Comet (SB1)
Welcome to Comet Class!
Meet the team:
Teacher: Mrs Nicholls
Teaching Assistants: Miss Fionda, Miss Watson, Mrs Egholm, Mrs Forrest, Miss Holmes
Contact us:
If you need to speak to us you can do this a number of ways
Leave a message in your child's home-school book for children using transport or speak to one of us at the beginning or end of the day for school walkers.
Using our class email address: rspcomet@southbankprimary.co.uk
or
Alternatively you can request a call back by contacting the school office on 01642 453451
(please note staff may reply out of teaching hours)
About our class:
Welcome to Comet class, we are a unique and busy class where learning takes place in lots of fun and different ways.
We aim to support the development of our children's communication and interaction skills to enable them to communicate their needs and wants, this may be through spoken word, Makaton, visuals or objects of reference. We understand every child is different and personalise our teaching to support their learning, ensuring we regularly review each child to ensure we provide the best possible teaching to further their education.
Through our specialist curriculum with additional adaptations of the Early Years Framework we able to provide a distinctive approach to learning involving lots of sensory exploration which can sometimes lead to us getting messy and a little wet! but we can ensure you high quality learning is happening! (however, we recommend a spare set of clothes or two!). We are lucky enough to have access to our own outdoor provision which is set up to provide many great learning moments and is viewed as an extension on our indoor provision allowing our children the opportunity to free flow and access both the indoors and outdoors no matter what the weather, rain or shine we explore the outdoors!!
We embrace the individuality of each of our children and encourage them to continue being themselves during their education journey here at South Bank.
Big journeys begin with small steps
Take a peek into Comet's world....
Our curriculum
My Sensory Play
This term we will learning more about pouring, filling, scooping and digging. We will be doing this in both our outdoor and indoor provisions using a range of equipment such as spoons, pots and pans along with a range of materials such as water, pasta, cereal and flour. Through this learning we will continue to build on our fine motor skills and support the development of our hand/eye coordination.
My Communication
When we consider communication we consider the 3 M's Motivation - reason for communicating, Means -
way to communicate, Mate - someone to communicate with. To support the development of our children's communication development we ensure we provide a language rich environment, where adults consider what language they choose to use. We use a range of methods to support communication alongside spoken words we use objects of reference, visuals and Makaton.
This term we are working on children expressing their wants and needs by providing opportunities for them to make a choice between given options such as apple and carrot at snack time.
A focus this term is greeting children each morning with spoken word "good morning" along with the Makaton sign to support.
My Outdoor School
As we spend a lot of time accessing our outdoor provision and as the weather begins to change we are supporting children to develop their awareness of appropriate clothing, we achieve this through modelling with adults narrating their own though process and problem solving to support children. We are also practising walking around the school building safely, whilst transiting to the lunchroom, transport or other areas of school, children hold an adults hand with an adult modelling walking safely and appropriately within the school setting.
My Physical Wellbeing
We understand just how challenging and overwhelming the school environment can be for our children, to support their regulation we implement a range of sensory strategies to ensure they feel calm and are able to get the most out of their school experience. Alongside sensory strategies we offer a range of activities to develop the children's gross motor skills such as the crates, wooden blocks and planks in the outdoor provision frequently used to create obstacle courses, we also offer opportunities for children to use the trampoline, bikes and scooters to further support their gross motor development.
My Independence
This term we are focussing on hygiene and the importance of washing our hands, we encourage and support children to wash their hands before snack and lunch each day. We are also developing our ability to put on or remove our coat - each child is different and therefore depends on the individual child as to what stage they are working on completing independently. Another focus for this term is walking a set distance whilst supported by an adult, to achieve this we use visuals to support children.
Early Reading, Writing and an Introduction to Phonics
Our school understands the value of children developing a 'reading for pleasure' attitude and this is reflected within our classroom, we enjoy sharing stories with our children in a range of ways this could be using a book, an adult retelling a story or through a sensory story, adults and peers may explore books together, adults will sing songs and nursery rhymes daily. We provide a range of opportunities within the environment which allow children to develop their mark making, alongside adult supported activities to encourage mark making. Within the provision opportunities will be provided that support the development of the children's fine motor skills. When ready, children will begin an introduction to phonics, following the RWI scheme strongly embedded within our school, adaptations are made to deliver this with a sensory approach allowing the children to learn in a practical way, an activity linked to their phonics will be provided within the environment allowing children to be continuously exposed further embedding their knowledge.
Introduction to Maths
Maths is all around us, and every day we are given an opportunities to expose our children, the adults ensure they embrace these chances and naturally embed them into the children's day. This could be through counting songs, identifying shapes in their environment or counting objects such as blocks or snack alongside them. Whilst modelling play adults will narrate their own play with the inclusion of mathematical language such as identifying which shape they are drawing or how many blocks they have.
Attention Autism
In Comet we use an the Attention Autism approach daily to develop the children's attention. Through Attention Autism we are able to introduce and expose many concepts to the children. The Attention Autism approach has four stages:
Stage 1 - Focusing attention - during this stage we use the bucket activity to gain the children's attention.
Stage 2 - Sustaining attention - during this stage we include a task that has a beginning, middle, and end.
Stage 3 - Shifting attention - during this stage we begin turn-taking and copying activities.
Stage 4 - Individual activities - during this stage we begin transitioning from group to individual tasks and refocusing.
Important reminders
Please ensure all children have a spare set of clothes in their bag as we can often get wet and messy when exploring.
Please ensure if needed, you child has enough wipes, nappies and nappy bags.
Please write your child's name on all clothing including their coat.
Thank you
- Comet team
Key Dates
8th November - School photo day
15th November - Children in Need - more details to follow
22nd November - PD day
25th November - PD day
28th November – A selection of second hand toys on sale in the hall 2-4pm
2nd December - Reindeer run in aid Teesside hospice - more details to follow
3rd December– EYFS/KS1 – Christmas family lunch - more details to follow
6th December– Non uniform – children are invited to wear non uniform and bring a donation of chocolate for the tombola
12th December - Christmas jumper day for Save the Children (donations welcome)
13th December – Christmas silly hair day
18th December – Christmas fair 2 -4pm school hall
19th December – Christmas raffle - Tickets on sale from 18th November
20th December – Christmas party in class
20th December - Last day of term