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    • Dunalley News 04/09/26

    A brilliant start to the new school year

    What a brilliant first few days we have had at Dunalley!

    It has been wonderful to welcome everyone back to school and to see the children settle so quickly into their new classes and routines. They have made a fantastic start to the new school year and have impressed us with their enthusiasm, positive attitudes and readiness to learn. We are particularly proud of our new children, including those who have joined us in Nursery, Pre-school and Reception, who are already beginning to find their feet and become part of the Dunalley community.

    Thank you to all of our parents and carers for helping us to get the year off to such a positive start. The children have returned looking incredibly smart in their school uniforms, and we really appreciate your support with this.

    Educational News

    Time Tables Rock Stars

    When it comes to learning times tables, both speed and accuracy are important. To support your child's maths learning at home, we are delighted to share some useful information and links to help them practise and build their confidence:

     

    Times Tables Rock Stars

    When it comes to times tables, both speed and accuracy are important. To support your child's maths learning at home, we are delighted to share the Times Tables Rock Stars Parent Guide below.  You can also view it direct here.

    Why Times Tables Rock Stars?

    Mastering multiplication and division facts forms the building blocks for many higher-level math topics. TTRS makes learning fun, allowing pupils to earn coins, customise their rock avatars, and climb the "Rock Status" leaderboard.

    How You Can Help at Home:

    1. Encourage Daily Practice: Just 3 to 5 minutes of daily practice is far more effective than spending an hour once a week.

    2. Explore the Game Modes:

      • Garage: Focuses on the specific tables assigned by the class teacher.

      • Studio: Calculates average speed per question and assigns a Rock Status (from Gigger up to Rock God).

      • Arena & Festival: Allows multiplayer games against classmates or children worldwide.

    3. Praise Effort: Celebrate their speed improvements and consistency.

    Getting Started:

    1. Download the free Times Tables Rock Stars app or visit play.ttrockstars.com.

    2. Log in using your child's login card (located in their reading record).

    Thank you for your continued support in boosting your child's maths confidence!

    Kind regards,

    Mr. L. Jones 

    Maths Lead 

    Dunalley Primary School 

    1. TTRS Parent_Guide.pdf
      PDF File

    Important Information for Families 

    Important Information for All

    Important Cancellations 04/11/26

    Due to important safeguarding training for ALL staff, After School Clubs and Lates will be cancelled on Wednesday 4th November 2026.

    Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your understanding.

     

    Meet the Teacher

    Families are invited into school next week to meet their children's teachers and find out about the exciting term ahead.

     

    Important Information for Yrs Rec, 1 & 2

    Phonics Information Sessions for YR, Y1 & Y2

    Dear Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 Parents/Carers,

    We would like to invite you to a Phonics Information Meeting on Friday 25th September at 2:45pm. This will be an opportunity to find out more about the phonics scheme we teach at Dunalley Primary School, how phonics is taught in school, and how you can support your child with their reading at home.

    We would also like to invite you to our Phonics Open Morning on Tuesday 13th October. This will give you the opportunity to come into school and see a phonics lesson being taught to your child in their own class. It will be a lovely opportunity to see phonics in action and gain a better understanding of how your child is learning.

    We hope you will be able to join us for both events and look forward to seeing you there!

    Kind regards,

    Mrs Steele

    Our new Phonics Scheme – Essential Letters & Sounds (ELS)

    We are delighted to share that, following careful consideration, we have decided to move from Read Write Inc. to Essential Letters and Sounds as our phonics programme. We believe that Essential Letters and Sounds offers a more inclusive approach, supporting all children to develop strong early reading skills and fostering a love of reading from the very beginning. We are excited about this positive change and look forward to implementing the programme across the school. 

    Essential Letters and Sounds is a systematic and engaging phonics programme that has been designed to make learning to read as clear and accessible as possible. It provides children with consistent, carefully sequenced teaching and high-quality reading materials that closely match the sounds and words they have been taught. The programme aims for every child to be supported to become a successful and enthusiastic reader.  

    This means that your child will now be taught phonics as a whole class and they will not be split into different groups as they were previously. Your child will be given an Essential Letters and Sounds phonic book to bring home in the next couple of weeks. This book will be matched to the sounds that they have been taught in class that week or matched to the sounds that they need to consolidate. 

     

    Find out more about ELS

     

     

    Important Information for Yrs 3, 4, 5, & 6

    Y4 Samba Drumming

    We would love Yr4 families to join us for our Year 4 Samba Drumming Performance at 2:45pm on Tuesday 8th September in the school hall. Come along and enjoy the wonderful rhythms and energy that the children have been working so hard to prepare.

    Y6 Call of the Wild Meeting for Parents & Carers

    Y6 parents & carers are invited to the school hall to hear about Call of the Wild, the Y6 residential trip booked for October.

    Dates for your diary - a reminder

    As we shared with families in August, we have added as many dates as possible to our Family Calendar to give you plenty of advance notice of events taking place throughout the year.

    Upcoming events are listed at the end of each newsletter, and the Family Calendar can be accessed at any time through EduLink or the school website.

    If an event is relevant to your family, please click on the title to find out more, as this is where you will find additional information and details.  Then click your back button to return to the newsletter or calendar.

    We hope this makes it easier for everyone to plan ahead and keep track of what is happening at Dunalley.

     

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