The teacher leading Cedar class is Mr Russell. Our teaching assistant (for Maths lessons) is Mrs. Wilmshurst. In addition, the children will also be given targeted support  through the week by Ms. Tudgay.

Mr Russell is passionate about reading, drama and good cake (He can also be easily distracted by discussions relating to Formula 1). 

If you would like to contact our teachers directly you can do so by email. The addresses are set out below. 

Mr J Russell - jrussell@fittleworth.school

General Information for the Year 2023/24

Important events throughout the week are as follows:

1. The children need to wear their P.E. kits on a Tuesday and Thursday. 

2. Reading Diaries will be checked on a Monday (more on that later!)

3. Home Spelling Books should come to school every day.

Next- learning opportunities for learning at home:

Year 6s will receive homework for holiday periods and revision tasks in the run-up to SATs (in May). This will be communicated via Class Dojo. 

Children should regularly practise their spelling patterns at home (3-4 times a week) using the Spelling Activities document (see below) and their Home Spelling Books. 

Reading and Reading Diaries:

I am a committed reader and try to encourage all of the children in my class to view reading as a integral part of life, not just a task to be completed for school. As such, I try to give them plenty of opportunities to read books in class, as well as listen to them. However, the daily reading time ideally required by a child of 9-11 isn't something that can be feasibly accommodated within school hours. Therefore, I ask that both children and adults take this requirement seriously and implement (as best as you can) daily reading at home. This can be independent reading by the child, but should include regular sessions reading with an adult (regardless of your child's reading 'fluency'). Please log this in their reading diary. 

In addition, I expect each child to hand in a completed 'Read and Respond' pack before the end of the Autumn Term. This can be found under Reading Resources. I have also uploaded a reading guide for parents.

Spelling Practice:

Your child will be given a copy of the Statutory Word List to learn at home for the year, along with regular spelling patterns to practise. The Statutory Word List will come home in their book bags once I have assessed each child and identified which words still need practising. A text will be sent home alerting you when the lists are in their book bags. I ask that you gradually practice these words at home, selecting a few at a time (5 or so) until your child is confident with them. Education research shows that spaced, but frequent recalling of information helps to embed it into long term memory. As such I would recommend that you engage your child in regular informal exercises that require them to spell the words from memory, either verbally or in written form. This can be accompanied by practical exercises that help to ingrain muscle memory. Please see the activity document below for a selection of excellent ideas. I would also highly recommend the 'Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check' model of learning words, as this has again been evidenced as a fruitful method of learning spelling words. Examples can easily be found online.

Finally, I appreciate that 'learning' spellings can be a frustrating and challenging tasks for some children. Please know that I have already identified specific children who will need alternate provision for learning spellings. These children will be offered targeted support to help them break down the barriers to understanding our language system. 

Year B is the academic year 2023-2024

Year A is the academic year 2024-25