We would like to welcome you and your child to Reception!

We hope you enjoy looking at the things we have been doing in school and some useful information as well.

Friday 21st June

What a wonderful week we have had. After just a week of rehearsals, the children were absolutely wonderful as they delivered their topic assembly on Tuesday. We'd had to change it at the very last minute as Bog Baby disappeared over the weekend! When we got in on Monday, all we found was a trail of sticks and an email with some photos. The children very quickly worked out that Bog Baby had gone to the Duck Pond and went to ask Mrs Dugdale if they could go for a walk there to see if they could see Bog Baby once more. Mrs Dugdale said yes, we could go so on Friday we all set off on a Bog Baby hunt.

The children had a great time at the Duck Pond, although we could not find a trace of Bog Baby - he must have moved on to a bigger pond or a lake somewhere. While we were at the Duck Pond, the children did lots of observing and listening - there were all sorts of things to see and hear such as sheep, ducks, wind in the tress and splashing water. They did some lovely sketches which we will continue in school and really paid good attention to the detail in their work.

Lastly, the children spent some time feeding the birds - not just the hungry ducks but also putting some wild bird seed down on the grassy areas for the smaller birds. We had such a lovely time that the children now want to do more work about duck ponds!

Friday 3rd May

Yesterday 'our creature' had left us a book to help us find out about him.  It was called 'The Bog Baby', so now at least we knew what he was.  We started reading the story and all had fits of giggles when we tried to suck our toes like the Bog Baby did!!! He left us a challenge to find items on a scavenger hunt to cheer him up so we decided to go to Mill Park to help him out.

At Mill Park we had a ball! We did pond dipping, colour matching, building homes for minibeasts and sticky collaging.  Have a look at the photos below to find out what we got up to.

Wednesday 1st May

We managed to contact an 'expert' to come into school to help us with ideas about how to look after 'the blue creature' who had made a nest in our setting.  The children welcomed Nick and sat in awe as he spoke knowledgeably about pond creatures and why our creature may have left its pond.

 The medium term planning for our new topic is here.  If you would like to look at the leaflet to find out more then click here.

Monday 29th April

 It was all very different when the children arrived at school on Monday! We knew that Baby Bear had gone home but did not expect our classrooms to have been invaded over the weekend by something very watery!! Whatever it was had left the children lots of fun things to do, like investigate 'frog spawn' (it looked like lime jelly to us!), hook things out of the water with nets, explore a range of different fish and sea creatures, manipulate a water wheel and investigate some very odd looking ice!

We all got together and decided that something had been in the classrooms. Just then, Tyler spotted something else very odd in a quiet corner of the classroom. It looked like a nest with lots of twigs and nestled among the twigs were some odd blue spotty feathers. Matthew wondered if the mystery creature was a peacock because he knew that peacocks have feathers that are almost the exact same colour as our creature. We decided that a search was in order. First, the children carefully looked around both the classroom and the corridor outside, searching for any sign of what our visitor might be. They could not find anything so we moved to the outdoor area. There were lots of birds singing and squawking and we all wondered, as it has feathers, if our visitor was a bird. After much looking, Milo spotted two little eyes peeking out from one of the plants in the planter. 

It was a little blue creature! But what was it?? We all took it carefully inside and placed it on its nest while we tried to decide what it was. First, we wondered if it was a bird as it had wings but it had no beak. Then someone suggested it might be a lost baby dragon but it had not got horns or claws like a dragon. How strange it is! We decided we need to find out a lot more about this creature. Bella even went home and did some searching on the internet. She has an idea of what it might be but we're still not sure. We need to find out a lot more about our strange, blue visitor...

Wednesday 27th February

Wow! What an exciting few weeks we have had on our Bear Hunt. We have looked at lots of different stories featuring bears such as Brown Bear, Brown Bear, Where's my Teddy and We're Going on a Bear Hunt. We have found out lots about bears and the children even made their own non-fiction books using the facts they had written. Did you know that bears do not eat, wee or poo when they are hibernating?? Have a look in the lovely class books to find out more. As part of their work, the children used the computer to draw their own teddy bear, adding lots of lovely detail such as fur texture. Have a look here to see some of the fab results.

