Welcome to FS2!

Class Teacher: Miss Laite 

Teaching Assistant: Miss Laughton

Important Information: 

• Homework is due in every Friday. This will usually consist of handwriting and either a Phonics or Maths worksheet. 
• Make sure you read at least 3 times a week to improve your reading skills. Please bring your reading record and book to school everyday. 
• Please do not hesitate to ask me questions regarding your child, their education or for a general update on how your child is progressing.

We are looking forward to beginning our amazing learning journey with you all! 

Miss Laite and Miss Laughton
 

Spring 2 - Traditional Tales

This half term, we will continue our learning on Traditional Tales! We will be reading stories such as the Ugly Duckling, the Little Red Hen and comparing characters and ideas in these stories throughout. We will be doing a variety of activities including baking our own bread for the hen, helping Mr Wolf by writing his shopping list, tasting pancakes and many more! Have a look below to see some of the fantastic activities planned for this half term!

Spring 1 - Traditional Tales

During our Traditional Tales topic children will develop an understanding of key texts including Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood, The Three Little Pigs, Goldilocks and the Three Bears and many more! We will focus on retelling these stories with our friends and using our creative skills to help the characters in the story! We will discuss and compare characters in the stories and share our own thoughts and ideas. 

Below is our curriculum newsletter which outlines all of the exciting learning that we will be doing this half term! 

This week, we came into school and found a crime scene in our classroom! We talked about how we felt when we saw the huge mess in our FS2 classroom! Some children said they were shocked, annoyed and angry with the person who had done this. We set to work as detectives, wore police costumes and thought about who could be the 'porridge thief.' We questioned suspects, we even questioned Mr O'Connor! We gathered evidence and we found a blue dress, a red ribbon, a lock of golden hair and a broken chair! We discovered that it was Goldilocks who had taken the porridge and made a mess! Some of us wrote signs saying, 'Do not come back!' to warn her! We also painted our very own pictures of the suspect and in maths we shared between the three bears. We also measured different amounts of porridge for the three bears using weighing scales. 

This week, we have focused on the story of The Three Little Pigs! We made predictions about what we thought would happen next in the story. We discussed what type of house we think would be best and why. We made the houses using straw, sticks and sponges to paint the bricks. In our Literacy, we wrote which house we would choose and why. We had some fantastic pieces of work! We made our own masks for the three pigs and mixed the colours to make pink. We used our amazing cutting skills to cut the shapes for the ears, eyes and the nose!

This week, we read the story of Jack and the Beanstalk. We mixed yellow and blue to make green so we could paint our own beanstalks. We added the magic beans at the bottom and the clouds at the top! We have also planted our own magic bean as a class and we talked about what plants need to grow. We will continue to water this and watch it grow in our classroom! 

We used the instruments and imagined the characters in the story. We made loud sounds for the giant and quiet sounds for Jack running away from the giant! We even used a bell for the cow. We have used our cutting skills to make spiral beanstalks and these are now hanging in our classroom. 

Autumn 2 - Falling From the Sky

During our 'Falling from the Sky' topic, children will develop an understanding of the changes within the environment during the autumn season. We will go on a hunt to explore the sings of autumn. We will also focus on how pumpkins grow and learn about the life cycle of pumpkins. We will look at where different animals live and how they make their habitats too! Some stories we will focus on this half term include The Leaf Man, Pumpkin Soup, The Squirrels who Squabbled, Owl Babies and Bear Snores On!

Below is our curriculum newsletter which outlines all of the exciting learning that we will be doing this half term! 

Autumn 1 - All Around the World!

Are you ready for an adventure? Take a look at our new and exciting classroom for this half term. Prepare to be amazed as we begin our new and exciting adventure exploring the world around us! Where will our learning journey take us? 

Below is our curriculum newsletter which outlines all of the exciting learning that we will be doing this half term! 

In FS2, we have focused on the story Paddington. We read the story and we were eager to find out what Paddington's favourite food tasted like! We followed instructions on how to make our own marmalade sandwiches. We also used our super phonics skills to write our own recipes to show others how they can make them too. We tasted them and used full sentences and fantastic adjectives to describe them. Some of created a tag for Paddington and we helped him to pack a suitcase filled with CVC words to read ready for his next adventure! We worked together to make paper mache hot air balloons and we looked at how they fly in the sky!

We have been understanding our world. We have looked at Handa's Surprise story set in Africa. We talked about the differences and similarities and created a story map showing the beginning, middle and the end. We talked about different types of fruit from around the world. 

In our Maths, we have focused on making repeating patterns and the numbers 1, 2 and 3. We have used our pattern making skills in lots of different ways! We have made patterns with our fruit at snack time, with the bears and with printing potatoes. 

Intent

At St Francis Xavier Catholic Primary School, we believe that a good early education is fundamental for a child’s success. Through achieving the balance between play and adult led sessions, our early year’s curriculum is designed to provide children with the best possible start in life. The children’s interests are at the heart of our syllabus which enables us to deliver a high quality and child led learning.

