ATHELSTAN LEARNING FAMILY (ALF)

Our Athelstan Learning Family (ALF) sessions or workshops are designed for parents and carers to come into school and find out more about specific areas of learning. 

In the past, ALF has included:

• Attending Read Write Inc Phonics' lessons in Key Stage 1 and learning side-by-side with your own child.
• Observing a model phonics lesson in Reception.
• A series of workshops for parents/carers of pupils in Reception and Y1 led by the Deputy Headteacher and two of our specialist phonics' teaching assistants.  The pupils were also able to come along and teach their parents/carers all about how they learn their sounds and use Fred Talk to blend them into words. 
• A workshop led by our Maths Leader for parents and carers of pupils in Y3 and Y4, looking at methods of calculation.
• A workshop for parents and carers of pupils in Y6 with a focus on greater depth readers. 

VOLUNTEERING IN SCHOOL

We actively encourage our parents and carers to volunteer in school and prior to the pandemic, we had a number of adults who used to listen to children read, help out in class or volunteer their time in Forest Schools in Reception and Y1.

Application forms are available from the office.  DBS checks are carried out, an interview is arranged and references are sought in line with our Safeguarding and Safer Recruitment policies.   

SHOWCASES

Every term, we invite parents and carers to come along and join a 'Showcase' of the children's work.  These are generally held in the classrooms where parents and carers are able to walk around and find out about what the children have been learning about.  They're very interactive and our children love nothing more than to test the adults on their spelling skills!  At certain points in the year, the showcases are organised as an Art Exhibition, where two year groups join together to produce a fabulous exhibition of their work.   Showcases are mostly held at 2.45pm and are advertised on our weekly newsletters.