We were delighted to welcome our FS1 parents into school this week to attend a Christmas Workshop with their children.

The workshops took place over two mornings and began with a phonics demonstration for parents on the way in which we teach letter sounds and how these sounds are blended. Phonics is an approach to teaching some aspects of literacy, by developing pupils’ knowledge and understanding of the relationship between written symbols and sounds. This involves the skills of hearing, identifying and using the patterns of sounds or phonemes to read written language.

The children in FS1 take part in daily phonics sessions, working in small groups to immerse themselves in pre-phonics skills and learning letter sounds. Parent sessions such as these are invaluable as it enables parents to support their children with reading at home.

The families then came together to take part in some Christmas crafting activities. The children practised writing their name in Christmas cards, printed their own wrapping paper, used salt-dough to create a Christmas decoration, produced a Christmas scene in a light box, and to finish the session they enjoyed a hot chocolate and decorated their own Christmas biscuit. What a lovely start to the day!

Mrs J Smith

FS1 Teacher