We strongly believe that children thrive in an environment where they feel safe, happy and respected. At St Francis, we achieve this through providing children with fun and engaging lessons, forming positive relationships with parents and listening and responding to each individual child’s need.
                          
 

Implementation

Each half term, we plan a topic which we feel will interest the children. This topic is then broken down into seven areas of learning which are: personal social and emotional development, communication and language, physical development, literacy. mathematics, expressive arts and design, and understanding the world. When delivering these sessions, children will participate in physical activities, discussion and role play activities to enable them to gain good knowledge and understanding of what is being taught. We strongly believe that children learn best through play therefore, anything which is taught is placed into the provision for children to explore in their own time either independently or with their peers.

Communication and language is essential in ensuring that children are able to reach age expected levels (or higher), across all areas of learning. Communication and Language is broken down into three vital parts which are: listening and attention, understanding and speaking. At St Francis, we provide the children with these skills through introducing a wide range of stories, poems and rhymes. We also ensure that children are exposed to high quality texts which build their vocabulary and promote questioning to develop their understanding further.   
                            
 

To promote cultural capital, we aim to attend three trips per year to provide children with a unique learning experience which they will remember for life. This may involve activities such as: paying for something at the shop, going on a bus ride or visiting an education site.

We recognise that all children are unique and will therefore develop individually in their own time. At St Francis we continually assess the children across all seven areas of learning and provide additional support for those children who may require it.
                          

Impact

Delivering an enriched curriculum in the early years will provide children with the foundations they need to reach their full potential. By the time the children leave the foundation stage unit, they have learnt skills which will enable them to be successful throughout their school life. Explicit modelling, promoting independence and providing ongoing assessments, promotes high levels of engagement in learning, and enables the children to make rapid progress throughout their early years.
                             

Learning in the Foundation Stage

At St Francis Xavier the Nursery and Reception classes follow the Early Years Foundation Stage framework (EYFS).  This curriculum is based upon four themes and principles.

Unique Child – Every child is a unique child who is constantly learning and can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured.

Positive Relationships – Children learn to be strong and independent through positive relationships.

Enabling Environments – Children learn and develop well in enabling environments, in which their experiences respond to their individual needs and there is a strong partnership between practitioners and parents and carers.

Learning and Development – Children develop and learn in different ways.  The framework covers the education and care of all children in early years provision, including children with special educational needs and disabilities.

The Curriculum

There are 3 prime areas and 4 specific areas of learning in the Foundation Stage framework curriculum.

Prime Areas

• Personal, Social and Emotional Development
• Communication and Language
• Physical Development
   

Specific Areas

• Literacy
• Mathematics
• Understanding the World
• Expressive Arts and Design

In the Prime Areas children will learn to:-

• Share, take turns and develop respect for each other.
• Make friends and become confident independent learners.
• Behave appropriately when playing with others.
• Listen to others and understand spoken language.
• Learn new words rapidly and use them in conversations.
• Join in conversations with adults and children.
• Develop control of their bodies using both large scale movements such as running and jumping, and small scale movements such as holding pencils and using scissors.
   

In the Specific Areas: -

• Enjoy sharing books and stories with adults and friends.
• Read words and simple sentences (Reception/FS2 children).
• Draw, make marks, write letters and words.
• Count accurately groups of objects and recognise numerals.
• Add, subtract and problem solve during practical activities.
• Use everyday language to talk about size, weight, capacity, distance, time and money.
• Look closely at how things work, why things happen, living things and the natural world.
• Use ICT equipment, e.g. programmable toys and computers.
• Be imaginative, sing songs, dance and create fantastic models, drawings and paintings.
   

What will children do during a Reception (FS2) class session?

Your child will take part in a wide range of activities, both indoors and outdoors.  Your child will learn through activities he or she has chosen, or from those that are led by an adult.  Children in the Foundation Stage learn through play based activities that are fun and enjoyable.  These activities are supported by caring adults who will work closely with you to ensure your child makes progress.  We keep careful progress records for each child which are linked to the Development Matters in the Foundation Stage Guidance.  Parents are actively encouraged to contribute to their child’s learning profiles.

How you can help your child

• Encourage and praise them because they need to feel successful
• Look at their work and help them with their homework where necessary
• Come into school whenever you can – such as assemblies, fayres, morning reading sessions.  Children really love to see you in school
• Always encourage your child to take pride in their work
• Take time to share a book with them – take them to the library regularly.  Talk about what they are reading at school.
• Encourage good manners and respect at all times to everyone in and out of school.

How you can help your school

• Ensure that all contact information is up to date
• Make sure that we are aware of any medical problems
• Let us know immediately if your child is absent
• Let us know if you have a change in home circumstances – this information will remain confidential
• Make sure your child is in school on time every day
• Send your child into school in the correct school uniform
• Make sure that everything is named clearly
• If there is a change in the person collecting your child, please let us know.

Parents in school

When families support their children with their learning they make better progress, so we are very keen to get you involved in school life wherever possible.  

Parents drop their children off each morning from 8.45am, so that we can start our day. 

In both Nursery and Reception we encourage parents to leave their child at the door to foster independence.

School Times

Morning – 8.45 am – 3.20 pm

World Book Day