Author: nscade

Here is a recap of the letter that we sent out at the beginning of the year, outlining a little bit more about the Early Years Curriculum and the national expectations for the end of the year.

The Early Years Foundation Stage Framework explains how and what your child will be learning to support their development throughout Nursery and Reception.

Your child will be learning skills, acquiring new knowledge and demonstrating their understanding through 7 areas of learning and development.
Children should mostly develop the 3 prime areas first. These are:
• Communication and language;
• Physical development; and
• Personal, social and emotional development.
These prime areas are those most essential for your child’s healthy development and future learning.

As children grow, the prime areas will help them to develop skills in 4 specific areas. These are:
• Literacy;
• Mathematics;
• Understanding the world; and
• Expressive arts and design.
These 7 areas are used to plan your child’s learning and activities. Planning for this curriculum is designed to be flexible so that your child’s unique needs and interests are supported. Children in the EYFS learn by playing and exploring, being active, and through creative and critical thinking which takes place both indoors and outside. Below is a link to the government document that helps teachers with their planning and assessment throughout the year.

http://www.foundationyears.org.uk/files/2012/03/Development-Matters-FINAL-PRINT-AMENDED.pdf

 

EARLY LEARNING GOALS

At the end of the Reception year, children are assessed in relation to ‘Early Learning Goals’ and are given a judgement as to whether they are ‘meeting the expected levels of development’, ‘exceeding the expected levels’ or ‘not yet reaching the expected levels’ (‘emerging’)’. It is important for you to see these early learning goals so that you know what the national expectations for children at the end of Reception are in each area of learning. If your child is exceeding these goals then the National Curriculum for Year 1 is used to ensure they are being challenged at the appropriate level. Below is a link to government exemplification materials for each of the early learning goals. The aim is not just that children reach these expected goals but that they are given the opportunities to exceed them.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/eyfs-profile-exemplication-materials

 

 

 

 

Welcome back and Happy New Year! We hope that you all had a wonderful break.

This half term our class text will be The Rainbow Fish

Over the next few weeks we will be exploring the text, looking in detail at the setting and developing our descriptive vocabulary. We will create our own story settings, use music to help create atmosphere and use exciting vocabulary to bring our stories to life. We will also transform our role play area into a deep and dazzling ocean where were we can learn more about the creatures that live under the sea.

We will even be visiting The London Aquarium to inspire our stories further and to deepen our knowledge of the marine natural world.

We have a very exciting half term ahead so keep updated with our adventures right here!

Reception are very excited to share with you their Nativity play next week. Actions are becoming more refined and voices are becoming louder with every passing day!

Next Wednesday 16th December after dropping your child off at 8.45am please make your way around to the hall, ready for the show to commence at 9am. We would appreciate it if children playing the parts of Mary, Joseph, the Angels, the Shepherds, Innkeepers and the Wise Men are at school at the earlier time of 8.35am to get changed into their costumes. A reminder that Wednesday is also ‘Christmas Jumper’ day, where children can wear a festive jumper instead of their school jumper during the day for a donation of £1.

All family and friends of Reception are welcome to attend the Nativity performance.

After the Nativity (and a quick costume change) our Stay and Play session will start. Please note that due to space restrictions only 2 adults per child will be able to participate in the Stay and Play session.

As stated in the EYFS Christmas Arrangements letter, the class party will be held on Thursday 17th December. In the letter it stated that children can bring clothes to school and change for the party. However, children can now come to school in their party clothes and remain in them for the day.

We hope you enjoy the Christmas events as much as the class have enjoyed preparing for them.

Reception are very proud of their displays. So much of their work gets celebrated on our display boards both in the classroom and around the school. We also have a board in our class where we can showcase our busy work from home.

We really want to celebrate all the things that your child does at home as well as what we observe them do at school. Anytime your child does something that makes you think “Wow!” please write it down on one of the sticky labels your child has in their plastic reading wallets. This can be done whenever you feel it is appropriate and we can then peel off these stickers and add them to your child’s profile in school.
Here are some examples of what you might write on a Wow! Sticker:

Name: Ben
Observation:
Ben got himself dressed ready for school all by himself and was able to turn his jumper the correct way round when he realised it was inside out. He even attempted his shoelaces and with a little bit of help succeeded in doing them up.

Name: Asif
Observation:
Asif puts shopping into his basket, counting each item as it goes in. “I have 10 things”. He then looks at his sister’s basket and counts how many items she has. “You have 11 things, that is 1 more than me”.

We really value our partnership with you at home and look forward to learning more about your child from you.

We have had to move P.E this half term to Wednesday afternoons rather than Thursday afternoons. However, please still ensure that your child’s P.E kit is brought to school every Monday in case they need it at any other time during the week.

Many Thanks