Wednesday 24 November 2010

Are you reading me?

Do you access this RSS feed to find out the latest information on your child’s class? Is it up-to-date? Is it relevant? Every class teachers welcomes your feedback on how we can improve this form of communication.

Merlin Times

Did you know our school has an online newspaper? ‘Merlin Times’ is an excellent opportunity for your child/children to write for a real audience. We have four sections on our Online Newspaper; Class News, Club News, Sports News and Other News. We welcome contributions from school or home and hope that you and your child/children will engage in this new and exciting writing project.

Merlin Times can be accessed from the pupil page within SWGfL’s Merlin. To login to Merlin visit the school website at: www.princeofwales.dorset.sch.uk and click the SWGfL Merlin logo. You can then use your child’s username and password supplied in November to access the site. Anyone who has lost or not received their username and password should see Mr. Spracklen or Mrs. Dukes.

£272 RAISED FOR S.E.N I.C.T

A big thank-you to all those who purchased Raffle Tickets at or in advance of the I.C.T Evening for Parents on Monday 8th November, 2010. The raffle raised £272 which will be used to support the use of I.C.T for pupils with S.E.N (Special Educational Needs) here at The Prince of Wales First School. The event itself was very well attended and we hope that everyone went away with a fresh understanding of how they can support their child/children in their learning at home using the power of SWGfL’s Merlin.

Wednesday 17 November 2010

A P.S. to sounds and letters

  As a P.S. to Sounds and Letters.
From time to time the children may bring home captions to read with you. These will say things like
 pat a dog   a kid  in a cap  a cat on a bed etc. these are for practise,to get used to reading simple phonic sentences. They will only come home when I feel your child is ready, or on the cusp of blending and needs practise at home. Thank you.

School assembly

 Don't forget school assembly on Friday 19th of November in the school hall at 9.20. You are welcome to drop your child off and go to the staff room to make a cup of coffee. Coffee and tea is marked as vistors. we welcome a donation towards this.

Saturday 13 November 2010

Edited version of the run up to christmas

Over the next few weeks we are linking our to learning to some books about Bears and night time.


We are going to think about light and dark through these themes. As we run up to Christmas we will be learning about reflection.

We are beginning the next set of letters this week, g oc k and will now be running faster with our learning. Over the next few weeks we will be learning  ck (two letters one sound) e u r, h b f ff ll, ss ( two letters one sound.)

The children are using magnetic letters to make words such as map sit pin tip tan man dig tap and will be going on to dog cot pod mop neck  huff  rock etc... At this stage it is vital that the children orally blend these words and say them. So get them to show you robot talk.
 Keep learning the tricky words and continue to practise cursive writing I can see the difference that your contributions to your child's education makes.
Children are enjoying group reading, but unfortunately we not always getting our group reading books back. It so important, that children have a book each to read and not fair on other families or children if books are not returned. Please make every effort to ensure books are in book bags and come backwards and forwards each day. Sometimes our timetable changes and reading happens at other times. Usually however group reading is Tuesday and Wednesday morning.


I am sorry if you were unable to attend our ICT evening it was an amazing event. You should all have your Merlin passwords now, and it would help us and your child if they could learn to log on using them. I suggest you write them in capitals and put them in front of your child to look at as they log on. Please let us me know if you have put something on Merlin so that we can look at it as part of Show and Tell.

On that note. Show and Tell is really a speaking and listening time. It is not about bringing toys into school, but about bringing something that has been made at home, or talking about a special thing or event you may have done at the weekend. Your child does not have to bring something every week. Please help your child to begin to understand this. Thank you.


Lastly we also like to praise children for things that you have praised them for, or for a special achievement outside school, such as learning to swim, riding a bike, persevering, walking a long way, or eating a food they have not tried before.  We provide a Wow moment for this. These will be in the classroom, just ask. You write and date what the children have done. We read it out and move their catapillar.

Tuesday 9 November 2010

First set of words to learn by sight.

      The children are bringing home the first set of what we call high frequency words. These are the words you see most often in written text.

We call these tricky words because they are not words that can be sounded out, but just need to be remembered and learnt by sight.

Please cut these out and blu tac in various places around the house. When you think your child knows them please change their location and learn again. Sometimes children learn the word is in the hall for example and when it is changed to another place they dont know it. When or if your child can already read these words then please practise writing them in cursive writing. Keep doing this until they can write from memory.Thank you.

Wednesday 3 November 2010

New School Website!

 As part of our continued work to improve communication between school and home we have launched a new Prince of Wales First School website. The website works in partnership with our VLE (Virtual Learning Environment) Merlin to provide pupils, parents/carers and members of the wider school community the most up-to-date information. The school website will continue to provide information for prospective parents/carers, however current parents are encouraged to refer to Merlin for events, policies, timetables, club information, etc that were previously available through the school website.

Merlin access and how this platform can be used to improve communication and support learning at home as well as school will be discussed at The Parent I.C.T Evening on Monday 8th November, 2010. If you require further information in the meantime please speak to Mr. Spracklen or alternatively email the school office at: office@princeofwales.dorset.sch.uk.

School iPhone App: AVAILABLE NOW!


As part of our continued work to improve communication between school and home we have launched the Prince of Wales First School iPhone App. The App is available to all iPhone and iPod Touch users through iTunes. The app brings parents, carers and members of the wider school community a powerful tool for keeping track of news and events at the school. Users of the app can view our school calendar and keep up to date with term times. The news section will provide a useful reference point for each class and you can contact the office using a built in feature. For further information please click the following link: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/pow-the-prince-wales-first/id399614185?mt=8&uo=4 or see Mr. Spracklen.