At Betty Layward we aim to create strong partnerships with parents and endeavour to offer opportunities for parents to be involved with their child’s learning. We believe that a good working partnership with parents brings about the greatest success for children. We will be welcoming parents into school regularly and seeking participation and contribution in the life of the school.

Here are some of the ways you can support your child’s learning and development at home:

• Read together every day, as part of their routine
• Encourage your child to talk about the pictures: How do you think this character is feeling? Why?
• Ask questions: Why did that happen? What will happen next?
• Encourage your child to retell you the story, in their own words
• Once they know some letter sounds, encourage them to sound out short words or find sounds they know in words.
• Allow your child to practice dressing and undressing, including using fasteners that they find difficult.  Encourage your child to be as independent as possible.
• Play with your child indoors and outdoors. Encourage the development of gross motor (larger movements) skills by supporting your child with physical play including climbing and clambering.  This will support the development of fine motor (smaller finger movements and pencil control) skills that follow.
• Undertake creative and messy activities with your child such as cutting and sticking, finger painting, working with dough or clay.
• Take your child to a variety of places to enrich their experiences which can be drawn upon in school. Make time to talk about these and discuss any similarities/differences you encounter.
• Encourage good manners.
• Encourage your child to be responsible for putting away their own things.  They will be encouraged in school to put book bags, coats and jumpers in their correct places from the beginning of the school year. They will also be encouraged to work as a team to put away all equipment at the end of the day.
• Reinforce independent toileting and also hand washing and drying.
• Sing songs and nursery rhymes together. Experts in literacy and child development have discovered that if children know eight nursery rhymes by heart by the time they're four years old, they're usually among the best readers by the time they're eight.
• Find practical ways to develop your child’s maths knowledge- cooking, building, and shopping together are all great for this!