The Star – Gold and Silver Classes

Welcome to The Star

The Star consists of two classes: Gold Class and Silver Class. The children are taught across two learning spaces, allowing children to engage with individual and group learning and play activities and therapies. They also enjoy time in our sensory room on a daily basis.

Useful Information

PE

Our PE day in the Star is  Tuesday. However, children in The Star will also access PE lessons with their year groups on the following days: 

Year 2: Monday and Wednesday 

Year 3: Tuesday and Friday 

Year 4:  Monday and Thursday (swimming)

Year 5: Tuesday and Friday

Year 6: Thursday and Friday

Children can come to school dressed in their PE kit on these days but, equally, if they are more comfortable in PE kit, they may wear these on non PE days too.

Reading

We encourage a love of reading for all children in The Star. Not only will this develop their reading skills which are vital to all learning, but provides a wonderful opportunity for social communication and interaction. We encourage children to read at home with parents and for parents to read to them as much as possible. 

All children will be sent home with a reading book linked to their phonics level, as well as a book that has been read in phonics sessions.

Reading books are changed once a child has read it three times and phonics books are changed each Friday. Children also choose a library book that reflects their choice and interest. 

For children who are off our Phonics programme, they will read books linked to their assessed reading age on the Accelerated Reading programme. Once they have read the book, they will complete an online quiz which assesses their comprehension and tracks their progress.

Phonics

Children will continue their phonics journey from their starting point – working on either the initial sounds of the letters of the alphabet and ch, th, sh, ng and nk (set 1 sounds), the vowel sounds such as ay, ee, igh (set 2 ) or the  alternatives for these sounds such as ai, ea, ie (set 3). 

Phonics sessions take place every morning with children either working in The Star on an individual or small group basis and through the use of practical and fun activities, or in phonics sessions with other children from Reception, Year 1 and 2, following the RWI (Read Write Inc) phonics programme.

Our Learning

Our Curriculum follows what is being taught in the year groups classes. Star pupils may have their curriculum lessons in The Star or in their year group.  Lessons are adapted according to each child’s strengths and needs and taking their interests into account. Pupils may attend lesson input but complete activities in The Star. Most pupils in The Star have a slightly reduced curriculum in order to work on their own individual targets and engage with a range of supportive therapies. 

To see the curriculum your child will be following please see their year group class page, Star teachers will be able to clarify which curriculum lessons they are attending.

PLIMs

All children have their own Personal Learning Intention Map (PLIM) which is unique to them. This covers areas of Sensory, Emotional, Cognitive and  Communication development as well as Social interactions, Friendships, Play and Safety skills. 

The PLIMs are shared with parents at the beginning of the year and new targets will be set for the following year, based on each child’s progress and needs. 

There are a number of therapies that are run in the afternoons which meet the individual needs of the children. These sessions are run either individually or in small groups and include Attention Autism, Food is Fun, Puppet Play, Tac Pac and Emotion Labelling. Specialists run Music and Speech and Language Therapy on a weekly basis. 

Further details about The Star can be found in the document below.

The Star, PSJ