Friday 10th January

Happy New Year to you all it has been so lovely seeing all of the children and hearing about their holidays.  

We have been incredible proud of the children how they have come back to school and welcomed all of our new routines with enthusiasm and outstanding behaviour.

What has changed this term?

• We are now attending worship on Monday, Wednesday and Friday's each morning. 
• We have invited the children to join us for Drawing Club on a Monday's, Wednesday's and Friday's. - (A date for you to join us will come out next term.)  Room on the Broom was our book of focus this week.
• We had our first swimming lessons.
• We have started daily handwriting lessons.
• We are focusing more daily at the date and weather report - to support the children to learn the days of the week and months of the year and to notice the change of seasons.

How lucky to have started our term learning about Winter, to help us the snow arrived...!  The children loved going on a winter walk and out to the field to build snowmen.  Our topic this term is, "People who help us", our role play area has transformed from a home corner to a 'Vet Surgery' -  the children have loved helping all of our animals who are poorly.  On Monday, we have a Vet joining us to talk to the children about their job.  They will be showing the children how they perform a health check on their dog. The children enjoyed listening to our,  'Mystery Reader'.  They met a special friend and all said something kind to them to cheer them up.  Why not ask and see if they can remember meeting or any of the Ugly Duckling Story.

A busy first week! 

Notices

Forest School - Mr Wood's is still recovering from his injury so we will be taking the children out to our wooded area on Tuesday's in classes to explore. Thank you for those that have volunteered for Forest School, for a short time, whilst Mr Woods make a full recovery, we won't need any support for forest school. Please continue to send your children in Forest School Clothes on a Tuesday.  However, If you are would like to come in to read with the children - we always welcome parent helpers, you could be a 'Mystery Reader' and come and share your favourite book with a class - Please leave a note or speak to your Class Teacher if you would like to. 

Reading   Please can we ask that you initial the front of your reading records when you are read with your child their school phonics book.  Frequency is key for progression and Reception is crucial in supporting their wonderful journey into entering the world of reading books.  

We have updated our 'Key Dates' page for the Term so please have a look.  Next week will be the Church Service on Wednesday and  FOFS 'Break the Rules' on Friday.

Thank you for your continued support and for allowing us the privilege to teach your children.  It has been a fantastic start to 2025. 

Best Wishes

Your EYFS Team 

Friday 20th December

Term 2 is complete! What a successful second term. We have had so many exciting things happen this term. Let's look back at the last few months:

   1. The children performed their Hey Ewe Nativity after putting in weeks of hard work! They were simply amazing!

   2. We spent time with our Year 6 buddies, reading to them!

   3. We had lots of fun Christmas activities such as our Christmas dinner day, Christmas jumper day, Secret Shopper day and Father Christmas in the forest!

   4. Lots of wonderful learning from Phonics and Maths, to exploring the snow and playing Red Light, Green Light.

We will begin swimming on our first day back (Mon 6th Jan). Please make sure your child has the following, in a named bag:

         - swimming costume (no bikinis/tankinis), goggles, swimming hat, towel, pool shoes (crocs/flip flops/sliders, etc).

Thank you so much for all of our lovely presents and cards. We really appreciate them.

We hope the children have enjoyed their second term and we can't wait to welcome you back on Monday 6th January 2024. Please enjoy a restful break and we wish you all a very happy Christmas and a healthy 2025!

The EYFS Team

Friday 13th December

This week we have been immersing ourselves in the fun of Christmas! On Thursday and Friday we have been wearing our Christmas jumpers and have enjoyed Christmas dinner with our buddies and meeting Father Christmas in the forest! We hope the children have enjoyed such fun activities.

In Maths, we have been looking at the composition of 4 and 5. This means looking at the different ways the make 4 and 5, for example 3 and 1, 2 and 2, 3 and 2. The children have been great! We have made great progress with our CVC writing too! Have a look at some of the lovely work your children have been doing below.

On Monday and Tuesday next week, we have our FOFS Secret Shopper event. 

We also have our Christmas Church service on Friday 20th December, which is also the last day of term. Pick up time is as usual at 15:10.

We hope you have a lovely weekend.

Friday 6th December

Apologies for the delay in updating our newsletter!

What a lovely end to the week we had. We would like to start this newsletter by saying a very big well done to all of the children for their fantastic performance of 'Hey Ewe'. We hope you enjoyed as much as we did and thank you for joining us after for a hot chocolate.

