A big warm welcome from the Foundation Team!
Here you will find everything you need to know about Foundation at St John the Baptist Primary School.
Spring Term 2
We are really pleased to welcome you back to your second term in Foundation!
This term PE will remain on Tuesday and Friday. Please come to school in your PE kit. PE kit is black or navy jogging bottoms/ leggings, black or navy jumper or hoodie, and a plain white t-shirt. Please wear trainers on your feet and have your hair tied up if it is long. For safety, please make sure all earrings are removed before school.
Forest school will remain on Wednesday morning. Please come to school in your wellies. Waterproofs and warm coats, with hats, scarves and gloves are very much encouraged during the winter months.
Please continue to make sure everything is labelled so all belongings are returned to the correct child. Thank you for your continued support with this.
Our topic this half-term is called ‘Dangerous Dinosaurs’.
We will begin our topic with a dinosaur trail in forest school on Wednesday. We will also have fun exploring our new dinosaur island which is set up in Foundation ready for some lovely speaking and listening activities. Listen out for your child sharing some interesting dinosaur facts with you!
We will be reading and exploring these books during our guided reading sessions:
Cave Baby by Julia Donaldson
Dear Dinosaur by Chae Strathie
Dinosaur Roar! by Henrietta Stickland
If I had a dinosaur by Gabby Dawnay
Tyrannosaurus by Drip Julia Donaldson
Here are some home learning activities which you may like to do at home. It would be lovely if you could share pictures of what you get up to on Tapestry.
1. Visit the BBC Bitesize – Dinosaur Discovery website and play the game.What dinosaur facts did you find out when you played the game?
2. Make a dinosaur picture. You could draw, use paint or a paint program on a computer. Try CBeebies – Make a prehistoric picture paint program.
3. Fossils are preserved bones or prints. Visit the Natural History Museum – Discover dinosaurs website to find out more about fossils. Make salt dough by mixing 1 cup of plain flour, ½ cup of salt and ½ cup of water. Use the salt dough to make a dinosaur skeleton. Take a photograph of your dinosaur skeleton and share it on Tapestry.
4. When dinosaurs lived millions of years ago the world looked very different. Draw a dinosaur island map that includes a volcano, swamp, forest, caves and a river.
5. Enjoy some story books about dinosaurs!
We look forward to seeing and hearing about your wonderful home learning!
Dino the dinosaur is our class take-home teddy. Please enjoy the weekend with him and support your child to record the experience in Dino’s diary. Every child will have the opportunity to take home Dino at some point during the year. Please return him back to school on Monday. You may share photographs in Dino’s book, but we would also really love to see children’s drawing. Please remember Dino’s diary will be shared with the class so do not put in photographs which you are not happy to share.
Forest school sessions take place on a Wednesday morning. On that day please send your child to school with wellingtons or old shoes. Please make sure they are labelled and in a bag.
Please provide your child with a clearly labelled water bottle on a daily basis. Please be reminded that it is water only in bottles. Children are also welcome to bring fruit for break time.
Please make sure everything is clearly labelled, especially book bags, jumpers, cardigans, and coats! This really helps when gathering belongings at the end of the day and avoids lost property. In addition, please also help your child to become independent in putting their coats on, taking them off and fastening them.
In Every House, on Every Street
We’re Going on a Bear Hunt
Where the Wild Things Are
Reading Expectations
We expect children to be reading at least four times each week and for this to be recorded in their organisers. The key to learning and progression at this age is little, often and repeated to embed and consolidate learning. Even five minutes can make a huge difference to your child’s reading development. Reading can involve your child reading their school reading book and phonic book, using their sound cards to make words to blend as well as sharing their favourite bedtime story. Stories are incredibly valuable to children, building up an understanding of their world and are a key part in developing language and vocabulary.
Homework Information
We provide an optional homework menu each half-term as well as a knowledge organiser for learning taking place within the classroom. It is entirely up to you at home how much is covered. We aim to make these activities fun and straight-forward to fit in with busy lives whilst at the same time encouraging independent skills and quality family time.
We follow the “Good to be green” system. There will be gold cards for excellent work and platinum cards for exceptional work and behaviour. We will also be using Dojo points (an online reward point system).
We celebrate platinum certificates on a Thursday during Collective Worship.
Mrs Charlesworth is a class teacher. She teaches on a Monday, Tuesday and a Wednesday. Mrs Charlesworth is the school subject leader for Phonics/Spelling and Reading.
Mrs Bloom is a class teacher. She teaches on a Wednesday, Thursday and a Friday. Mrs Bloom is the school subject leader for Mental Health.
Mrs Cannings is Foundation Class’s Teaching Assistant. She works in Foundation on a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday morning. She also does a small group Forest School on a Tuesday afternoon.
Miss Knowles and Miss Kelly are classroom assistant carers. They work every day.
Curriculum
During the Foundation Stage, children engage in activities and learning which are carefully planned by teachers in order to create an overall understanding of a child’s development which, by the end of their Reception year in school, form the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile. Evidence is gained through day to day observations, photographs, conversations which take presidence over ‘written’ work. The following information in this Curriculum section comes from the Department of Education Stage Handbook (October 2023). The Early Learning Goals which children are assessed upon and judgements made can be found in each subject sub-heading.
The EYFS Profile is a statutory assessment of children’s development at the end of the academic year in which children turn 5, usually reception year. Each child’s level of development is assessed against 17 early learning goals (ELGs) across all 7 areas of learning in the EYFS. For each ELG, teachers must assess whether a child is meeting the level of development expected at the end of the EYFS, or if they are not yet reaching this level and should be assessed as ‘emerging’.
