As the Summer term is quickly drawing to an end, in EYFS we are celebrating the achievements of all the children and building on their confidence letting the children know they are ready for their next year group in August.
Our eldest children, in Reception, will be making the leap from Early Years to Primary in the following academic year and to ensure they keep their positive attitudes about school they have had the wonderful opportunity of experiencing Year 1 this week. Each morning Reception have had their fun phonics in a Year 1 class and today they rounded up the week with amazing activities planned by Year 1 lead Miss Morrison and the Year 1 team. On Tuesday morning there was so much excitement as I meet Reception in the corridor on the way up to year 1. They were thrilled with the grown opportunity to explore next years class and talked nonstop all week about their experiences. We hope Reception enjoyed this opportunity and have a real buzz ready for Year 1.
In our other year groups, Nursery have been up to explore what a Reception class looks like and enjoyed storytime in one of the classes. While Pre-Nursery in the next two weeks will have the opportunity to pop in and see the Nursery class in action.
Isla Gillespie
Head of Early Years
Pre-Nursery
5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Blastoff!
Pre-Nursery have continued the world of flight by whizzing off to the moon in rockets this week. Our inspiration has been all around the book ‘Whatever Next!’ where a Baby Bear takes an imagery trip to the moon for a picnic with an owl friend.
Pre-Nursery have loved role-playing the story using the props from the book: a cardboard box for a rocket, a sieve for a helmet and wellies for space boots. It has been a delight to observe the children build their imaginations and join together to share these experiences of role-play.
During our carpet times, the children have loved pretending to be rockets using the phrase ‘blast off’ as we counted down to be rockets ready to launch off into Space. Along with this, we developed our counting skills through the wonderful rhyme ‘5 little Men in a Flying Saucer’.
Nursery
Our Summer adventures continued in Nursery this week with an exploration of the seaside with our story character, Lola! "The Sandcastle that Lola Built" is a lovely picture book story about making new friends, working together as a team and overcoming disappointment.
Nursery enjoyed team-building games, building a castle wall and moat around a castle and let their imaginations run wild decorating their very own mermaid!
We marvelled at the natural wonder of sea glass and took a look at shiny, reflective surfaces and how we might use these objects to signal for attention.
The children explored feelings of disappointment and how we might settle ourselves and overcome a setback. "Try Again!" was our class mantra this week. Nursery encouraged each other with tasks and when at first, we did not achieve our desired outcome, we worked together to rebuild and encourage one another!
Next week we will laugh at Pirates who love underpants and look for treasure on maps with "X" marks the spot!
Reception
Reception were very happy and excited this week whilst having the opportunity to prepare for their move into Primary. Each morning the children, along with their class teacher, took part in fun phonics activities in the Year 1 classrooms. On Friday, Miss Morrison and the Year 1 team planned some wonderful activities for the children to take part in to end their week.
Back in the Reception classrooms, the children listened to the story of The Three Billy Goats Gruff and skilfully created their own actions to retell the story before working in teams to help the Billy Goats by building a new bridge to get them safely across the stream!
In Maths, the children developed their understanding of positional language and completed their first homework activity, the teachers were very proud to see the learning that the children did at home!
