My name is Katherine Watson and it is a great pleasure to be your child's first teacher at Arahoe Primary School. I am very passionate about teaching this age group and have been with Year 1s at Arahoe now for two years.
Morning Routines:
Each morning the doors will open at 8.30am for your child to come in. If you have to drop your child off earlier there is a morning and after school programme which runs in our school hall that you can look into.
When your child comes in, I will show them around the class, where they hang their bag, put their lunchbox/drink bottle and where their bookbag goes. The longer your child is at school the more responsibility you can give them to do these things on their own each morning!
Class numbers:
Each week there will be 2-3 new children starting in our room. As the numbers increase, there will be a new teacher appointed to work alongside me to suit the 1:15 ratio we have and by the end of the term some students will be transitioning into a new classroom environment to make way for newer children.
Readers/stationary:
Your child will not receive readers or any homework in their first week until all they have had their entry tests and all their stationary/bookbags have come in. Please do not label any of the stationary. Bring it all in as soon as and leave the labeling to me :) Since we are an eco-friendly school we also encourage the books to not be covered.
Hours:
Our day starts when the doors open at 8.30am. The bell goes at 8.55am. This is the time where all parents and caregivers are required to leave the class and allow the teacher to focus on her students. There are three breaks during the day. Morning tea starts at 10 with 15 minutes of eating time then play time till 10.30am. Lunch starts at 11.45am with another 15 minutes of eating then play time till 12.45pm. The last break is a short afternoon tea time from 1.45-2pm. Since it is your child's first week at school, they will finish at 2pm each day. From their second week onwards they finish at 3pm. This is to help them transition smoothly into being at school.
Library/Swimming
Both of these will start up by week 2. Swimming is seasonal and will only be happening term 1 and 4. I will let you know early this week what your child's swimming day will be. Library time is all year round. Each week your child has the chance to visit the library during a one class block time. They can take out 1 book and bring it back the following week to return and get a new book. The library time will remain the same each week which I will also inform you about some time this week.
Uniform:
There is still another month left of summer! Your child is required to wear the school uniform hat at all times while they are outside. If they do not bring a hat to school they must remain under the shade during play time. I understand that some days when things can become too busy at home the uniform doesnt get washed and your child has to wear something else. That is okay however whatever they wear MUST be school colours... No stripes, spots, pictures, etc...
Extra clothes:
It is common for children at this age to have all kinds of accidents! Please could you put a plastic bag labelled with spare clothing and underwear in their school bag and leave it permanently in there in an event that they need this. This avoid us ringing you during the day and asking you to come in. The sick bay only have limited spare clothing for children and most of the time are unavailable.
Parent Help:
It is always amazing having parents come in and offering their help throughout the week! If you would like get involved please let me know. Some of the things I would love help for would be putting readers away, cutting laminated resources, reading/working with children in class in group or 1:1 settings, sharpening pencils or even teaching our children about something you are skilled/talented with. I also encourage parents to bring their culture into our room whether it be putting their family photos/cultural artifacts on the wall or again, teaching our children about your culture.
Keeping in Contact:
I am always just an email away. I respond to my emails within 48 hours over the weekend and usually within 24 hours during week days. I am currently finishing up a new entrant blog with will go live on our Arahoe School page soon. Ignore the one that is linked to Room 20 at the moment. That was from last year and is out of date. The blog should be up and running by the end of this week. I tend to post pictures, notices and important events on my blog every few days to keep you informed about what your child is doing in class and things you need to know about 
Lastly, if you can think of anything you'd like to know or ask me about, please don't hesitate to email me. I am looking forward to meeting your child tomorrow morning and can't wait to start off a great term.
Kind regards,
Katherine Watson
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