Welcome to Swinney Class

Named after Swinney Beck, the smallest tributary to the River Ure, Swinney Class is made up of our Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 pupils. Their teacher is Cate Lawton and they are supported by Mrs Middleton and Mrs Knowles.

Swinney Class love building, circle games and phonics!

In our class, Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 learn together, sharing ideas, fun and friendship in both our indoor and outdoor learning environments.
Miss Lawton is our teacher, supported by Mrs Middleton and Mrs Knowles. On Wednesday afternoons, Mrs Tattersall teaches us, too.

Our learning is carefully planned to make sure that we are covering the right things for our year groups – Reception follow the EYFS, with lots of learning through play and following our interests as well as taking our first steps into learning phonics, reading, writing and maths and exploring our ideas about the world around us. Years 1 and 2 build on their strong start as they move smoothly into Key Stage 1, where they continue to focus on the key areas as well as broadening their learning into more specific subject areas such as Geography and History, through a mixture of directed and exploration style activities.

All the adults work with all children over the week, so that everyone gets the most effective support to meet their needs. Sometimes, some of us work in small groups to receive extra support in the areas we find tricky, to help us reach our very best.

PE:
Our PE lessons are mostly taught as a whole class, with careful planning to ensure that children are challenged at their own level. They take place on Mondays and Thursdays – on these days children should come to school in PE kit (house colour t-shirt, black/navy shorts/joggers/leggings, trainers/pumps and PE hoodie/school jumper). Please remove earrings on PE days and ensure long hair is tied back.

Learning at Home:
Supporting your child’s learning at home is really helpful in enabling them to reach their full potential. In Reception we will send home phonics flashcards to practice the sounds we have learnt, and once your child has a reading book we ask that you read at least 3 times a week with them, noting this in their reading record in black pen. We will hold an information meeting about phonics and reading over the coming weeks for all Swinney parents, further information to follow.

We will send home a weekly update sheet sharing key aspects of our learning for the week and suggested ways you can help support your child at home following on from this – we always love to see anything you make/do – whether in person or photos, so do please bring things/send photos so we can celebrate this at school, too.

There is always a member of the class staff on the door each morning and we bring the children out at hometime, so if you have any questions/concerns about your child/their learning please do speak to one of us in the first instance.

We are looking forward to a fabulous year, and to seeing what wonderful things the children in our class achieve!

Best wishes,
Team Swinney