Everyone had so much fun they didn't want the lesson to end and they were all beaming from ear to ear. I was really impressed with the children's independence when changing into their swimming costumes as well as when they needed to dress themselves in their uniforms at the end. A well deserved biscuit and milk were enjoyed on our return to school.

This week the children had lots of fun spending time with their Form 7 buddies. The Form 7 children joined us on the front court for morning play and before long there was a game of duck duck goose being played as well as some fun chasing and catching games.

To fit with this week's theme of getting to know each other and celebrating being unique, we read the story Incredible You by Rhys Brisenden and Nathan Reed. This story reminds the children that they all have special talents and are each unique. We had a discussion about all the things the children are amazing at and we had some fantastic responses, such as; drawing rainbows, swimming, riding bikes without stabilisers, digging for treasure and playing football. The children then drew pictures of themselves doing these special things.

The children have also been learning more about each other's families this week and who lives with them in their home. The children built little wooden frames in the shape of houses using lollipop sticks and most excitingly… a glue gun! The children carefully glued each corner to create their frame and I have to say they were all very sensible with the glue gun. Later, they drew their families inside their houses and they are now in pride of place in our Form 1 classroom.

Every morning this week, the children have been working hard in their phonics lessons. We have been joined by the Transition children who will join Form 1 in January, and together we have started to learn initial sounds, how to form each letter and, very importantly, how to orally segment words and blend sounds to read. Our helpful little owl puppet (who only speaks in sounds) is helping the children join in with games and become confident to take part. Everyone is doing brilliantly and enjoying the sessions very much.

In maths, we have been counting carefully, sequencing numbers to 10 or even to 20 and thinking of all the ways these numbers can be represented. The children sorted pictures that showed amounts on tens frames, amounts on fingers, dice patterns, pictures of objects, and the digit itself. They matched them to the correct digit along a number line.

Of course, the children have also been enjoying playing in the classroom as well as outside and exploring all the different resources available. Clubs have started this week and the children attending have all very much enjoyed their ballet, tap and modern dance and Spanish lessons.

We welcomed the children who are new to Russell House during our Pre-Prep assembly and celebrated birthdays and our superstars of the week. It was lovely to see all the Pre-Prep children together and give our new starters a warm welcome.

It has been a great first full week in Form 1 and the children have settled in extremely well.