It was lovely to see so many of you at the various parents' meetings before half term, when I was able to explain how Foundation Phase works to parents of Nursery children, and to go over some of the ways in which you can all help Reception children with their literacy and numeracy skills. If any of you missed one of those sessions and would like to see me at a different time, please just let me know.

All the boys and girls in both Nursery and Reception have had a very busy first half of term, and we are all so proud of the work they're doing, the discoveries they're making, and the ways in which they take ownership of their own learning.

May we ask you all to help your children learn how to write their name using a capital letter only at the start, and lower case letters correctly formed thereafter. Very often children learn to write their name using capital lettes, and it is always difficult to change to lower case letters.

It is best to learn only one letter at a time, so for a girl named Margaret concentrate on the capital M first of all. When the child can do that confidently add in the a, and so on. Correct formation over a longer period of time is much more important than being able to write your name but with incorrectly formed letters.

Reception children are being encouraged to practise letter recognition at home on a very regular basis. They are also starting to focus on learning to recognise the first 45 high frequency words, and as and when they are ready for reading, they are issued with a book from our Bug Club scheme.

As we start the second half of term, we are excited about all the new learning opportunities we will have. One of these involves starting to prepare for our Nativity Play Angel Express and I am sure you will soon know the words to all the songs! We look forward to sharing that with you in December. Meanwhile, thank you all for your support and encouragement!