Pupils in Reception, Years 1 and 2 enjoyed a visit from two Alton librarians on Thursday 24th April. They brought an exciting collection of books suitable for different ages and interests and also talked about many other items that children may borrow, including DVDs and Play station games.

The special events organised by the Library were also of great interest, and our visitors were very impressed with the show of hands demonstrating children who took part in the Summer Reading Challenge; apparently this year’s challenge will have an Olympic theme.

Reception have had a wonderful time setting up their own toy museum. They asked their mums and dads what they played with when they were five and brought these toys in to show to the rest of the class. They have displayed the toys, complete with a label explaining who the toy belonged to. It has been a wonderful chance for the children to talk about toys of the past with their parents and grandparents. Some parents even managed to send in photographs of themselves, grandparents or even great-grandparents playing with the toys of their time. The children have been absolutely fascinated with this aspect of their toy topic.

Personal, Social and Emotional Development

This term we will be building on the firm foundations made by all children last term. Now they are secure and happy in their environment, we will be developing key skills of cooperation and independence. Through teacher directed activities and child initiated play, we will be encouraging the children to work as part of a group, take turns and share fairly. As part of circle time activities we will be encouraging children to develop their awareness of their own needs, views and feelings, and to become more sensitive to the needs, views and feelings of others.

Yvonne Arnold, Guildford

We, Key Stage 2, went to see Key Stage 1's production. It was called The Most Disgruntled Snowman and it was simply fab! First, we heard a song which was about the snowman being so miserable. The snowman, played by Oliver, was excellent and really funny. There were quite a lot of narrators, and they were dressed up as snowflakes (Jessica, Bryony, Emily, Thea, Lucy and Paloma). They said the snowman was the most disgruntled snowman in the whole wide world, and at the time he was!

Personal and Social Development

This is a key area for work at the beginning of the Reception year. We will be placing great emphasis on settling your child into school. Their feeling of security and happiness in their school is of vital importance to their academic progress, and familiarity with their surroundings and the school routine, is one way of achieving this. We will also be focusing on social skills, such as co-operation and the ability to share and play with others.

Communication, Language and Literacy

Each week we will focus on a different book which will be the basis of the learning about words, sentences and grammar and learning in other areas of the curriculum. This term the children will be continuing to learn the phonetic sounds of the alphabet through a variety of practical and engaging activities. Children will be encouraged to hear, recognise and form the sounds in preparations for reading, writing and spelling. Talk will be encouraged and valued and given a high profile. Children will share their weekend news regularly in a verbal format. You can help your child by talking to them about their day and focusing on sounds in their talk. You can help them as they begin to recognise sounds in their environment e.g. P for parking or the S at the beginning of Sainsbury's, etc.

This year’s lower prep sports day took place in glorious sunshine on Tuesday. The school sports field was resplendent with balloons and bunting and pupils and teachers were thrilled that so many mums and dads were able to attend. Mrs Jeffery and her team had organized a packed programme of races, including fun events such as the big feet race (which was far harder than our young athletes made it look), a teddy bears’ tea party race and a train and tender relay.

The topics for this term will be Clothes and Water in Reception. In all subjects children will be aiming to reach standards beyond those expected by the end of the Reception year. We will be spending more time outside as the sunny weather continues, enabling children to explore and develop their awareness of the environment.

Personal, social and emotional development

The children will be continuing to reinforce their social skills and expected standards of behaviour within the school environment. They will reflect on their awareness of others peoples' needs and feelings. The children will be learning about other cultures' attitudes and beliefs, including the Romans and Neptune. In addition we will also be thinking about the effects of the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami.

PC Beck from the Hampshire Constabulary visited the Lower Prep children at Alton Convent School. He talked about the very important role police officers play in our community, questioning people who have done wrong things and helping to fight crime. He made it clear that the police are there to look after us and keep us safe. The children delighted in listening to real conversations on the police radio and enjoyed trying various hats and jackets on; even the teachers joined in and Miss Burchfield really looked the part in a police lady's uniform!