Two weeks ago it was Chinese New Year and the children had so much fun learning about some of the different things that Chinese children might do to help them celebrate, such as making a lucky money envelope, ribbon and lion dancing and tasting noodles and rice.

Most recently, we had another big shock! Just as we were talking about all the lovely things we had been up to over the half-term break, Joe came flying into the classroom telling us he had found some massive footprints in school. See for yourself...

After much brainstorming, ideas and discussion, the children decided that a giant had been in school. When we started to read The Teddy Robber, the children realised that the giant could have been looking for a teddy he might have dropped, maybe even OUR Baby Bear! Emily even suggested that both Mummy and Baby Bear had been stolen but that Mummy Bear had got stuck at the bottom of the giant's sack and been unable to save her baby from falling out of the top. How sad Mummy Bear must be!

The children also realised that the footprints were of bare feet. We do not know where his right foot was! Since then, they have been doing so many things including estimating and measuring the footprints using pens, cubes and other classroom resources. They have also had a go at designing and making some shoes for the giant such as these lovely creations.

The children have been learning sketching techniques and used their new skills to sketch different kinds of shoes. They wanted to look at each other's work so we had a 'gallery showing' of the beautiful sketches and the children walked around, assessing and discussing the work. In true 'showing' fashion, they also had some appropriate drinks and nibbles as they browsed the artwork that was on display. We are so proud of the care and detail the children put into their work and of the respect they showed for each other when discussing the work.

With so much still to learn about giants, bears, shoes and glasses, we are looking forward to some really fab learning from now until Easter. Let's hope the lovely weather stays with us...!

Friday 11th January

 What an exciting week we've had!  On Monday afternoon we got such a shock in Foundation Stage! We were listening to some of the lovely things that the children had been doing over Christmas when there was a strange noise outside. It sounded like a roaring and a clattering! We shot outside to find that someone (or something!) had knocked over all the building blocks. Then, eagle-eyed Emily and Joe spotted something very odd! A set of footprints tracked all around the outdoor area. After lots of discussion, the children decided that the footprints were actually paw prints from a bear!

We went inside to discuss what we had found and discovered a bear cave in the corner of the Red Classroom. Inside the cave was a baby bear and a letter. He had lost his mummy and wanted the children to help him and look after him.  We created a 'mind map' of all the ideas the children had about helping Baby Bear and one of those was talking to Mrs Dugdale about the safety of all the other children in school.  She was so glad the children had thought about this and decide to assemble all of the children in the playground so that the reception children could warn the rest of the school to look out for MUMMY BEAR!

The children have been so excited by all this and have been spotting bears all over the place! One child even saw bear print down her road!

We are all looking forward to finding out lots more about bears, where they live and what they need. We will be looking at real and story bears (such as Paddington and Rupert) and it will be so much fun!

Both classes have started their Forest School sessions. They have been having an amazing time learning all about the different things that they can do in Forest School and how our environment changes with the seasons.

Friday 19th October - Our Fabulous Finish!

What a busy first term we have had! The children have worked so hard on their learning (although they think that all they have been doing is lots of playing!) and have settled really well into school.

We closed the term with our Fabulous Finish - an autumn visit to Mill Park. We could not have picked a better day, the sun shone on us and there was no wind at all. The children made bark rubbings and listened to the trees to see if they could hear the trees 'sucking up' water and food from the soil. They found some really good spiders' webs and lots of fallen leaves. They had great fun throwing up the leaves and watching them twirl and swirl to the ground, trying to catch them as they fell.

Next they made leaf kebabs by pushing 10 leaves onto sticks whilst the adults were asking how many more they needed or how many would they have if 2 fell off. Next, the children made bugs and mini-beasts out of leaves, sticks and other things they found under the trees.

