Welcome to Apple Class!

Newsletters

Email - kbarrett@st-peters.wakefield.sch.uk

Our Class Motto was made up of words chosen by the children.  These are:

“We are: Helpful, Kind, Friendly, Learning, Happy”

In foundation stage we plan stimulating and exciting learning opportunities indoors and outdoors to engage the children. Our provision areas include; sand, water, role play, writing, maths, construction and small world.

These areas all facilitate opportunities for your children to explore, investigate and wonder, finding out and learning in the most exciting way – through play!

Throughout the school day we have structured time which includes adult led learning. This structure includes; daily phonics, maths, literacy and topic activities. We also include P.E, Jigsaw, Music and RE in our Foundation Stage curriculum.

Useful Parent Information

The school day

The school day starts at 8:50am and finishes at 3:15pm. Please make sure your child arrives promptly at school for 8:50am to ensure they are present for register and ready to start learning. If for any reason, your child arrives after this time, please go to the school office. If you will be late to pick up your child at home time, please ring the office to inform them as soon as possible.  For safety reasons, children need to be collected by a known adult, so if someone new is collecting your child please inform a member of staff.

Water Bottles

The children are encouraged throughout the day to drink water to ensure they are well hydrated.  Please send your child to school with a named water bottle.  Please note these should not be filled with juice.

Reading

Reading is an important and fun part of children’s learning.  Children will read three times a week in a reading practise session as part of a group.  They will bring home their book from the reading practise group to celebrate their reading with you on a Friday. The children will also bring home a reading for pleasure book. This is a picture book to enjoy with you at home. The children are not expected to read the words in this book, they are to promote the love of books.

Please sign your child’s reading record book to say you have read with your child.  There is a comments section for any comments you wish to make.

PE

In Upper Foundation Stage we have access to the outdoor area at all times; therefore, your child has access to a range of fantastic gross motor opportunities daily. These include; ball games, running, jumping, skipping and climbing skills.

We also have one P.E session per week.  On PE days please send your child in their PE Kit. They will remain in this for the whole day in school.  Children need to wear a white t-shirt, dark shorts / jogging bottoms and trainers.  We will be doing PE outdoors this half term.  Please ensure your child has a school jumper / cardigan to wear outdoors.  All kit should be clearly named.  Children with long hair need a bobble to tie it back during the session and children with earrings will need them removing that day. 

Our PE day will be on a Thursday.

Uniform

Your child should wear uniform which follows our school policy. In Foundation Stage your child will need appropriate clothing all year round for outdoor play. In winter, please make sure you send your child to school with a waterproof coat.

In summer, please send your child with a sun hat and labelled sun cream.

It is a good idea to send a pair of wellies to school with your child for all year round as we will use them daily when playing on the grass, in the mud kitchen and for water play.

Please remember to label ALL items of clothing and shoes as this will help return lost property as soon as possible.

Learning Journey
The Foundation stage staff continually observe the children in the setting and celebrate their wonderful progress. We record WOW moments on our learning journey app (Evidence Me) and we share this with you at regular intervals.  Please ensure school have an up to date email address for you to receive these updates.    

We hope your child enjoys their time in Upper Foundation Stage.  If you have any concerns or queries, please don’t hesitate to speak to a member of staff in the Foundation Stage Unit and arrange an appropriate time to chat.

In Foundation Stage, we are doing the ‘50 Things To Do Before You're Five’ Challenge. We will complete challenges and update you with our progress.     

We hope that the activities will be lots of fun for the children. Please click on the link below to see our progress.

Our science investigations have been linked to traditional tales.  We have investigate materials to find the strongest material to build a house for The Three Little Pigs and a bridge for The Three Billy Goats Gruff.  We also enjoyed taking part in an experiment to find out what would happen to a Gingerbread Man in water.  We made predictions and observed the changes over time.

We have enjoyed visiting the church to explore the inside and outside.

For Earth Day, we learnt about how to look after our planet and we enjoyed making posters to remind each other how we can all help look after the environment.  We looked at how we can do more recycling, reusing and reducing, and the different ways we can save electricity and water.  

We have enjoyed learning about who St George is and why people celebrate St George's Day.  We have made our own shields and enjoyed retelling the story of St George and the Dragon.

We had a special visit from Father Christopher who told us the Easter story.

We have enjoyed learning about the life cycle of a butterfly.  We have welcomed five tiny caterpillars into the classroom and have enjoyed watching them change over time into a butterflies.  

We have been learning some key gymnastics skills including; rolling, jumping and holding a position.

We have enjoyed observing seasonal changes on our spring walk.

We have planted a range of seeds and we are very excited to watch them grow.  

We have enjoyed reading our favourite stories, snuggled up with a hot chocolate and marshmallows!

We used our senses to explore ice.

We have enjoyed observing seasonal changes on our winter walk.

We have enjoyed learning about Chinese New Year celebrations.  We have made Chinese dragons and lanterns, traditional money wallets and enjoyed performing a dragon dance to music.

A huge well done to all the children in Upper Foundation Stage for two fantastic performances of 'All About Christmas'.  The children were exceptional and we are extremely proud of each and everyone of them for their superb efforts.  

We have enjoyed making our own poppies to create a class wreath for Remembrance Day.  We all took part in a two-minute silence to remember the people who have looked after our country.  

We have enjoyed investigating light and dark by setting up a dark den in the classroom and exploring different light sources.  

We have been looking at the artwork of artist, Kandinsky. 

We have enjoyed creating our own artwork inspired by the paintings we have looked at.

We have been learning about a special Hindu festival called Diwali.  We have looked in non-fiction books to find out how the festival is celebrated.  We have enjoyed making diva lamps, mehndi hand patterns, rangoli patterns and retelling the story of Rama and Sita with the Diwali small world puppets.

What a fantastic performance at out Harvest Festival.  Well done Reception you have made us super proud!

We have enjoyed observing seasonal changes on our Autumn walk.

We have read the story ‘Oliver's Vegetables’  this week and discussed how to keep our bodies healthy.  We had a visit from Pete Ward (Wakefield Schools Health Improvement Specialist) to talk about healthy food choices.  We were really excited to visit a local allotment to see lots of vegetables growing.  We have also enjoyed learning about the artist, Guiseppe Arcimboldo. We have created our own vegetable artwork.

As part of our 'All About Me' topic we have enjoyed reading Funny Bones and learning the correct names for bones in our body.  We have practised our cutting skills and cut straws to different lengths to create a skeleton picture.  We have also discussed the importance of oral health and we have been practising brushing teeth.

We have enjoyed our first week at school.