We have been getting in the Christmas spirit this week and have been writing some CVC words to describe what is in Santa's Sack. In Maths, we have been looking at the numbers 4 and 5, and consolidating one more and one less. 

Important Dates and Reminders:

Thursday 12th December - Christmas jumper and Christmas lunch day

Friday 13th December - Christmas jumper day and Father Christmas in the forest!

Monday 16th and Tuesday 17th December - FOFS Secret Shopper

Friday 20th December - End of Year Christmas service at All Saints and last day of Term 2.

Friday 29th November

With our Nativity fast approaching next Friday (6th December), we have been busy practising all of our songs, dances and lines for our performance. We have some children who have not had their costumes sent in. All children have been given a letter with their role and costume, so please could we ask that ALL costumes are sent in (in a named bag) on Monday.

This week we have been enjoying the sunshine (albeit wrapped up in our warm coats and scarves) and have done some wonderful learning in our wooded area. We found onions, played with musical instruments and were measuring our heights by standing back to back, to find out who is the tallest! Please see the photos below!

Next term, our topic is 'People Who Help Us'. If you have a job that you would like to come in and talk about to the children, please let one of us know. Additionally, we will begin swimming next term - if you would like to help on these days (Monday PMs) then please let one of us know. 

Please ensure your child's reading book and reading record are in the bookbag daily. We will be reading with all children during the week and will need to record our reading.

As a reminder, our Christmas fair is tomorrow from 12-3pm! We wish you a lovely weekend and look forward to seeing you on Monday morning.

Friday 22nd November

This week we have been looking all about birthdays. We have discussed how we celebrate birthdays and have had had a go at writing birthday wish lists.

On Thursdays we have been enjoying visits from our Year 6 buddies. From next term this will become fortnightly. Our buddies have been reading to us and hearing us read, helping us with counting and have been enjoying some fresh air on our playground.

The children have been busy rehearsing for our Nativity which we are so excited to share the children's hard work with you. As a reminder our Nativity is on Friday 6th November at 14:00. We are limited to 2 guests per child. Please send in your child's costume by next Friday. A letter went home in their bookbag/contact book so please check these.

We have church next Wednesday (27th November). Please drop your child at All Saints Church at 8:45-8:55.

As the colder weather begins, this is a great opportunity to help teaching zips/gloves etc. Where possible, please practice this at home so your child can independently do their own zips. Please feel free to send in hats, gloves and scarves too but we ask that everything is clearly named.

The deadline for ordering Christmas cards is Monday 25th November. 

Thank you so much for all of the reading going on at home. It really helps with your child's progression with their reading. 

Wishing you a lovely weekend,

EYFS Team

Friday 15th November

This week we have been looking 3 key celebrations. On Monday it was Remembrance Day and we looked at the different colours of poppies and what they symbolise and we discussed why we remember at this time of the year. Towards the end of the week, we looked at the Hindu festival 'Diwali'. We ended the week very colourful, with our 'Children in Need' dress down day. We had great fun watching some of our crazy teachers dressing up as dinosaurs and sharks, running around the playground! 

We have also started learning the songs for our Nativity 'Hey Ewe!'. The children have working really hard to learn the lyrics and actions. We put a letter in your child's book bag or contact book with some more information, including your child's role in our play. As a reminder, our performance is on Friday 6th November at 14:00. Due to the size of our hall, we politely ask to limit guests to 2 per child. 

We are unfortunately having to postpone our parents Phonics parents lesson which was meant to be on Thursday 21st November. However, it will continue to go ahead for children in KS1. We will update you when we have a new date for EYFS. Thank you for your understanding. 

We wish you a restful and happy weekend!

Friday 8th November

Our first week of our 'Celebrations Topic' has gone off with a bang!  The children have loved exploring and discovering the activities linked to Bonfire Night and Fireworks.  The children have been creating fireworks displays using a range of materials; playdoh, beads, pipe cleaners, paint and chalk.  They have been using their fine motor skills to put out our burning building.. and building their gross motor skills with our rockets, creating all different firework shapes.

We have been discussing different reasons why we 'Celebrate'  and explored the 'Gunpowder Plot' with the children, looking at pictures and building the Houses of Parliament. 

The children were incredible during their first whole school worship and sat beautifully listening to their buddies, celebrating being in Year 6 and receiving their Year 6 Ties.  We were very proud of them. 