We finished with some singing, dancing and parachute games. What a lot of fun AND as the children were walking home, 2 ladies were walking past and commented on how wonderfully the children were behaving. Mrs Musgrove and Mrs Pettifer were so very proud!!

Have a look at the photos below to see some of the highlights for yourself.

Have a great week off and we look forward to seeing everyone (including the teachers!) all rested and ready for the next set of challenges.

Foundation Stage Information Evening

Many thanks to those who attended our session on Monday about what Foundation Stage means. For those who were unable to make it, please click HERE  to see the presentation slides from the session.

What a fantastic start!

We are so happy to report that all the children have settled in really well and are happy during the school day. They have done some tricky work with the grown ups and experienced so much independent learning through their play.

All the children have made new friends in both classes and cemented their existing friendships. We have seen some wonderful imaginative play and lots of concentration from all the children.

We have been doing so much! The children have used a lot of skills such as weaving, drawing, painting and cutting to make a self portrait.

We have also been thinking about what makes a good friend and the children have made a friendship cup for someone else so they can leave messages of friendship all through the year.

We would like to welcome you and your child to Reception!

We hope you enjoy looking at the things we have been doing in school and some useful information as well.

Friday 21st June

What a wonderful week we have had. After just a week of rehearsals, the children were absolutely wonderful as they delivered their topic assembly on Tuesday. We'd had to change it at the very last minute as Bog Baby disappeared over the weekend! When we got in on Monday, all we found was a trail of sticks and an email with some photos. The children very quickly worked out that Bog Baby had gone to the Duck Pond and went to ask Mrs Dugdale if they could go for a walk there to see if they could see Bog Baby once more. Mrs Dugdale said yes, we could go so on Friday we all set off on a Bog Baby hunt.

The children had a great time at the Duck Pond, although we could not find a trace of Bog Baby - he must have moved on to a bigger pond or a lake somewhere. While we were at the Duck Pond, the children did lots of observing and listening - there were all sorts of things to see and hear such as sheep, ducks, wind in the tress and splashing water. They did some lovely sketches which we will continue in school and really paid good attention to the detail in their work.

Lastly, the children spent some time feeding the birds - not just the hungry ducks but also putting some wild bird seed down on the grassy areas for the smaller birds. We had such a lovely time that the children now want to do more work about duck ponds!

Friday 3rd May

Yesterday 'our creature' had left us a book to help us find out about him.  It was called 'The Bog Baby', so now at least we knew what he was.  We started reading the story and all had fits of giggles when we tried to suck our toes like the Bog Baby did!!! He left us a challenge to find items on a scavenger hunt to cheer him up so we decided to go to Mill Park to help him out.

At Mill Park we had a ball! We did pond dipping, colour matching, building homes for minibeasts and sticky collaging.  Have a look at the photos below to find out what we got up to.

Wednesday 1st May

We managed to contact an 'expert' to come into school to help us with ideas about how to look after 'the blue creature' who had made a nest in our setting.  The children welcomed Nick and sat in awe as he spoke knowledgeably about pond creatures and why our creature may have left its pond.

 The medium term planning for our new topic is here.  If you would like to look at the leaflet to find out more then click here.

Monday 29th April

 It was all very different when the children arrived at school on Monday! We knew that Baby Bear had gone home but did not expect our classrooms to have been invaded over the weekend by something very watery!! Whatever it was had left the children lots of fun things to do, like investigate 'frog spawn' (it looked like lime jelly to us!), hook things out of the water with nets, explore a range of different fish and sea creatures, manipulate a water wheel and investigate some very odd looking ice!

We all got together and decided that something had been in the classrooms. Just then, Tyler spotted something else very odd in a quiet corner of the classroom. It looked like a nest with lots of twigs and nestled among the twigs were some odd blue spotty feathers. Matthew wondered if the mystery creature was a peacock because he knew that peacocks have feathers that are almost the exact same colour as our creature. We decided that a search was in order. First, the children carefully looked around both the classroom and the corridor outside, searching for any sign of what our visitor might be. They could not find anything so we moved to the outdoor area. There were lots of birds singing and squawking and we all wondered, as it has feathers, if our visitor was a bird. After much looking, Milo spotted two little eyes peeking out from one of the plants in the planter. 

