Welcome Back & Spring Term Priorities
Happy New Year! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas break and are feeling refreshed and ready for what promises to be an exciting term ahead.
It's been lovely to see the children return with such enthusiasm and energy. The staff and I are really looking forward to the opportunities this spring term brings, and we're excited to build on all the excellent progress we made in the autumn term.
Our Key Priority: Writing Excellence
This term, we're putting a real focus on improving writing across the school. We're teaching writing as a process – helping children to plan, draft, revise, edit and publish their work. All classes have already begun work on their spring writing projects and I've been so impressed by the creativity and effort the children are putting in.
Writing: How You Can Help Your Child at Home
You play such an important role in supporting your child's writing development. Here are some practical ways you can help:
Talk, talk, talk!
- Read texts aloud together and act out scenarios that could form part of a story
- Chat about ideas before your child writes them down
- Ask them to tell you about what they're learning in school and their writing projects
Read together regularly
- Reading widely exposes children to different writing styles, vocabulary and sentence structures
- Talk about how authors create effects and why they've made certain choices
Practise the writing process at home
- Help your child plan their writing using simple planning tools or visual organisers
- Encourage them to draft their ideas first, then revise and edit their work
- Celebrate their finished pieces by displaying them at home
Make writing purposeful and fun
- Write shopping lists, thank you cards, stories, or keep a diary together
- Let them see you writing for different purposes too
Support handwriting and spelling
- As these become more automatic, children can focus more on the content of their writing rather than how to form letters
- Little and often works best for practice at home
Exciting News: The National Year of Reading
Reading is at the heart of everything we do at Southill Primary. We know that being a confident, fluent reader opens doors to the whole curriculum and to life beyond school. That's why we're absolutely thrilled that The National Year of Reading is coming soon – and of course, we're Going All In!
This is a fantastic national initiative to celebrate the joy of reading and its power to transform lives. Reading isn't just a skill we teach; it's a passion we want to ignite in every child. When children love reading, they become lifelong learners who can access any opportunity that comes their way.
We'll be sharing more details about our special events, activities and reading challenges in the coming weeks. From author visits to reading competitions, family reading events to our book week celebrations – we've got so much planned to make reading even more exciting and meaningful for our children.
Watch this space – this is going to be brilliant!
A Quick Reminder About School Uniform
I've noticed quite a few children wearing trainers this week. Can I please remind you that trainers aren't part of our school uniform – children should wear black school shoes. Staff will be gently reminding children if their uniform isn't quite right, and we'd really appreciate your support in making sure your child comes to school in the correct uniform each day. If you're experiencing any difficulties with uniform, please don't hesitate to contact the school office – we're here to help.
Enrichment Opportunities This Term
We're committed to providing rich, memorable learning experiences for all our pupils. Every class will be going out on a trip or having an exciting visitor or workshop this term. Our staff have been working incredibly hard to organise these opportunities, which will bring learning to life and create lasting memories for the children.
Year 4's Shakespeare Spectacular!
Year 4 have a particularly exciting term ahead as they get stuck into their production of Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra. This is a truly remarkable opportunity for our pupils, and we're incredibly proud of what they're going to achieve.
The highlights include:
- Performing on stage at Weymouth Pavilion in February – a professional theatre venue right on our doorstep!
- Visiting Shakespeare's Globe in London – experiencing the magic of Shakespeare's own theatre
- Watching a performance of Disney's Hercules the Musical – bringing classical stories to life
- Taking part in a Disney dance workshop – learning from professional performers
This project will not only develop the children's confidence, creativity and performance skills, but will also significantly enhance their understanding of language, storytelling and drama. What an incredible experience!
More details about individual class trips and visitors for other year groups will follow from your child's class teacher.
Important Dates for Your Diary
Please note these key dates for the spring term:
- 28-30 January - Year 4 residential to London
- 9-13 February - Children's Mental Health Awareness Week
- 11 February - Year 4 Shakespeare performance at Weymouth Pavilion
- 13 February - School closed for INSET Day
- 16-20 February - Half Term
- 2-6 March - SP Book Week
- 12 March - Paddington The Musical trip
- 27 March - Last day of term (non-uniform day)
Full term dates are available on our website.
Thank You
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank our incredible staff team for their dedication and hard work. They've been busy planning exciting learning experiences and have made a wonderful start to the term, ensuring our classrooms are welcoming, engaging places where children can thrive.
Most importantly, thank you to our pupils for their positive attitudes and excellent behaviour. It's a pleasure to see them learning, growing and supporting one another every day.
Here's to a successful and rewarding spring term!
Warmest wishes,