Benbow Street, Deptford, London SE8 3HD Invicta Road, Blackheath, London SE3 7HE

Telephone - SE8: 020 8692 9157 Telephone - SE3: 020 8858 3831
Email address: admin@invictaprimary.co.uk Email address: admin@invictaprimary.co.uk

D​ear parents and carers, 

 
Happy new year to you all! Welcome to our Spring newsletter, which as always is designed to let you 
know about the topics for this term and to inform you about homework, trips and the school routine. 
 
This term our learning will revolve around the theme of ​‘Reading’​.​ T
​ he challenge 
question for the school is: 
“​How can our learning about the world help us to become 
global citizens of the future?” 
 
“We will learn about different environments around the world to help us understand 
differences between ourselves and others, communities and traditions.” 
 
If there is any way that y ​ ou ​can help us with this, either by sharing your own cultures and traditions , 
or other ideas please get in touch 
 
▪ As Historians we learn about differences and similarities between people and how to 
accommodate differences 
▪ As Scientists we will explore the natural world, focusing on patterns and change   
▪ As Geographers we will explore different cultures and beliefs  
▪ As Artists we will explore different songs and dance 
▪ As Users of technology we will take photos to evaluate and talk about learning 
Reception class focus for this term will be food from around the world and our cultural backgrounds . 
 
Important Dates  
 
● Monday, 29th January 2018​- ​Target Tracker​ online Learning Journals will go live. We will 
send out a letter in the next few days. Please return the required information as soon as 
possible 
● Wednesday, 31st January 2018​- ​Open Evening.​ This is a chance to come in and look around 
the classroom, talk to the teacher and ask any questions about the online Learning Journals. 
 
Homework  
 
Home  Diary-  ​Each  Friday  the  children  take  their  Home  Diary  home.  Please  support  your  child  to 
contribute  to  this  over  the  weekend.  We  do  stick  in a suggestion to guide homework but please don’t 
let  this  restrict  what  you  put  in.  Please  ​return  diaries  on  Monday  to  allow  your  child  to  share  it with 
the class.   
 
Phonics-  ​We  are  very  proud  of  our  successful  start  to  the  ​Read  Write  Inc.  phonics  scheme,  ​great 
progress  has  been  made.  All  phonics  handouts  should  be  completed  and  kept  at  home  to  use  for 
further  practise.  Your  child  may  have  a  new  phonics  group  and  teacher  over  the  next  half  term  as 
groups  are  regularly  monitored  and  assessed.  Children  will  be  learning  ‘Red  Words’  these are words 
 Benbow Street, Deptford, London SE8 3HD Invicta Road, Blackheath, London SE3 7HE
Telephone - SE8: 020 8692 9157 Telephone - SE3: 020 8858 3831
Email address: admin@invictaprimary.co.uk Email address: admin@invictaprimary.co.uk

that  you cannot use phonics to read and spell such as ‘said’ (phonetically ‘sed’), your child will need to 
remember these words so do point them out, practise and explain this when they pop up. 
 
Reading-  ​Please  ensure  you  are  sharing  books  at  home  with  your  child  as  often  as 
possible to develop a passion for books.   
Monday-  Thursday  ​decodable  phonics  books  are  sent  home,  these  are  books  for  your 
child  to  read  to  you.  Story books are also sent home on the same day, these are for you to 
read  and  enjoy  with  your  child.  The  date  of  your  child's  book  change  depends  on  their 
house  group  so  please  do  check  the  inside  of  their  reading  record  to find out which group 
they belong to. 
 
To  enable  us  to  swap  your  child’s  books  please  ensure  that  the  book  due  to  be  swapped  and  the 
reading  record  are  both  in  your  child’s  bag.  Bags  and  reading  records  are  an  important  way  to 
prevent  books  from  being  lost  or  damaged,  please make sure your child is coming into school with a 
book  bag  every  day  in  order  to  ensure  handouts  and  books  make  their  way  home  reliably.  Don’t 
forget  to  write  a  short  comment  in  their  record  book  to  let  us  know  what  your  child  thought  of  the 
book. Remember we have some fantastic local libraries for access to a brilliant range of books!   
 
Time tables 
Here is a basic timetable of things that happen each week. ​Please note- some of the timings of the 
sessions are are subject to change. 
 
