Garden Village
Primary Academy
Newsletter

Issue No. 3

14th September 2024

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Headteacher's Message

Welcome to the first newsletter of this academic year.

In the two weeks that Garden Village Primary Academy has been open, so much has been achieved, and we are delighted to share this with you in this newsletter.

We are so proud of how every child has settled into the Reception class, learning the new routines and expectations for behaviour, including good manners. Attending full-time, our children have also been extremely busy making new friends, experiencing lots of new learning opportunities and having fun! The smiles on the children's faces as they enter and leave are wonderful. A huge thank you from all the staff at GVPA to the parents must also be said - your support for attending the summer Stay and Play session, smart uniform, good attendance and positivity has contributed to making the first two weeks a huge success.

The First Week at School

Here are some photographs that capture the first week at Garden Village Primary Academy:

Little Wandle Phonics and Early Reading

Miss Matthews and Mrs Guild have started to teach daily phonics and reading sessions using the Little Wandle scheme. The sounds taught this week are /s,a,t,p/. Children have learnt to recognise the grapheme (letter), pronounce the sound correctly, identify the initial sound in words and also practice writing the letter on their whiteboard! Support for how to pronounce the sounds correctly can be found here: For parents | Letters and Sounds (littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk)

It has also been a pleasure to read with your child in small groups using their very first school reading book. School reading books will be changed every Wednesday. The expectation for home reading books is that you read the book at least three times per week, and you record this in your child's diary. Support for home reading at this stage can be found using this link: For parents | Letters and Sounds (littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk)

Drawing Club

Drawing Club has had huge success with the children this week. Watch We're Going on a Bear Hunt | Prime Video The focus text for this week was 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt' by Michael Rosen.

The children enjoyed listening, participating in the story and retelling the story using puppets and story maps.

The new vocabulary for this week was the word - tiptoe.

The challenges for the week included: drawing the bear and the house, using their imagination to design a way for the bear to get into the house and finally, a warning flag for others to stay away from the bear! The children's ideas were simply brilliant.

Next week's text: The Three Little Pigs

Physical Education

On Tuesday, the children used their super listening skills to learn how to follow Miss Matthews' instructions to get changed into their PE kit for the first time. Independently, the children did this very well.

On Thursday, the children did this again, but this time, much quicker! Miss Matthews and Mrs Guild were so impressed with their independence skills, so much so, a great first indoor PE lesson was had in the new hall.

Lunch Time

Miss Malbut, known as 'Pip' by the children, has prepared many delicious dinners for the children. The children have learnt the lunchtime routine and now confidently, line up and pass their coloured meal band to Pip, saying "yes please, no thank you and thank you, Pip" when they are given their meal. Again, their independence skills have shone. Once finished, scraping their plate into the food waste bin and sorting their cutlery is a new-found experience.