At our school, we believe that reading is the gateway to a lifetime of learning and imagination. In the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and Key Stage 1 (KS1), we strive to create an environment where every child can develop a genuine love for reading while building the skills they need to become confident and fluent readers. From daily reading activities to structured lessons, we are dedicated to supporting each child on their reading journey.
Every day, we set aside time for reading for enjoyment including through teacher led story time at the end of each day. This time allows children to explore a wide range of books, from beloved classics to exciting new titles. Whether it’s diving into an adventure story, discovering fascinating facts in non-fiction, or enjoying a laugh-out-loud picture book, our goal is to spark curiosity and inspire a lifelong passion for books. This daily practice also provides opportunities for children to share their favourite stories with peers, fostering a sense of community and excitement around reading.
In addition to daily reading, we deliver guided reading lessons that focus on developing essential reading skills. During these sessions, children work in small groups with their teacher to practice key skills such as retrieval, fluency and comprehension. Guided reading allows us to tailor our teaching to meet the needs of each group, ensuring that every child makes progress at their own pace. These lessons are designed to help children not only understand what they read but also to read aloud with confidence and expression.
As part of early reading, we place a strong emphasis on phonics, a vital building block for reading success. Through daily phonics sessions, children learn to decode words by breaking them down into sounds and blending those sounds together. This systematic approach helps children develop the skills they need to tackle unfamiliar words and strengthens their overall reading ability. By mastering phonics, our young readers gain the confidence to explore a wide range of texts independently.
We are proud of the progress our EYFS and KS1 children make in their reading and are committed to providing them with the tools and encouragement they need to succeed. At Central, we invite families to join us in fostering a love of reading at home by sharing stories together and visiting the local library.
Conkers:
Taliah for her positive attitude towards her learning environment. She is a good role model for the rest of the class when it comes to looking after classroom resources and tidying up. Keep it up Taliah!
Mia has demonstrated her maths learning during skills time. She initiated her number bonds up to 5. She further challenged herself and used numicon to make number bonds up to 44.
Acorn:
Cataleya for working hard on her phonics sounds. She is able to identify and recognise many more phonics sounds and has been persistent with her learning. Well done Cataleya.
Miguel for writing a short sentence independently in literacy using his phonics sound mat for support. Well done Miguel.
Maple:
Renaya for showing determination and persistence in her writing.
Mario for his independence in his learning this week.
Mulberry:
Hadassah for showing kindness to everyone and being a curious learner.
Joshua for being a persistent and curious learner.
Mateo for displaying really positive interactions with adults and communicating with gestures when he wants a motivating activity to continue.
Pine:
Lucas for working very hard, doing his work independently and not giving up.
Antonia for working hard not only in Phonics but in her class as well. She has been more independent and does not give up.
Pear:
Jeffrey for his great behaviour, honesty and always trying to make the best choices.
Alex C, for his amazing hard work this week and working independently with a smile on his face.
Apple:
Leshitha for your kindness to your peers. You uphold this school value at all times, thank you for being a brilliant role model for this. Keep it up.
Vethuja for your perseverance and commitment to learning. We are proud of you.
Ash:
Alex H for his excellent scientific and geographical knowledge. It is so lovely to hear all the facts that he knows, keep it up Alex.
Valentina for working extremely hard in all of her learning, keep it up Valentina.
Beam:
Hasifa for showing more confidence in answering questions and not being afraid of making mistakes
Giselle for demonstrating a great improvement in her maths skills
Beech:
Mia for her increasing confidence when answering questions in class and talking to her talk partner.
Yohan for being an excellent talk partner. He supports and helps his peers in class when they need it, no matter the lesson.
Walnut:
Rayan for persisting in English to write an engaging and beautifully presented report on the solar system.
Ioana for focusing on her writing targets and writing a very interesting report on the solar system.
Willow:
Dineth for writing an engaging report about the solar system.
Diana for showing persistence, curiosity and for always being ready to learn.
Murtaza for joining in with class discussions and being kind to his peers.
Chestnut:
All of Chestnut class for their fantastic attitude, behaviour and curiosity on our RAF Museum Trip.
Oak:
All of Oak class for their fantastic attitude, behaviour and curiosity on our RAF Museum Trip.
For home learning, Nishitha wrote a book review about her current reading book, Spellstone.
For home learning, Thea wrote a book review about her current reading book, Letter with the Golden Stamp.
Maple- Yasmin for her extra effort in her skipping practice.
Mulberry - Evan for improving his accuracy when skipping.
Pine - Max for enjoying skipping and giving his best effort.
Pear - George for his excellent effort over the last week.
At Central Primary School, we take attendance and punctuality very seriously. We aim to have an attendance figure in excess of 96% . Our current attendance percentage is 94.28%.
Attendance award:
KS1 - Pear
KS2 - Chestnut
Please remember arriving on time for school is important because late arrivals will miss and also disrupt the learning already happening in class.
If you have concerns about or need support with your child's attendance, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Mr Freeman
At Central Primary School, we recognise pro-social behaviours in Key Stage 2 by giving children ClassDojo points. Every half term, the classes decide on a collective target to earn a class reward. In addition, at the end of the half term, we hold a ClassDojo raffle, where the children can win some exciting prizes! How is your child(ren)'s class doing?
1st Place: Walnut - 1669
2nd Place: Willow - 1252
3rd Place: Ash - 1167
Spring 1:
Monday 27th January - Year 5 and 6 Anti-Racism Workshops (in school)
Friday 31st January 2025 - Apple Class Assembly (9am)
Monday 3rd February - Year 6 Geography Field Work (Watford High Street)
Monday 10th February 2025 - Parents' evening
Tuesday 11th February 2025 - Year 6 Young Voices Trip
Tuesday 11th February 2025 - Parents' evening
Friday 14th February 2025 - Pear Class Assembly (9am)