It was a little blue creature! But what was it?? We all took it carefully inside and placed it on its nest while we tried to decide what it was. First, we wondered if it was a bird as it had wings but it had no beak. Then someone suggested it might be a lost baby dragon but it had not got horns or claws like a dragon. How strange it is! We decided we need to find out a lot more about this creature. Bella even went home and did some searching on the internet. She has an idea of what it might be but we're still not sure. We need to find out a lot more about our strange, blue visitor...

Wednesday 27th February

Wow! What an exciting few weeks we have had on our Bear Hunt. We have looked at lots of different stories featuring bears such as Brown Bear, Brown Bear, Where's my Teddy and We're Going on a Bear Hunt. We have found out lots about bears and the children even made their own non-fiction books using the facts they had written. Did you know that bears do not eat, wee or poo when they are hibernating?? Have a look in the lovely class books to find out more. As part of their work, the children used the computer to draw their own teddy bear, adding lots of lovely detail such as fur texture. Have a look here to see some of the fab results.

Two weeks ago it was Chinese New Year and the children had so much fun learning about some of the different things that Chinese children might do to help them celebrate, such as making a lucky money envelope, ribbon and lion dancing and tasting noodles and rice.

Most recently, we had another big shock! Just as we were talking about all the lovely things we had been up to over the half-term break, Joe came flying into the classroom telling us he had found some massive footprints in school. See for yourself...

After much brainstorming, ideas and discussion, the children decided that a giant had been in school. When we started to read The Teddy Robber, the children realised that the giant could have been looking for a teddy he might have dropped, maybe even OUR Baby Bear! Emily even suggested that both Mummy and Baby Bear had been stolen but that Mummy Bear had got stuck at the bottom of the giant's sack and been unable to save her baby from falling out of the top. How sad Mummy Bear must be!

The children also realised that the footprints were of bare feet. We do not know where his right foot was! Since then, they have been doing so many things including estimating and measuring the footprints using pens, cubes and other classroom resources. They have also had a go at designing and making some shoes for the giant such as these lovely creations.

The children have been learning sketching techniques and used their new skills to sketch different kinds of shoes. They wanted to look at each other's work so we had a 'gallery showing' of the beautiful sketches and the children walked around, assessing and discussing the work. In true 'showing' fashion, they also had some appropriate drinks and nibbles as they browsed the artwork that was on display. We are so proud of the care and detail the children put into their work and of the respect they showed for each other when discussing the work.

With so much still to learn about giants, bears, shoes and glasses, we are looking forward to some really fab learning from now until Easter. Let's hope the lovely weather stays with us...!

Friday 11th January

 What an exciting week we've had!  On Monday afternoon we got such a shock in Foundation Stage! We were listening to some of the lovely things that the children had been doing over Christmas when there was a strange noise outside. It sounded like a roaring and a clattering! We shot outside to find that someone (or something!) had knocked over all the building blocks. Then, eagle-eyed Emily and Joe spotted something very odd! A set of footprints tracked all around the outdoor area. After lots of discussion, the children decided that the footprints were actually paw prints from a bear!

We went inside to discuss what we had found and discovered a bear cave in the corner of the Red Classroom. Inside the cave was a baby bear and a letter. He had lost his mummy and wanted the children to help him and look after him.  We created a 'mind map' of all the ideas the children had about helping Baby Bear and one of those was talking to Mrs Dugdale about the safety of all the other children in school.  She was so glad the children had thought about this and decide to assemble all of the children in the playground so that the reception children could warn the rest of the school to look out for MUMMY BEAR!

The children have been so excited by all this and have been spotting bears all over the place! One child even saw bear print down her road!

