Gems pupils are very excited to meet Father Christmas tomorrow in the Vineyard Grotto. We are sure this will be a truly special experience. For PSHE, we have been talking about friendships and in particular the friendships that many of the pupils now have with their Reception classmates. Our building is separate, so we don’t spend all our time with our peers, but we have talked about how nice it is to play football or use the climbing frame together. Some Gems pupils like to walk around the playground and explore the trees and leaves and it is great when a friend from Reception chooses to do that with us. In Maths, we have been continuing to learn and recognise the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. In phonics we have been learning the sound ‘p’ and recapping on last week's sound ‘n’. Please continue Phonics work at home if you can. We also find that LittleBig Foxes, Number Blocks and RWI songs on their websites are a great source of fun and education.

Key messages

• It is Christmas jumper day this Coming Tuesday (19th)

• Please practise writing and saying the set 1 sounds at home, using the phonics website by Ruth Miskin to help you. 

• Please take a moment to look at our decorations hanging in the window of Gems. We are very proud of them and we hope it brings festive cheer as you walk down the path.

• website: https://sites.google.com/thevineyardschool.org/phonicsthevineyard/reception 

• Reading books: please note we don’t expect children to be able to read the story books that they have chosen to bring home. They are for you to read to them. 

• Pick up time for Gems pupils is 3pm. Please try to be prompt so we can maximise the time we have to set up for the next day’s learning.