Welcome to Pear Class!

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

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

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

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 Tuesday.

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 here to see our progress.

This week we have been learning about the season, winter. We have been on a winter walk on a cold, frosty morning. We saw frost covering our playground and found lots of thick ice inside the play tyres. 

We have also been practising using scissors to cut out snowflakes to decorate our classroom. 

We have enjoyed a walk around the school grounds, looking for signs of Autumn. We spotted lots of leaves changing colour and falling off the trees. We also noticed lots of berries growing which we discussed, will help the birds stay warm during autumn and winter. 

We have investigated a range of fruit and vegetables, discussing why they are good for us. 

Inspired by the artist, Giuseppe Arcimboldo, we have created vegetable faces by cutting and sticking.  We have also enjoyed practising how to brush our teeth.

We have enjoyed reading the story Funnybones and learning the names of the bones in our bodies.  We have made our own skeleton pictures by cutting straws into different lengths.  

We have enjoyed creating self-portraits using paint and collage materials. 

We have enjoyed exploring our new classroom and outdoor area.