We are all looking forward to finding out lots more about bears, where they live and what they need. We will be looking at real and story bears (such as Paddington and Rupert) and it will be so much fun!

Both classes have started their Forest School sessions. They have been having an amazing time learning all about the different things that they can do in Forest School and how our environment changes with the seasons.

Friday 19th October - Our Fabulous Finish!

What a busy first term we have had! The children have worked so hard on their learning (although they think that all they have been doing is lots of playing!) and have settled really well into school.

We closed the term with our Fabulous Finish - an autumn visit to Mill Park. We could not have picked a better day, the sun shone on us and there was no wind at all. The children made bark rubbings and listened to the trees to see if they could hear the trees 'sucking up' water and food from the soil. They found some really good spiders' webs and lots of fallen leaves. They had great fun throwing up the leaves and watching them twirl and swirl to the ground, trying to catch them as they fell.

Next they made leaf kebabs by pushing 10 leaves onto sticks whilst the adults were asking how many more they needed or how many would they have if 2 fell off. Next, the children made bugs and mini-beasts out of leaves, sticks and other things they found under the trees.

We finished with some singing, dancing and parachute games. What a lot of fun AND as the children were walking home, 2 ladies were walking past and commented on how wonderfully the children were behaving. Mrs Musgrove and Mrs Pettifer were so very proud!!

Have a look at the photos below to see some of the highlights for yourself.

Have a great week off and we look forward to seeing everyone (including the teachers!) all rested and ready for the next set of challenges.

Foundation Stage Information Evening

Many thanks to those who attended our session on Monday about what Foundation Stage means. For those who were unable to make it, please click HERE  to see the presentation slides from the session.

What a fantastic start!

We are so happy to report that all the children have settled in really well and are happy during the school day. They have done some tricky work with the grown ups and experienced so much independent learning through their play.

All the children have made new friends in both classes and cemented their existing friendships. We have seen some wonderful imaginative play and lots of concentration from all the children.

We have been doing so much! The children have used a lot of skills such as weaving, drawing, painting and cutting to make a self portrait.

We have also been thinking about what makes a good friend and the children have made a friendship cup for someone else so they can leave messages of friendship all through the year.

We would like to welcome you and your child to Reception!

We hope you enjoy looking at the things we have been doing in school and some useful information as well.

Friday 21st June

What a wonderful week we have had. After just a week of rehearsals, the children were absolutely wonderful as they delivered their topic assembly on Tuesday. We'd had to change it at the very last minute as Bog Baby disappeared over the weekend! When we got in on Monday, all we found was a trail of sticks and an email with some photos. The children very quickly worked out that Bog Baby had gone to the Duck Pond and went to ask Mrs Dugdale if they could go for a walk there to see if they could see Bog Baby once more. Mrs Dugdale said yes, we could go so on Friday we all set off on a Bog Baby hunt.

The children had a great time at the Duck Pond, although we could not find a trace of Bog Baby - he must have moved on to a bigger pond or a lake somewhere. While we were at the Duck Pond, the children did lots of observing and listening - there were all sorts of things to see and hear such as sheep, ducks, wind in the tress and splashing water. They did some lovely sketches which we will continue in school and really paid good attention to the detail in their work.

Lastly, the children spent some time feeding the birds - not just the hungry ducks but also putting some wild bird seed down on the grassy areas for the smaller birds. We had such a lovely time that the children now want to do more work about duck ponds!

Friday 3rd May

Yesterday 'our creature' had left us a book to help us find out about him.  It was called 'The Bog Baby', so now at least we knew what he was.  We started reading the story and all had fits of giggles when we tried to suck our toes like the Bog Baby did!!! He left us a challenge to find items on a scavenger hunt to cheer him up so we decided to go to Mill Park to help him out.

At Mill Park we had a ball! We did pond dipping, colour matching, building homes for minibeasts and sticky collaging.  Have a look at the photos below to find out what we got up to.

