A Very Warm Welcome to Foundation Stage 2
Mrs Arinze and Mrs Bevan warmly welcome you to Foundation Stage 2. We wish your child every success for the coming year and trust that they will settle well into reception. We aim to make the transition between pre-school and reception as smooth as possible. We are following government guidelines to take the very best practice from Foundation Stage 1 into our Foundation Stage 2, these include:
The children will access independent learning activities on a daily basis, whilst engaging in two or three focused learning sessions with teaching staff. The Foundation Stage 2 Curriculum builds upon and extends the experiences that children have had in pre-school. Learning through play will continue to be an important part of the school day.
The Foundation Stage Team
Class RA class teacher: Mrs Arinze with class teaching assistant: Mrs Martinger.
Class RB class teacher: Mrs Bevan with class teaching assistant: Mrs Tea.
The class teachers have planning and assessment time on a regular basis and during this period Mrs Evans and Mrs Newton-Jones will cover the classes following the teachers’ planning. Teaching assistants Mrs Martinger and Mrs Tea will support during these periods.
Both classes have a dance/movement session on a Friday beginning 25th September. Children wear their uniforms on this day and bring a pair of daps/plimsoles just to change their footwear.
Children will also participate in a daily ‘wake and shake’ session which may take place outside or inside.
Homework/Formation Books
On Wednesday 9th September your child will bring home a formation book. This book is for you to support your child with their weekly sounds, letter/number recognition and letter/number formations as they are introduced in class. This book will need to be in school every Wednesday for us to update that week’s letter sounds and letter/number formations. This book will come home again on a Friday. Please read the parent instructions inside the cover to help you support your child.
On Wednesday 16th September your child will bring home their homework book containing a pick ‘n’ mix homework menu. The menu has nine different activities to select from. This is to ensure that children in both classes are accessing the same homework. The expectation (for this half term) is that the children will complete a minimum of three activities. Please choose at least one task from each row (we would like ALL children to do the number activity with the laminated number cards and dice provided), please keep the ‘new’ dice and number cards safe at home as they will be useful for future number work. As above please read the parent instructions inside the cover of the homework book to help you support your child.
Reading books
On Wednesday 9th September all children will be given a wordless picture book to bring home. These books are a valuable tool to teach early reading skills e.g. holding the book the right way up, reading from left to right, turning the pages, discussing the illustrations, telling your own stories etc
Please read the information inside the front cover of your child’s reading diary to help you support your child.
As children complete Phase 2 phonics (over the Autumn term) we will assess their knowledge to date. Following our ongoing assessments some children will then be given a reading book with words.
Please note all children learn at a different rate so some children will continue with wordless books because they may not have quite got the first set of Phase 2 sounds.
With reading being at the heart of everything we do, it is really important to put aside five minutes every day to hear your child read. We look forward to reading your comments in your child’s reading record.
Please note, in the current climate, and following guidance we will keep all reading books returned from homes in an airtight box for 72 hours before reissuing them.
Fruit, Milk and Water All children will now be offered fresh fruit which is delivered daily (provided free of charge).
Parents please remember milk can still be ordered through the Cool Milk scheme. Parents need to register at www.coolmilk.com please note all children under five receive free school milk, but you will still need to register for this.
Please note clearly named water bottles need to be in school every day so they are readily available for your child to access water when needed.
Uniform Please ensure all uniforms, including coats, are clearly and permanently named.
Parent Helpers We value support from our parent helpers once your child has settled. Please let your teacher know if you are able to help with readers, forest school and other activities etc, we always have plenty to do!
Please note Mrs D’Arcy will update us with guidance as to when we can have parent helpers on site. Thank you to those parents who have already put your names down, we hope it won’t be long before we can have you on site.
'Wow' Wall Outside each classroom we have a dedicated 'wow' wall. We feel this is a great way of celebrating the children’s achievements and milestones. Please send in anything you would like us to celebrate and share with the class. Each child has an A4 slot on the ‘WOW’ board which we hope to fill with achievements from home or school. We have already sent out ‘wow’ vouchers for you to complete any time your child has a ‘wow’ moment you would like us to celebrate (more vouchers are available so please ask). Please note, in the current climate, and following guidance we will keep ‘WOW’ vouchers in an airtight box for 72 hours before celebrating them on our display board.
And finally, please feel free to ask if you have any questions or queries.
Regards Mrs Arinze & Mrs Bevan