The Profile is intended to provide a reliable and accurate summative assessment of each child’s development at the end of the EYFS in order to support children’s successful transitions to year 1. Teachers are expected to use their professional judgement to make EYFS Profile assessments, using their knowledge and understanding of what a child knows, understands, and can do. Day-to-day informal checking of what children have learnt will inform teaching and learning on an ongoing basis throughout the final year of the EYFS. This will include identifying areas where children may be at risk of falling behind, so that teachers can provide effective support where needed.
Listening, Attention and Understanding ELG
Children at the expected level of development will:
• Listen attentively and respond to what they hear with relevant questions, comments and actions when being read to and during whole class discussions and small group interactions;
• Make comments about what they have heard and ask questions to clarify their understanding; • Hold conversation when engaged in back-and-forth exchanges with their teacher and peers.
Speaking ELG
Children at the expected level of development will:
• Participate in small group, class and one-to-one discussions, offering their own ideas, using recently introduced vocabulary;
• Offer explanations for why things might happen, making use of recently introduced vocabulary from stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems when appropriate;
• Express their ideas and feelings about their experiences using full sentences, including use of past, present, and future tenses and making use of conjunctions, with modelling and support from their teacher.
Creating with Materials ELG
Children at the expected level of development will:
• Safely use and explore a variety of materials, tools and techniques, experimenting with colour, design, texture, form, and function;
• Share their creations, explaining the process they have used;
• Make use of props and materials when role playing characters in narratives and stories.
Being Imaginative and Expressive ELG
Children at the expected level of development will:
• Invent, adapt and recount narratives and stories with peers and their teacher;
• Sing a range of well-known nursery rhymes and songs;
• Perform songs, rhymes, poems and stories with others, and – when appropriate try to move in time with music.
Comprehension ELG
Children at the expected level of development will:
• Demonstrate understanding of what has been read to them by retelling stories and narratives using their own words and recently introduced vocabulary;
• Anticipate – where appropriate – key events in stories;
• Use and understand recently introduced vocabulary during discussions about stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems and during role-play.
Word Reading ELG
Children at the expected level of development will:
• Say a sound for each letter in the alphabet and at least 10 digraphs;
• Read words consistent with their phonic knowledge by sound-blending;
• Read aloud simple sentences and books that are consistent with their phonic knowledge, including some common exception words.
Writing ELG
Children at the expected level of development will:
• Write recognisable letters, most of which are correctly formed;
• Spell words by identifying sounds in them and representing the sounds with a letter or letters;
• Write simple phrases and sentences that can be read by others.
Number ELG
Children at the expected level of development will:
• Have a deep understanding of number to 10, including the composition of each number;
• Subitise (recognise quantities without counting) up to 5;
• Automatically recall (without reference to rhymes, counting or other aids) number bonds up to 5 (including subtraction facts) and some number bonds to 10, including double facts.
Numerical Patterns ELG
Children at the expected level of development will:
• Verbally count beyond 20, recognising the pattern of the counting system;
• Compare quantities up to 10 in different contexts, recognising when one quantity is greater than, less than or the same as the other quantity;
• Explore and represent patterns within numbers up to 10, including evens and odds, double facts and how quantities can be distributed equally.
Self-Regulation ELG
Children at the expected level of development will:
• Show an understanding of their own feelings and those of others, and begin to regulate their behaviour accordingly;
• Set and work towards simple goals, being able to wait for what they want and control their immediate impulses when appropriate;
• Give focused attention to what the teacher says, responding appropriately even when engaged in activity, and show an ability to follow instructions involving several ideas or actions.
Managing Self ELG
Children at the expected level of development will:
• Be confident to try new activities and show independence, resilience and perseverance in the face of challenge;
• Explain the reasons for rules, know right from wrong and try to behave accordingly;
• Manage their own basic hygiene and personal needs, including dressing, going to the toilet, and understanding the importance of healthy food choices.
Building Relationships ELG
Children at the expected level of development will:
• Work and play cooperatively and take turns with others;
• Form positive attachments to adults and friendships with peers;
• Show sensitivity to their own and to others’ needs.
Gross Motor Skills ELG
Children at the expected level of development will:
• Negotiate space and obstacles safely, with consideration for themselves and others;
• Demonstrate strength, balance and coordination when playing;
• Move energetically, such as running, jumping, dancing, hopping, skipping and climbing.
Fine Motor Skills ELG
Children at the expected level of development will:
• Hold a pencil effectively in preparation for fluent writing – using the tripod grip in almost all cases; • Use a range of small tools, including scissors, paint brushes and cutlery;
• Begin to show accuracy and care when drawing.
Past and Present ELG
Children at the expected level of development will:
• Talk about the lives of the people around them and their roles in society;
• Know some similarities and differences between things in the past and now, drawing on their experiences and what has been read in class;
• Understand the past through settings, characters and events encountered in books read in class and storytelling;
People Culture and Communities ELG
Children at the expected level of development will:
• Describe their immediate environment using knowledge from observation, discussion, stories, non-fiction texts, and maps;
• Know some similarities and differences between different religious and cultural communities in this country, drawing on their experiences and what has been read in class;
• Explain some similarities and differences between life in this country and life in other countries, drawing on knowledge from stories, non-fiction texts and – when appropriate – maps.
The Natural World ELG
Children at the expected level of development will:
• Explore the natural world around them, making observations and drawing pictures of animals and plants;
• Know some similarities and differences between the natural world around them and contrasting environments, drawing on their experiences and what has been read in class;
• Understand some important processes and changes in the natural world around them, including the seasons and changing states of matter.