Blackheath O’Malley/Galleon Reception Classes 

       
Start time  Monday  Tuesday  Wednesday  Thursday  Friday 

8.55  Self-Registration  Self-Registration  Self-Registration  Self-Registration  Self-Registration 

Literacy input    Literacy input 
9.00  Literacy input  Literacy input   
Music with Mr 
RWI  Barker  RWI 
9.15  RWI  RWI   
Child Initiated and 
Mandarin with Ms  Child Initiated and  Focus Activities  Child Initiated 
Liu  Child Initiated and  Focus Activities  and Focus 
10.15 
  Focus Activities  Activities 
 
Tidy up  Tidy up  Tidy up  Tidy up 
10.45  Tidy up 
       
  Maths  Maths  Maths  Guided reading 
Maths 
10.50 

11:15  Toilet  Toilet  Toilet  Toilet  Toilet 

 Benbow Street, Deptford, London SE8 3HD Invicta Road, Blackheath, London SE3 7HE
Telephone - SE8: 020 8692 9157 Telephone - SE3: 020 8858 3831
Email address: admin@invictaprimary.co.uk Email address: admin@invictaprimary.co.uk

LUNCH   LUNCH   LUNCH 

11:30  LUNCH   LUNCH  

1:00  Self-Registration  Self-Registration  Self-Registration  Self-Registration  Self-Registration 

     
1.10  Guided reading  Challenge Input  Challenge Input  Challenge Input  Challenge Input 

Child Initiated 
Child Initiated and  Child Initiated and  Child Initiated and  Child Initiated and 
1.30  and Focus 
guided reading   Focus Activities  Focus Activities  Focus Activities 
Activities 
2:50  Tidy up  Tidy up  Tidy up  Tidy up  Tidy up 

3.00  Story  Story  Story  Story  Story 

3:15  Home time  Home time  Home time  Home time  Home time 
 
Reception  fund:  ​Now  the  children  are  more  settled  and  ready  to  do  more  focused  tasks  such  as 
cooking  we  will  need  to  raise  money  for  additional  expenses  using our class fund. An adult will be on 
the  gate  on  a  Monday  morning  with  the  Reception  piggy  bank  and  we  ask  parents  for  a  voluntary 
contribution of 50 pence a week.  

Please ensure that you ​bring your child’s bag everyday a

​ nd that their uniform is clearly labelled. 

It  is  always  recommended that your child has a ​spare change of clothes ​(not necessarily uniform) in 

his/her  book  bag  in  case  of  accidents  or  as  a  change  after  water  play.  Donations  of  old  clothes 
including pants, socks and trousers are needed and very welcome.  

Children  have  access  to  ​junk  modelling  ​everyday  so  we  constantly  need  supplies  of  small  clean 
boxes,  bottles,  containers, plastic milk bottles, old flour to make playdough etc and any other creative 
resources. We would also welcome any possible donations of old furniture or other items such as toys 
etc, however, please discuss this with a class teacher before bringing items in. 

As  our  new  challenge  is to promote the love of reading we would like to take small groups of children 

to  our  local  library.  We  therefore  would  love  and  need  parent volunteers to join us. If you are able to 
volunteer please talk to Mrs Santafe. 

Chinese  New  Year-  ​On  Friday  the  16th  of  February we will be celebrating Chinese 

New  Year-  the  year  of  the  Dog  -  at  Invicta!  we  would  really  like  to  make  this  a 
special  day  for  all  the  children.  We  ask  that  your  child  wears  red  or  gold  (to 
 Benbow Street, Deptford, London SE8 3HD Invicta Road, Blackheath, London SE3 7HE
Telephone - SE8: 020 8692 9157 Telephone - SE3: 020 8858 3831
Email address: admin@invictaprimary.co.uk Email address: admin@invictaprimary.co.uk

symbolise  good  luck),  or  your  culture’s  traditional  outfit  for  celebrating  or they can even dress up as 
a  rooster.  If  you  have  any  ideas  to  help  us  to  celebrate  Chinese  New  Year  speak  to  your  child’s 
teacher. 

As always, If you have anything you would like to discuss at other times of the term please make an 
appointment. Alternatively, you can email us at the addresses below. 
We welcome parent volunteers, whether you would like to read books with the children or if you have 
a particular skill you could share with the class. 
 
And finally… 
We will be creating a new setting in our outdoor area. We would appreciate if you have any old 
suitcases, old currencies from around the world, luggage or bathroom scales and travel 
brochures . 
Also any traditional and cultural costumes for the children to dress up in for our role play areas.   
  
 
 
We look forward to an exciting term. 
 
Mrs Santafe and Ms Farrow 
 
j.farrow@invictaprimary.co.uk 
m.santafe@invictaprimary.co.uk