In Maths the children have begun to explore shape... we have been looking at what makes a 'Circle'... going on a shape hunt, drawing circles and investigating circles.  The children are using their mathematical language to describe their shapes: 'a curved edge' 'round and round' even 'circumference'.

Our very busy week ended with the children coming in looking wonderfully bright in their school clothes.  A huge thank-you for your kind donations to the chocolate tombola for the Christmas Fair. 

Apologies that we were unable to change all of the books this week.  

Reminders for next week

Monday we will be taking the children to create their wish lists at the Book Fair, these will be sent home on Monday.  Parents are invited to come to the Book Fair after school on Tuesday. 

The children will be attending whole school worship every Wednesday morning from this term. 

Additional Information

Please check our 'Key dates' and 'Homework' section as well.  We have added the dates for this Term and some useful documents you may want to use at home.

Friday 25th October

And just like that, Term 1 has finished! What a fantastic start all children have had. We would like to say a huge well done to all of the children for their hard work over a very long 8 weeks. 

We've had a great final week with two fun events - Hero Day and PJ Day! We've loved seeing their outfits!

Some of our favourite moments from this term have been:

- Making Supertatos!

- Hero Day!

Our Harvest Festival service

- The soup kitchen!

Over the half term, please ensure you are continuing to read with your children and practice their sounds and tricky words. But please, make sure to rest as well. The children have told us what some of them are up to over the holiday so we can't wait to hear what they have been up to when we return on Tuesday 5th November. The Monday is a staff INSET day.

Enjoy the half term!

Friday 18th October

On Monday morning when the children came to school, there had been some strange activity over the weekend. There was a letter on the tables but we didn't know who from and lots of vegetables in trouble! Once we read the letter and the book, we realised that the Evil Pea from the story 'Supertato' had been doing all of this mischief, so we decided we would make our very own Supertatos to try and keep the Evil Pea away once and for all! We have had so much fun creating our Supertato stick puppets, our potatoes and we even made a story map detailing the events of the story. It has been a super fun week. Next week, the excitment continues as we read the next book, 'Supertato: Veggies Assemble'.

We have learned some more sounds in Phonics. These are 'h, b, f and l' along with tricky words 'has, his and as'. In Maths we have been looking at the numbers, 1, 2 and 3 and exploring the composition of these numbers.

School photos and Forest School: On Wednesday 23rd October we have individual school photos which unfortunately clashes with Forest School. We ask if you could please send your child in, in their school uniform for the photos. We will then change into our PE kits and waterproofs when it is your child's turn to go to Forest School. We will be sending PE kits home at the end of the week to be washed. 

Reminders:

Parent Consultations: Next Tuesday and Thursday we have our parent consultation evenings. Please make sure you have booked on Arbor to discuss how your child is getting on at school.

Hero Day: On Thursday is Hero Day. We put letters in bookbags last week detailing this event. We are so excited for this day!

PJ Day! The following day, Friday, is pyjama dress down day. If your child does come in in their pyjamas, we ask for a donation of a toy or a bottle of some sort to donate to our Christmas fair.

Uniform: As a reminder, all children need a bookbag rather than a rucksack as we do not have the space in our boxes for them. We also ask that you limit keyrings on bookbags to one. 

Please check the key dates page too, as we will be updating this with important dates for your diary.

We wish you a restful weekend.

Friday 11th October

This week we have been reading the story 'Funnybones'. We have used this book to learn all about our body parts and painting them.

We have delved into our 'All About Me' topic a bit more, looking at the people who live in our homes as well as discussing the pets we have at home - we have lots of cats and dogs!

In Phonics, we have learned the sounds 'ck, e, u and r' and 2 tricky words 'no' and 'go'. We have put phonics parent newsletters and sound fans in your child's bookbag for you to practise the sounds with your children at home. We hope you find these useful.

We have a super exciting week planned next week! We can't wait to see the children on Monday. We hope you have a lovely weekend.

Important Reminders:

Parent Consultations: Bookings for parent consultation evenings should now be available on Arbor. The dates for these are Tuesday 22nd October and Thursday 24th October. These consultations will let you know how your child has settled at school and will give you an opportunity to discuss anything with your child's class teacher.

