železinger

Head of Primary

Early Years

We have been exploring our Early Years area and trying out the new benches this week. We are taking advantage of the sunny weather to identify colours and make shapes with the ribbons in the garden!

Finally, we have started creating in the junk modelling area, please expect many creative projects in the future!

Ms Rosa

Year 1

Year One had a wonderful week, exploring the natural environment around the school as part of their topic lessons. They drew plants, made collection baskets, practised reading and labelling things found, and went for a walk in the nearby woodland making flower bracelets as they walked.

Fun in the Sun!

Ms Blundell

Year 2A

Our week in Year 2 has been a great start to the year. We have made many new friends and thought about what it means to be a good friend. Year 2A have also been reading 'Have you filled a bucket today?' where we have been thinking about kindness and ways to make others feel great every single day.

We are looking forward to the coming week where we will be learning lots of new things in Maths, Topic and Literacy.

Ms Harris

Year 2B

Year 2B has had a fantastic start to the year! This week we have been focusing on getting to know our classmates and how we can show kindness to each other. The students were eager to start learning and had their first phonics lesson on Thursday. We were all impressed with their incredible sounding out and reading skills!

Next week, we are excited to start our work on our topic of pirates.

Ms Miller

Year 3

In the first week back, Year 3 began with learning about place value in Maths, writing the recount of their summer holidays in English, and started with their topic for this block about the similarities of lives of people in different places. Each student made a video to introduce themselves to the world in their home language and also learned the 'continent song' to help them remember the seven continents. Well done to the students and everyone involved in the Year 3 community for their positive contributions this week. A good start is half the battle as they say.

Mr Mulcahy

Year 4

Year 4 have settled in quickly to the new school year and it has been great to see all the new students finding their feet and making new friends in this first week. We have started looking at videos set in Victorian times in England, and are really appreciative that we live in modern times. We have still seen some similarities between the 2 periods, though in most areas we have been lucky to see great development in living conditions, work and leisure time. Students have been diving into Swift Playgrounds which starts off our computer programming unit. In maths, we are solidifying our place value knowledge as a basis to launch into the Year 4 Maths curriculum.

Mr Bishop

Year 5A

Y5A have had a wonderful start to the year. The class have set out all our rules and routines and all children have responded positively to their new classroom environment. This week we have been looking at our school, home and social targets for the year while also having time to draw some unbelievable pictures of dragons for our English display. I am really excited for the rest of the year!!

Mr Walker

Year 5B

THE STORY OF MY NAME

Year 5B has been getting to know each other in a number of ways, in particular through Human Bingo and 'The Story of my Name'. The latter was done through reading the storybook - The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi and then having the students think about their own names and what their names mean to them. The students brought their ideas home and talked together with their parents to find out the meaning of their names (if any), who chose their names and why, as well as discussing nicknames and their origins and then sharing all these answers with the rest of the class this week.

We learnt a lot about each other through this task, including traditions in our families and customs from different countries. The students concluded the task by drawing a self-portrait from a photo that they took of themselves using their tablets, but to make it extra challenging, they were only allowed to draw the top half of their face as closely as they could to what they saw. Display coming shortly.

Mrs Charlesworth

Year 6

It has been a tremendous start to the first term for Year 6. The children have demonstrated their readiness for learning and their resilience as we face new tasks and challenges this year.

One of the tasks we tackled this week was the Summer Holiday Recount. After completing the writeup, the students self and peer assessed their work and with the help of their teachers, everyone came up with a realistic yet challenging writing target.

Keep up the fantastic work Year 6. I hope you will continue to enjoy learning and grow together throughout the year.

Mr Kokalj

PE News

During PE this week students got to know the sports facilities (Ludus) and played some fun games to get to know their new classmates for this school year. We focused on activities for next week because in Block 1 Primary PE will be all about rollerblading.

Please note: On days when primary students have PE on the timetable, please bring the appropriate PE equipment to school.

Equipment needed:

• Rollerblades
• Helmet
• Wrist guards
• Elbow pads
• Knee pads

Looking forward to it!

PE Department

French

Year 5 has made a great start in French this week. After reviewing questions from previous years they created and recorded amazing dialogues.

Bravo!

Mrs Poulet

Slovene

We would like to welcome all students who are joining Slovene for their first time as well as those who will continue developing their language skills. We are looking forward to working with you and being a part of the progress you are making.

Slovene Department

MEPI

There has been much talk of MEPI this week, as current participants begin to take stock of their achievements to date, and potential new 'recruits' (fuelled by Tutor Time presentations) consider the enrolment process! Parents too, have been sent information and been given the opportunity to take part in a webinar. The MEPI meetings will start on Monday 7th September (so as to fall in line with our current school policy) and will focus on registering with MEPI through the 'Online Record Book' (ORB) app. All are welcome, whether you are ready to register, or just want to find out more. Existing participants may skip this first meeting, but we look forward to welcoming them back properly from the following Monday. In the meantime, please feel free to approach Mr Irving, Ms Tušar, or Mr Hughes, if you are already looking to register, would like help with the ORB, or just have a question about MEPI in general.

Mr Irving

Enrichment Saturday 22nd August

Here are some photos taken from the first of our three Enrichment days. The next 2 will take place on Saturday 29th August and Saturday 5th of September.

PTA

If any parents are interested in the role within the PTA, please email the Principal directly.

Dear Parents,

Thank you for your support and encouragement throughout this first week at school. It has been wonderful to see the students, staff and parents together as we start this new Academic Year. It has felt very positive and the whole building feels full of energy and excitement as we press ahead into our first term of the year.

I would like to update you on the safety procedures that we had planned for the first two weeks as mentioned in the Summer update from the Principal.

We have opened in a very safe manner with a lot of extra procedures in place to ensure that all students return back to school in a clean building, clear guidance and good hygiene protocols in place for everyone. Thank you to all parents for helping with this by filling in the declaration forms, modelling hygiene etiquette and working together.

We have amended point number 3 below for secondary students to continue wearing masks for the next week.

After Week 2, we aim to start gradually reducing the guidance throughout the school. Further guidance on a staggered start for all students may be made if guidance is provided by the Ministry of Health/Education over the coming week for all schools in Slovenia.

Reopening/Safety Guidance

Safety is our number one priority at school and we continue to check and follow the latest guidance available (Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, WHO, etc).

As we move into week 2, we will continue with the following procedures in place on a temporary basis and will review daily and update each Friday:

1. Sanitation guidelines, handwash and antibacterial gels will continue to be used throughout the school.
2. Declaration forms will be compulsory for all students to be handed in at reception. New students will hand these in before starting at school.
3. Masks for staff and students in corridors and common areas will be worn.
4. Lunches will be delivered to classrooms.
5. No large gatherings of students and teachers will be planned for indoors.
6. Early Years Parents can follow the settling in period instructions for the first week, allowed on site wearing masks.
7. Parents in the building by appointment only.
8. After school supervision for Early Years, Year 1 and 2, starts from Monday 31st August.

The following areas may be updated individually should further information from the sources above be confirmed:

• Masks for all staff in offices/smaller spaces.
• External Trips to public indoor sites.
• After-school clubs.
• Presentations for parents/calendared events (some events may take place in smaller groups at school, outdoors at school, virtually, etc)
• Possible split classes.

Click here to continue reading the full update from the Principal.