*** You can access Home Learning for your class here ***

Welcome to OKB!

Our Class Motto was made up of words chosen by the children. These are: “We are: Listening, Kind, Helpful, Friendly, Learning”.

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, PSE, Music and RE in our Foundation Stage curriculum. Please see our timetable for more information.

Useful Parent Information

The school day

The school day starts at 8:50 and finishes at 3:15. Please make sure your child arrives promptly at school for 8:50 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 a few times a week in a Guided Reading session as part of a group. They also bring home a Reading Scheme book and word sheets to read and enjoy with an adult. We encourage children to read every day at home. The reading book they take home will be changed on a Monday and a Friday so 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.

Children will visit the school library every Friday. They are invited to choose a book to take home for the week. Books should be returned the following Friday if your child wishes to change their book.

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. Please ensure your child is sent to school with a P.E kit for this session. This can be left on your child’s peg in school to ensure your child has it when needed. We are very fortunate to have P.E coaches throughout the year who work alongside the teachers to help your children develop skills such as balance, coordination and ball skills. 

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, hat, scarves and gloves. 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.

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.

View our Long Term Plan here.

One of our chicks has hatched and a few other eggs have begun to crack. Watch our videos - one shows the chick actually hatch out of the shell 🙂

Perhaps our home learners could write about the life cycle of a chicken whilst you are at home?

We have been finding out what cress seeds need to grow.  We have watered the seeds everyday and kept them in the sunlight.  We have observed the cress grow and recorded changes over time.

We used our observational skills to find out how ice changes over time.  We touched the ice and used magnifying glasses to describe its appearance.

We have enjoyed creating art work inspired by our new school vision.  We used our hand print as a template for a dove and blended pastels to create the background.

We have really enjoyed learning about Chinese New Year celebrations this week. We have made Chinese lanterns and dragons, written Chinese numbers and had a go at performing a dragon dance to music.

We have been reading the story ‘Stickman’. The children brought in a stick from home to make into their very own stick person. The children made these independently and they all look fantastic. They have enjoyed acting out the story with their stick people.  We also worked in groups to make a story map so that we could retell the story using pictures. 

We enjoyed measuring how far we could jump with sticks. We recorded our results to find out who had the longest jump!

We enjoyed the cold frosty weather this week. We explored our outdoor environment and found lots of ice.

We enjoyed balancing with a partner to develop our coordination skills.

We have enjoyed observing seasonal changes on our Autumn walk.

We have been learning about a special Hindu festival called Diwali.  We have looked in non fiction books to find out about how the festival is celebrated.  We have enjoyed making Diva lamps, Mendhi patterns, Rangoli patterns and retelling the story of Rama and Sita with the Diwali small world figures.  

We have enjoyed exploring the sounds of musical instruments and performing to the class.

Upper Foundation have enjoyed PE sessions with a sports coach this half term. The children have been developing a range of skills such as coordination, balancing, running, jumping, spatial awareness and changing direction.

This week we have been learning about Harvest. We have found out about which vegetables are harvested at this time of year and how. We had our Harvest Celebration with Father Christopher this week. He talked about what we say thank you to God for. We then sung him some harvest songs and gave him some art work we had created for him.

We enjoyed a visit from a Police Officer who told us about his job and the ways he helps people. We tried on police uniforms, had a look at his police car and asked him lots of questions.

We have had a visit from a Healthy Schools leader who has shown us activities to help us keep fit . We enjoyed tasting fruit and vegetables and sorted food into healthy and unhealthy groups.

We enjoyed a visit from Horbury Library. We listened to lots of interesting and exciting stories and found out how to become a member of the library.

We have enjoyed finding shapes in the environment and making pictures with shapes.