Oakleigh House School Parent Handbook 2020
Oakleigh House School Parent Handbook This booklet is designed to give guidance to all parents on helping their children to achieve more with particular reference to developing the skills required to be good learners. We believe that all children should be aiming to achieve things they never expected. Wherever their starting point is, children should be encouraged to reach their targets and ‘a little bit more’. We have a growth mind-set, a belief that intelligence can grow and develop over time just as underused skills and talents can wither. We recognise that our school has children of a wide ability range but we expect them all to aim high and achieve their very best. Many of the strategies that we employ to support children’s learning are appropriate for all children regardless of their ability. They are designed to develop children’s learning skills including reasoning, risk taking, resilience and perseverance as well as widening their use and understanding of vocabulary and general knowledge of the world around them. We also have to recognise that there are some children who have the potential to achieve at a very high level, well above what is normally expected for their age. The support and encouragement we need to direct at these children is the same we offer to all and we work to ensure that our practice and provision is geared to the needs of all. In school, teachers are used to managing groups of children with differing abilities and providing enrichment and extension activities for them as necessary. In addition to this, teachers focus on encouraging the independent learning skills of pupils across the school, teaching the children strategies to help them approach challenging work independently before asking for adult help. On display in our school we have a whole school challenge board which aims to display the work of all children who have challenged themselves. This board celebrates the successes of children’s efforts in class and in extra-curricular activities. Each class has an Aim High book which displays evidence of children’s work from our challenge board. As well as this, it highlights the children who have received Star of the Week or Good Work certificates each week.
Parents and teachers need to work in partnership with school staff, to keep all children focused on aiming high. The role of parents and school staff are of equal importance in building provision for all children in their learning journey. Through parents and carers, the child gets access to evening, weekend and holiday time activities and so can be involved with a wider range of ages and experiences than they usually encounter in school. Included with this booklet are some ideas about how you can support your child’s learning and an explanation of how we expect your child to set out their written schoolwork and homework. How can I support and extend my child’s learning? To develop curiosity – help children understand the world around them
Take children to museums, galleries, castles and other places of interest: • Swansea Museum • Dylan Thomas Centre • Gower Heritage Centre • Egypt Centre • Waterfront Museum • Llanelly House, • St Fagans • National Botanical Gardens
•
Develop strategies and logic for problem solving
Puzzles are an excellent source of enrichment Play games such as chess, draughts, board games Play cards Solve puzzles including jigsaws, crosswords, sudoku, word searches
Develop reading
Surround your child with books Encourage them to use the library Let children see you reading and enjoying books Read a book to your child Take an interest in the book your child is reading – start a children’s book club or read the same book as your child and discuss its merits etc. Encourage your child to read children’s classics rather than just popular fiction such as: • Alice in Wonderland • Wind in the Willows • Robinson Crusoe • Sherlock Holmes • Little Women • Treasure Island (There are many to choose from, these are just a few) Complete a reading challenge from the library or from the Challenge board
Enrich and develop vocabulary usage
Play games: Word games involving the alphabet, for eg • Consequences, having titles and finding items beginning with certain letters, eg names of trees, animals, countries, colours, capital cities all beginning with ‘j’ • The Minister’s Cat – the minister’s cat is an angry cat, the minister’s cat is an angry, bold cat, the minister’s cat is an angry, bold, cautious cat – going through the alphabet or staying on the same letter • Super-duper ghost – a spelling game - giving words and phrases with missing letters • In the manner of the adverb – act doing simple things in the manner of an adverb eg drinking water, walking, reading, shaking hands, eg angrily, dreamily, shakily – can they guess the adverb? • Word of the day / week
Develop child’s play Allow time to play Watch your child play and learn what they like and dislike, their favourite themes and interests. At the same time be sure not to be too intrusive. Show playfulness as children learn from imitating adults Play with your child Provide a place of their own for play (you need to get the balance right between planning and participating) Use opportunities in the home and the immediate environment
Kitchen chemistry – why bread rises, how food changes when it cooks, solids, liquids and gases Back garden biology – mini beasts, plant growth, bird spotting – birds and creatures that visit your garden Walks in the locality, in the park / forest / on the beach
Sharpen school skills
Encourage observation of details: A trip to the shops is a chance to build vocabulary and maths skills • Tell your children the names of vegetables • Ask your child to find 4 tins of beans • Ask your child to write your shopping list • Ask your child to compare prices of 2 similar items • Ask your child to find out where produce comes from • Which is heaviest, cheapest, more expensive, value for money • Explain something new they have learned in school
Share interests
Take the time to talk to your child about what you are interested in or excited about. Tell them what you like about it and why.
Widen their horizons
Take children to see a play, show or concert at the theatre so that they experience a live production. Learn a musical instrument. Join a new club
Space
Try to make sure that children have a space to do their own work / play Allow them access to technology – encourage them to discuss the benefits of technology
Learn together
There are many examples. Find out something about: • Flags and currencies of the world • Trees, butterflies, birds, wildflowers of Britain • Find out about famous painters, musicians, historical people • Find the highest mountain in each continent • Find the capital cities of the world • Big cats in Africa • How people live in different parts of the world
Questioning Try to ask open-ended questions that don’t have one “right” answer. This gives children confidence to respond in creative ways without being afraid of being “wrong.” For example, • •
• • • •
When visiting an unfamiliar place: “How is __________ similar to/different from __________?” “Can you explain/show me that in another way?” When reading a book: “What do you think might happen next?” “Does this remind you of anything from your life?” “Can you tell me about what you read today?” “Why did he/she act that way?” Be prepared to respond to your child’s answers with even more thoughtprovoking questions to continue to encourage higher levels of thinking and promote discussion.
