Hello and welcome to Dovedale Primary School.
This page is designed to keep you up to date with the latest news and information regarding your child and starting school.
I am Mrs Norton - the Early Years Lead. I will leave my email below. Please feel free to email if there are any urgent queries and I will respond as soon as possible. I work Monday to Thursday and I am one of the class teachers for our two reception classes.
We have been/will be visiting your child within their nursery setting this week. We will then sort the children into the classes and send them out to you via email before the children start school. This can only be done if you return the forms to school that have been sent to you - otherwise we will not have any contact information regarding where your children attend nursery.
Thank you to those of you who have returned the paper work back to school. This has enabled us to contact nurseries to visit on Wednesday 3rd and Thursday 4th June.
Once your child comes on their visits to school we will set them up a school Dojo account. This is a secure system to post photos and send messages regarding your child. We will send home a sheet of paper showing how to access this - if you need any help with this then please ask us on the next visit.
We look forward to meeting you soon.
Mrs Norton and the EYFS team
mnorton@dovedale.derbyshire.sch.uk
We have a fantastic team of staff in Reception.
We have Mrs Norton and Miss Martin who share a class. Mrs Norton is in class Monday - Wednesday and Miss Martin teaches in class on Friday. Mrs Hardy teaches in class on a Thursday.
Mrs Burtenshaw is in the other class Monday - Friday. Wednesday morning is her PPA and is covered by Mrs Homer.
We also have our Teaching assistants Mrs Hardy and Mrs Homer who the children will also get to know very well. They are in school Monday - Friday.
Mrs Wilkins works with us on a Wednesday and Thursday.
Photos will appear soon.
Tuesday 23rd June - Parents meeting 4pm - 5pm (creche available)
Thursday 25th June - visit 1 - 9:30 - 11:00am - parents drop off then pick up at 11.
Thursday 2nd July - visit 2 - 9:30 - 11:00am - parents drop off then pick up at 11.
Thursday 9th July - visit 3 - 9:30 - 11:00am - parents drop off then pick up at 11.
Monday 7th September 2026 - First day at school
Transition mornings
On Thursday 25th June your child will be coming to visit us from 9:30 - 11:00am.
If you come into school via the green, right-hand gate (a member of staff will open it at 9:30) you will see on the grass two signs - one with Mrs Burtenshaw on and the other with Mrs Norton on. If you can encourage your child to line up we will take the children in to the correct classroom using the gates nearest their door.
We will take a register to see who is here.
You can then collect your child from their classroom gate. Mrs Norton's gate is the one next to the grass, Mrs Burtenshaw's is the one on the playground.
We are very excited to meet your children in their new setting!
We will had out booklets on school readiness and toilet training to your child on the first visit for you to have a read through.
For their second visit we will give out Dojo log ins. This may be via email or as a physical piece of paper but we will let you know nearer the time. This will enable us to communicate more easily and help with any technical errors before the holidays.
We look forward to seeing you!
Mrs Norton
Here are some links if you wish to have the logo on uniform - these are NOT compulsory. We hope to have Clarks attend our parent's meetings prior to the school visits if you wish to book a time and date with them, although there are other places available for black school shoes.
Red jumper or cardigan
white polo t-shirt or shirt
black or grey trousers, skirts, pinafore
red gingham dress
white socks/grey tights/black tights
PE kit - black jumper
black joggers or shorts
black trainers
red t-shirt
Reception children should bring their PE kit in a small bag to keep in school. Getting themselves changed is one of their Early Learning Goals.
Please find the link to our school menu examples. Please fill in the medical forms if your child has an allergy to specific foods so we can discuss with you alternatives and options for starting school.
Once your child has started school we will hold a Phonics information evening to inform you about how we teach phonics and what you should expect your child to bring home at specific points of the year. We will send you the date nearer to the time.
Thrive is the nurture programme we run in school. Each year one of our thrive practitioners, Mrs Mather or Miss Martin deliver whole class sessions to each class. Some children also have weekly, one to one sessions or are invited to take part in small group activities.
In addition to this we run a six week, family thrive course. This is open to all adults related to children in school to help you have a better understanding of the Thrive approach and how you can incorporate this into family / home life.