EY2 Welcome Letter

Dear EY2 Families, 

We are so delighted to finally welcome you all properly to EY2 after a very unusual start to the academic year. We would also like to thank all our parents and carers who have supported the children with their learning since the start of the year. The children have engaged so positively with the learning opportunities available to them and we really have been so impressed with the level of engagement and enthusiasm. This letter is designed to support you in preparing for your child’s return on Tuesday 29th September. 

Daily Routines

Our school day begins at 8:20am and finishes at 3:00pm. In the morning, when you arrive at the EY2 classrooms, we kindly ask you to ‘kiss and drop’ your child in the playground. To ensure social distancing, please keep a distance from the classroom doors and allow your child to walk to their classroom themselves. If you anticipate that your child is going to find the transition back into school difficult, please make contact with their class teacher prior to the 29th September so we can discuss ways to support this process.

Your child will need to have everything in their bag, including their mask bag, water bottle, snack, packed lunch and Reading & Library folders (when necessary). They will need to bring their bag into their classroom in the morning and hang it on the back of their chair. They will also need to wear their school hat each day and keep this in their bags.

A video will be shared with you next week which will clearly show what the children will need to do at the start of the day.

At the end of the school day, please wait outside the EY2 classrooms to collect your child.  The children will be dismissed individually from their classroom door and will not be released until their class teacher can see their appropriate adult.  If your helper will be taking on the role of dropping off and picking up your child from school, please kindly share this information with them. If your child is going home with another parent or helper then please inform your child’s teacher at drop off in the morning as we are unable to release the children without this previous knowledge. 

Your child’s timetable can be found on our communication boards, which can be found outside the classrooms. Please note the times for PE lessons and ensure your child comes to school wearing the appropriate kit on their designated days. The timetable will also show when your child will have their Mandarin, Music, Learning Technology and Library specialist lessons. A copy of the timetable will also be stuck into their reading diary.

Homework

In EY2, the children will have weekly reading, Maths and spelling homework. Homework is designed to be challenging but also fun and engaging. 

Reading Homework

Your child will receive one fiction and one non-fiction reading book per week to read at home. Your child’s teacher will let you know on which days the books will be changed as this will depend on the timetable for each class. Over the first few weeks when the children return to school, we will assess their reading ability so that we can give them accurately leveled books. To allow time for us to do this, the new reading level books will be given out during the week beginning 26th October. In the meantime, your child will bring one fiction and one non-fiction book home a week at their current level. They will also be given a ‘Back to School Poetry’ booklet to enjoy at home when they first return to school. 

Your child has a reading diary where you or your child will need to write the title of their book to confirm it has been read. They will have an ‘iRead Wheel’ stuck into their diaries that will be updated in class once a week. In EY2, we count a read of 15 minutes as one iRead step around the wheel. To work their way around the wheel they could read their school reader, library book or any other book they have read. Please record each 15 minute read in your child’s diary. In EY2, the children are asked to only bring their reading folders and diaries into school on their reading lesson days. We kindly ask for all books to be returned on Tuesday 29th September. Your child will then need to return their reading books on the days specified by their class teacher before being given their new book to take home.

We place great emphasis on helping our children to comprehend texts. For this reason, during the year, your child may sometimes bring home books that they have read before, that match their comprehension ability.  These familiar books can be seen as an opportunity for the children to read texts with greater confidence and fluency, to allow greater time to be spent on comprehending the text at a deeper level. 

We will also be continuing with the Ruth Miskin RWI programme whereby the children will be tutored on phonics, reading and writing over five lessons per week.  Your child will be in an ability-based group led by an RWI trained adult.  The groups are adapted throughout the year to meet each child’s individual needs and progress.  RWI books will be sent home once a book has been completed and should be returned the following week to their RWI teacher. RWI will begin during the week of the 5th October.

The children will also have the opportunity to borrow one book from the school library each week (this will increase to two books in Term 2).  Please ensure your child brings an additional folder to school on their designated library day for these books.

Spelling Homework  

For spelling, the children will continue to learn new spelling rules and patterns based on the English National Curriculum spelling programme. Spelling lists will be differentiated to cater for the individual needs of students. For the week of the 28th September, we will continue to set the weekly Spelling list and quiz on Seesaw. From Monday 5th October, instead of the children completing their spelling homework on Seesaw, they will bring home a ‘Spelling Homework Book’ to practise their spellings in at home. Spelling homework will be given out each Monday. Their Spelling book is due back in school on the following Thursday and they will then complete a spelling quiz in school each Friday.

Maths Homework

The Maths homework will be delivered mainly through a website called MagnaHigh.  If no online homework has been set, please check your child’s reading folder, as you will find a paper activity or practical activity for your child to complete instead. A notice will usually be placed on the board outside the classroom if this is the case.  The aim of this homework is to consolidate the learning that has occurred during the previous week. Your child’s log in details will be stuck into their diaries. Maths homework will begin during the week of 26th October.

Class Parents

Class Parents play an important role in Discovery Bay International School’s community and culture.  This role greatly benefits everyone within a class, assisting the teacher in a range of ways throughout the year.  Class Parents are parent volunteers that take on the role in the early weeks of each new school year.  This role is not limited to one person, and ideally, each class should have two Class Parents.  Some of the suggested activities that class parents may wish to be involved in are:

  • Communicating with the other parents in the class
  • Welcoming new families and farewell those leaving
  • Assisting the class teacher, when necessary
  • Organising social gatherings for their class

If you are interested in taking on this special role, please sign your name up on the sheet outside your child’s classroom.  The class teachers truly appreciate the support we receive from our class parents throughout the year.

School Uniform

Please ensure your child is wearing the appropriate and correct uniform to school each day.  Details of this can be found on our school website (link:http://www.dbis.edu.hk/477/parents/uniform).  Hats must be brought to school every day as students must wear these during break and lunch times, otherwise, they will be unable to play on the playground.  Students with longer hair are requested to tie it back for health and safety reasons.  Whilst watches and small earring studs are permitted, bracelets, necklaces and anklets are not permitted at school. As has been communicated previously, we appreciate that the children have not been at school for a long time and therefore you may not have been able to source everything you need in time for the start of the year. We will therefore be flexible with you whilst you source everything your child requires.

Healthy Lunches and Snacks

To promote the health and wellbeing of the children, we encourage them all to make healthy choices for their snacks and lunches.  Please note that candy, sweets, fizzy soda pop and chewing gum are not allowed at school.

We would also like to take this opportunity to remind you that DBIS is a nut free school.  We aim to safeguard all children, please help us to do this.  If your child has an allergy that you feel is of a concern to their safety, please speak with your child’s class teacher.

If you have any queries or questions please do not hesitate to contact your child’s class teacher.  Once again, we really are looking forward to welcoming the children back to school.

 

Kind regards

 

The Year 2 Teachers:

Emily Sharman, Jane Broderick,  Lyndsey Coote, Ciara Sasikumar

 

The Year 2 Educational Assistants:

Grazyna Bobrowska, Linda Taylor, Jean Capito, Vivian Yeo

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