We encourage the children to come to school for one hour per week on a Tuesday afternoon. This has proved invaluable in settling the children more quickly into school life. Willow Willow class has all the children in Year R and some children from Year 1. Once the children settle, they are encouraged to begin on the path to reading, writing and arithmetic. The Year R children follow the Foundation year, which is essentially an active programme for young children.
Some children can already read when they come to school.
Number work is introduced with practical work and simple mental exercises. Drawing letters and numbers begins here too. Literacy and numeracy are taught to the year groups separately and follow up work is done in small groups. Maple Children from Year 2 and Year 1 are in this class. The children will now be progressing with their reading and writing in the National Literacy hour.