Presentation Use the mnemonic DUMTUMS to remind your child how to set out his/her written homework
Online Challenges The children are able to complete online maths challenge activities from the Abacus Maths scheme, at home. These activities will be linked to the maths work being taught in class and they will be allocated by the class teacher. They will provide suitable challenge and/or reinforcement of the concepts being taught during the week. To access the online platform the children must go to: www.activelearnprimary.co.uk. The school code is VBRD. The children also have a login for Purple Mash from which our Computing scheme of work is taken. There are a whole host of interesting and fun IT projects they can complete on this. To access this platform the children must go to: www.purplemash.com Find the school name using the postcode SA2 0RL The children have a note of their usernames and passwords for both these sites in their diary.
Helping to Cultivate a Growth Mindset at Home Help children reconnect with a time when they learned something new that was a stretch or a challenge. Point out the developmental nature of ‘getting good’ – we all go through the process of making mistakes, practising and then getting better. • Help children get curious about mistakes. Help them reframe a mistake as new information or as a step in the process of learning. Help them to incorporate selfcorrection in their own learning process. • Help children learn to hear their own fixed mindset ‘voice’. Most children are unaware of this self-talk so share their own statements with them ▪ I got it wrong again, I’ll never get this. ▪ Fred is really clever; he never tries and he always gets it first. • Help children develop the language to talk with a growth mindset voice ▪ I am willing to improve and I know it will be hard at times. ▪ I get better and better with practice, it’s hard but it will get easier. • Growth mindset at the end of the day ▪ ‘What did you learn today?’ (is a better question than how was your day?) ▪ ‘What mistake did you make that taught you something?’ ▪ ‘What did you try hard at today?’ • Model growth mindset at the table ▪ At dinner – tell your child about a time when you didn’t know the answer to a question. Who did you ask for help? How did you learn the answer? ▪ At breakfast – ask questions about their opportunities for learning and growth in the coming day or week. What questions do they need answers to? What do they want to learn / practise and or get better at today / this week? •
• Avoid labels and give growth mindset praise ▪ Don’t label yourself in ways that model a fixed mindset; eg. I’m a terrible cook…..I was never good at Maths. ▪ Praise and value effort, practice, self-correction and persistence. ▪ Don’t shelter your child from a failed task. Ask ‘What can you learn from this? What could you try differently next time?’ • Show curiosity about your child’s work through questioning ▪ How did you work that out? Is there another way you could have done that? How many times did you try before you worked that out? What was challenging? What do you plan to do next time?
55 books you should read before you leave school How many can you read?
1 2 Alice’s The Adventures in Borrowers Wonderland Mary Norton Lewis Carroll
3 The Iron Man Ted Hughes
4 Swallows and Amazons Arthur Ransome
5 Black Hearts in Battersea Joan Aiken
6 The Owl Service Alan Garner
7 The Phantom Tollbooth Norman Juster
8 The Snow Spider Jenny Nimmo
9 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain
10 The Book Thief Markus Zusak
11 The Star of Kazan Eva Ibbotson
12 A Christmas Carol Charles Dickens
13 Northern Lights Philip Pullman
14 The Happy Prince Oscar Wilde
15 Just So Stories Rudyard Kipling
16 Treasure Island RL Stevenson
17 18 19 The Old Man Danny the The Indian in and the Sea Champion of the Ernest the World Cupboard Hemingway Roald Dahl Lynne Reid Banks
21 The Secret Seven Enid Blyton
22 Diary of a Wimpy Kid Jeff Kinney
23 Lord of the Flies William Golding
24 Clockwork Philip Pullman
20 The Secret Garden Frances Hodgson Burnett 25 Ender’s Game Orson Scott Card
26 Holes Louis Sachar
27 Carry on Jeeves PG Wodehouse
28 When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit Judith Kerr
29 The Railway Children E Nesbit
30 The Story of Tracy Beaker Jacqueline Wilson
31 Black Beauty Anna Sewell
32 Good night Mister Tom Michelle Magorian
33 Billionaire Boy David Walliams
34 The Highway Man Alfred Norris
35 I am David Anne Holm
39 Skellig David Almond
40 The Wind in the Willows Kenneth Grahame
36 37 38 Stormbreaker The Silver Animal Farm Anthony Sword George Horowitz Ian Serraillier Orwell
41 Kensuke’s Kingdom Michael Morpurgo
42 The Wizard of Oz LK Frank Baum
43 Artemis Fowl Eoin Colfer
44 Watership Down Richard Adams
45 Noughts and Crosses Malorie Blackman
46 Shakespeare Stories Leon Garfield
47 Stig of the Dump Clive King
48 The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe CS Lewis
49 Charlotte’s Web EB White
50 Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone JK Rowling
53 The Just William series Richmal Crompton
54 Street Child Berlie Doherty
55 Matilda Roald Dahl
51 52 Journey to Kidnapped the River Sea RL Stevenson Eva Ibbotson
Also titles by Michael Morpurgo and Nigel Hinton.
Opportunities for everyone
www.oakleighhouseschool.co.uk