Hero Day and Pyjama Dress Down: There are two dress down dates on the last week of term. Thursday 24th is hero day - we put a letter in your child's on Tuesday. Pyjama dress down day is Friday 25th, which is the last day of term.

Friday 4th October

This week our book focus has been 'Pumpkin Soup'. It is a lovely story all about a duck, cat and squirrel that have little falling out, but resolve it! This lead very nicely into our soup kitchen role play which the children enjoyed making pumpkin soup!

We are so proud of each and every child for their performance of 'Big, red combine harvester' at the Harvest festival on Thursday! We hope you loved our song.

We have learned the sounds 'g, o, c and k' in Phonics this week, as well as tricky words 'I, is, to and the'. We have been writing these letters, reading shorts CVC words and writing our names! 

Please continue to ensure you are reading with your children as often as possible. As a reminder, we change library books every Friday and Phonics reading books every Tuesday and Friday (providing they have been read and recorded 3 times).

We are hoping to have a heroes day on the last week of term, where we will be concluding our topic, 'All About Me'. It will be an opportunity for your child to dress up as their hero! It could be a superhero, what they want to be when they're older, or someone they love! We will send a letter out with more information soon.

Thank you for your continued support - we wish you a happy weekend.

The EYFS Team 

Friday 27th September

This week we have been reading the story 'The Invisible String' and have been talking about the different ways we can make ourselves feel better when we are missing loved ones. We have been creating friendship flowers to show how much we value all of our class members.

On Thursday, we went on an autumnal nature walk around the school and collected all things autumn! We set ourselves challenges to find the biggest and smallest leaves!

In Phonics, we have learned 4 more sounds - n, m, d and g, alongside 2 tricky words - I and is. We have finished our first Maths topic - 'Match, Sort and Compare'. Can your child tell you what the word match means?

Once again we have been very impressed with all children. We hope you have a lovely weekend. Please see below for some important information about reading books and the Harvest festival next week.

Reading Books:

Today, your child was given their first Phonics book. It is a wordless book, aimed to allow your child to look at the pictures and create their own stories, judgements and narratives. Please record all reading in the reading record. Once it has been recorded that the book has been read 3 times, we will change the books every Tuesday and Friday. We will give worded books out later on in the term.

We will continue to change library books on Fridays.

Harvest Festival - Thursday 3rd October 2024:

Please join us at All Saints Church on Thursday 3rd October for our Harvest Service. Children will be dropped off at All Saints between 8:45-55 and will be walking back with their Year 6 buddies. Parents/carers are welcome to stay for the service. We have been busy learning a song and we cannot wait to perform it to you! If you would like to donate some canned tins/food, cereal, etc, please bring these on the day.

Milk:

We are hoping to be able to begin providing milk to the children from next week. Thank you for your patience.

Friday 20th September

What a wonderful week we have had.  The children have settled into the routines and have been discovering across all areas of EYFS.  We have been learning in maths what is the 'same' and what could be a 'set.  We have started our phonics journey and have learnt the sounds, 's a t p i' - we have put a parent newsletter in book bags if you wanted to look at the sounds together at home. 

The highlight of our week was meeting our buddies today, all of the children were so excited and Year 6  could not want to meet their buddies.  We had extra excitement that it we met during the most incredible hail storm - the children were very brave and enjoyed exploring the giant marbles that fell from the sky! 

Wishing you all a restful weekend.

Gentle reminders

Wednesday is Forest School - please can you send your child in home clothes and a set of waterproofs.

Friday is our library day - please can you return their reading for pleasure book so that they can choose another story to share at home.

Friday 13th September 2024

WOW! Just like that the first week of Reception has finished! We have been so impressed with ALL of the children. A big well done!

We started the week off by reading one of our favourite stories, 'The Colour Monster'. We had our first Forest School session which was great fun and PE on Friday morning! If you are interested in volunteering with us, please let a member of the Early Years team know and we can advise you further. In Phonics, we have taught the sounds s and a. We will be revisiting these next week before moving onto the other sounds in Phase 2. 

We have sent home reading records and a library book home with your child today. Please record any reading of this book and others in this reading record. We politely ask library books to be brought back in each Friday so we can change them. We cannot give a new book to your child until the old one is brought back. 

As you can see, we have had such a busy week! We hope you all have a restful weekend and are looking forward to welcoming you back on Monday. 

Polite Reminders:

At home time, please do not let your children on the castle in the KS1 playground. Thank you for your understanding.