End of School Review!

Its now July 20th 2018 and it is James last day in year one! I cannot believe how fast this school year has gone! I feel like I have blinked and its over!

Compared to Reception, I really think Year One has been the making of James! I remember his old Reception Teacher saying she thought he just needed the structure of year one learning and she was right! James is not one of those children who benefits from the learning through play that reception is based, He needed to have the structured time table of maths at a certain time and phonics at certain time and he has come on in leaps and bounds.

The main bases of learning for James in this last term has all been towards the National phonics test, sometimes I think there has been too much pressure on the kids as before the test James was coming home exhausted after having two hard phonics sessions a day rather than the one he had been used to.

The homework diary they use for years 1-6 have pages in the back for all the stickers the kids get and boy has James had a lot of stickers! Last year he barely got any, this year he has sometimes had two or three a day!

He has also had Star of the week twice, he's been very proud when he has come home with I his sticker which is given out in assembly by the head teacher, the certificate is then posted home. 

James also came home with an academic achievement certificate from his head teacher a few weeks ago! 

I am so proud of how well James has done this year! Year two is going to be even harder as they will be working towards the key stage one SATs!

What does James take to school?

We are pretty lucky that we don’t actually need to provide anything for James for school apart from his school bag and his water bottle. His school even provided every child with a new school pe kit back in September! 

James currently uses his Zip and Zoe multi dinos bag for school. We got this as a review item when James was in reception and he loves it although it is starting to get slightly battered and need to be replaced before he starts year two in September! 

In his bag on a typical school day he will have his water bottle, His home school diary where we record his reading and his homework and his reading book.

I also normally keep a spare pair of socks in his school bag as well as James likes playing in puddles and quite often ends up with wet feet.

On certain Wednesdays James will have forest school so I will put his school shoes into his bag and a carrier bag for him to put his wellie boots and his waterproof trousers into once he has finished the session.

On a Monday James will also have his homework book in his bag, his class are given their homework on a Thursday so they have the whole weekend to complete it and hand in on the Monday.

We will also sometimes have a woolly hat in his bag as well sometimes too.

So this is what James takes to school on a daily basis. I'm expecting once he goes into year two in September he will be taking a lot more stuff with him!

End of Spring Term

So it's the end of the spring term at school and it's so hard to believe that James only has one term left in year one before the summer holidays and he goes into year two! It really does not seem like five minutes since he started the school nursery and now he has almost finished year one!

This term he has gone up a level in his reading books, Started a group with two of his friends to help with speech and language and made a new friend when a new boy started in his class! He comes home full of beans and actually likes doing his reading and his homework! 

He has done another block of forest school which he absolutely adores! I really hope the school can keep up the forest school for when Freddie starts as I think he will love it just as much as James does! He loves being outdoors and Forest School gets him outside and learning lots of new skills! 

He has come on so much since he first started at his school in the nursery back in 2015 that in part to the wonderful staff and family atmosphere at his school!

Next term we have the year one national phonics test coming up eek! Fingers crossed for James passing it!

First Term of Year One!

So today is the last day of the Autumn Term at school for James and its also the end of the first term in Year One!

I'm going to be honest and admit James didn't have the easiest time in Reception last year, He found it very challenging and I was terrified at how he was going to deal with going into Year One where they have a much more structured time table of lessons, where as Reception it was very much learning through play. In Year One they only get one hour a week of free play and that is last thing on a Friday afternoon. 

I have been so surprised at how well James has adapted. He has a new found love for reading and has had over thirty books this term alone where as in Reception he had about ten in the whole year! 

He also loves drawing pictures and writing his numbers! They have been learning about the Great Fire of London this term and James is totally fascinated by it and he is so excited that we are going to spend a day in London in February half term!

He says his favourite things to do in school are reading, number work and playtime! I don't know where he gets his love of maths from as mummy has always hated it and not been very good at it!! He has also had his forest school sessions this term which he has absolutely adored! One day a week they would spend the morning in the school secret garden learning fantastic skills ie cooking on a campfire and building the fire. They even made nettle pancakes which James loved!

We had parents evening a couple of weeks ago and his teacher said how proud she was of him and how well he has adapted. We go to look at his books and we saw such a difference in his handwriting in just a few weeks. 

I really hope this attitude he has towards his school work continues into the rest of the year! Well Done James we are all so proud of you!

End Of Reception - First Year at School!

So it's James last day of school today and I really can't believe my baby boy has finished his first year in school.

This time last year he was finishing nursery and I was all i cant believe he's finishing nursery for big boy school and now he's finished his first year in school. Year one in September sounds so grown up.

I know James is really going to miss the TA they have in the afternoon as she was his TA in nursery so he has had her for the last two years.

So it's not been an easy year for James. He has had his struggles, mostly with his stubbornness. You ask him to do his keywords or his reading and he just mucks about.

He has some lovely friends most are from his class at nursery, but he has made friends with some of the kids that were new in the school.

I have loved going up to pick him up and hearing all about his day. I have been going up that little bit earlier so I can see him play outside with his friends. Its so cute hearing his little friends shouting "James there's your mummy and baby!"

Since James started school, his relationship with Freddie has got so much better. He comes out of school telling him he's missed him.

We had the end of term project outcome last week and mummy, daddy, nana, gaga and Freddie went into have school dinner with James and to collect our cook books that the kids had made this term.

Although it's the end of school, James is still not yet five and wont be five till the second last weekend of the summer holidays.

I'm so proud of everything James has achieved in reception and I'm looking forward to him continuing to flourish in year one.