Welcome to Swans!

Hello and welcome to the Swan class which is made up of Year 3 and Year 4 children. Mrs Smithson is the main class teacher but on Wednesday Mrs Waller teaches the class so that Mrs Smithson can carry out her deputy head duties. We also have a very kind teaching assistant called Mrs Thurlby who helps us in class or sometimes takes out small groups to support them in their learning.

Mrs Smithson

I have been teaching for many years and have taught different ages through my career. I have been a mentor to students and trainee teachers and enjoy supporting others in their teaching careers. I am the deputy head at Billinghay so I do get to meet most of the children and get to see how they flourish as they progress through our school. My subject specialism is English and I love sharing stories with children and feel reading is a very important skill that all children should have. There has been a lot of changes in education since I began my career back in 1995, but I still enjoy teaching in the classroom.

Routines

Reading is very important to us and in the Swans we can earn a dojo each week if an adult has listened to us read twice at home. It is important that we bring our reading folder everyday so that we can read in school as well. Spellings are practiced in school but children also bring them home so they can do extra practice at home, new spellings are usually looked at on a Monday. Every Friday a piece of Literacy and a piece of maths homework is set and children are given a homework book to complete them in. Homework needs to be handed in by Thursday morning at the latest.