EYFS

Foundation Stage

Welcome to our Foundation Stage! We are a friendly, caring and enthusiastic team who work hard to make sure that your child has a positive experience at the beginning of their school life. Our curriculum content is based around children’s needs and interests, their stages of development and themes that we have identified as being important building blocks in their knowledge and understanding of the world around them.

The curriculum is underpinned by the seven areas of learning and is designed to enable children to achieve their potential and reach the Early Learning Goals. The seven areas of learning all carry equal importance. They include the three Prime Areas:

Communication and Language

Physical Development

Personal, Social and Emotional Development

The Prime Areas are a crucial part of early development; they play an important role in encouraging children’s curiosity and enthusiasm for learning and they are designed to support children as they learn to form relationships, moderate their emotions and develop their independence.

The remaining four areas are the Specific Areas of Learning and they include:

Literacy

Mathematics

Understanding the World

Expressive Arts and Design

These areas include the essential skills and knowledge that children will need as they continue their journey through school.

Bearing all this in mind, our curriculum is designed to:

Provide children with hands-on learning experiences that engage and inspire

Ensure that our children are confident communicators capable of building strong relationships based on a foundation of Restorative Practice

Encourage a lifelong love of reading

Develop each individual according to their strengths, needs and interests

Enable children to develop the maths and literacy skills they need to access the KS1 curriculum.

Our teaching is supported by the non-statutory guidance ‘Development Matters’, and ‘Little Wandle Letters and Sounds’ is our phonics and early reading validated scheme.

Children learn best through play and we ensure that they have dedicated, uninterrupted opportunities to do this. They are supported by staff who observe and engage with the children’s play in order to move their learning on.

Outdoor Learning is another important part of the curriculum. Children have daily opportunities to spend time outside, where they can investigate the world around them and engage in play that is bigger, louder and messier than inside play. It is many children’s favourite part of the day!

We firmly believe that teaching is a partnership and we welcome your support and feedback. We are always happy to talk and answer any questions you may have.

We admit children from the term after their 3rd birthday into our FS1 class, Red Base. They move to FS2 in the September after their 4th birthday.

We have space for 60 children in our two FS2 classes – Blue Base and Green Base.

EYFS

Please contact the school office on 01482 353125 or Mrs Wellington (Assistant Headteacher and EYFS Leader) at nicola.wellington@hcat.org.uk if you have any further questions.

Information for parents

Developing Early Writing at Wheeler – Progression

EYFS Curriculum Intent

Foundation Stage 1 – Curriculum information for parents

Foundation Stage 2 – Curriculum information for parents

What to expect, when?– Guidance to your child’s learning and development in the early years foundation stage.

Foundation Stage 2

We are so excited to welcome the children back to Green and Blue Base after the Easter holidays! The children have settled back into school life brilliantly and are keen to build on their learning from the Spring term.

During the Summer term our learning will be focused around two topics. The first half term is ‘Let’s Grow’, where we will be exploring plants and mini beasts. We will be learning about different types of plants and mini beasts, finding out about how they grow and why they are important.

Our topic for the second half term is called ‘Big and Small’ and we will be learning about animals. We will be learning about pets, farm animals, native animals and animals from around the world. We have arranged for a farm to come and visit us – more details to follow!

Learning outside is fun and effective and is often your child’s favourite part of the day. However, at this time of year we often get wet and dirty – please send your child to school with spare clothes to keep in a bag on their peg. As it gets warmer, please make sure they come to school with appropriate clothing and a sun hat. Please make sure your child wears sun cream – we would recommend using the 8 hour cream which can be applied before school and will last all day.

Please ensure your child brings their book bag to school every day and remember to check it regularly for any letters or newsletters that may have been sent home.

We will be helping your children learn by following their interests and developing their play, even though this may deviate from our plans.

Homework will be sent home every Friday to reflect what the children have been learning in school, and to let you know what your child has been learning in school (we know how many of them come home and claim to have done nothing!).

We also send home 2 books each week – one is a library book for you to read with your child, the other is a phonics book that they will have read in school 3 times before bringing it home. They need to read this book with you to develop their confidence and fluency. Every child who reads at home 3 times (and has this recorded in their Reading Diary) will receive a small reward at the end of each week.

The children will be developing their understanding of number in Maths and learning letter sounds through Phonics sessions, to help them read simple words and sentences.

We really appreciate your voluntary weekly £1 donations to our Foundation Fund, it makes a great difference to the resources and experiences we can provide; thank you for giving when you can.

If you have any questions, please speak to a member of our lovely Blue Base and Green Base staff, we are always happy to help.

Mrs Gladwell and Mrs Wellington