Wednesday 1st May

We managed to contact an 'expert' to come into school to help us with ideas about how to look after 'the blue creature' who had made a nest in our setting.  The children welcomed Nick and sat in awe as he spoke knowledgeably about pond creatures and why our creature may have left its pond.

 The medium term planning for our new topic is here.  If you would like to look at the leaflet to find out more then click here.

Monday 29th April

 It was all very different when the children arrived at school on Monday! We knew that Baby Bear had gone home but did not expect our classrooms to have been invaded over the weekend by something very watery!! Whatever it was had left the children lots of fun things to do, like investigate 'frog spawn' (it looked like lime jelly to us!), hook things out of the water with nets, explore a range of different fish and sea creatures, manipulate a water wheel and investigate some very odd looking ice!

We all got together and decided that something had been in the classrooms. Just then, Tyler spotted something else very odd in a quiet corner of the classroom. It looked like a nest with lots of twigs and nestled among the twigs were some odd blue spotty feathers. Matthew wondered if the mystery creature was a peacock because he knew that peacocks have feathers that are almost the exact same colour as our creature. We decided that a search was in order. First, the children carefully looked around both the classroom and the corridor outside, searching for any sign of what our visitor might be. They could not find anything so we moved to the outdoor area. There were lots of birds singing and squawking and we all wondered, as it has feathers, if our visitor was a bird. After much looking, Milo spotted two little eyes peeking out from one of the plants in the planter. 

It was a little blue creature! But what was it?? We all took it carefully inside and placed it on its nest while we tried to decide what it was. First, we wondered if it was a bird as it had wings but it had no beak. Then someone suggested it might be a lost baby dragon but it had not got horns or claws like a dragon. How strange it is! We decided we need to find out a lot more about this creature. Bella even went home and did some searching on the internet. She has an idea of what it might be but we're still not sure. We need to find out a lot more about our strange, blue visitor...

Wednesday 27th February

Wow! What an exciting few weeks we have had on our Bear Hunt. We have looked at lots of different stories featuring bears such as Brown Bear, Brown Bear, Where's my Teddy and We're Going on a Bear Hunt. We have found out lots about bears and the children even made their own non-fiction books using the facts they had written. Did you know that bears do not eat, wee or poo when they are hibernating?? Have a look in the lovely class books to find out more. As part of their work, the children used the computer to draw their own teddy bear, adding lots of lovely detail such as fur texture. Have a look here to see some of the fab results.

Two weeks ago it was Chinese New Year and the children had so much fun learning about some of the different things that Chinese children might do to help them celebrate, such as making a lucky money envelope, ribbon and lion dancing and tasting noodles and rice.

Most recently, we had another big shock! Just as we were talking about all the lovely things we had been up to over the half-term break, Joe came flying into the classroom telling us he had found some massive footprints in school. See for yourself...

After much brainstorming, ideas and discussion, the children decided that a giant had been in school. When we started to read The Teddy Robber, the children realised that the giant could have been looking for a teddy he might have dropped, maybe even OUR Baby Bear! Emily even suggested that both Mummy and Baby Bear had been stolen but that Mummy Bear had got stuck at the bottom of the giant's sack and been unable to save her baby from falling out of the top. How sad Mummy Bear must be!

The children also realised that the footprints were of bare feet. We do not know where his right foot was! Since then, they have been doing so many things including estimating and measuring the footprints using pens, cubes and other classroom resources. They have also had a go at designing and making some shoes for the giant such as these lovely creations.

The children have been learning sketching techniques and used their new skills to sketch different kinds of shoes. They wanted to look at each other's work so we had a 'gallery showing' of the beautiful sketches and the children walked around, assessing and discussing the work. In true 'showing' fashion, they also had some appropriate drinks and nibbles as they browsed the artwork that was on display. We are so proud of the care and detail the children put into their work and of the respect they showed for each other when discussing the work.

With so much still to learn about giants, bears, shoes and glasses, we are looking forward to some really fab learning from now until Easter. Let's hope the lovely weather stays with us...!

Friday 11th January

 What an exciting week we've had!  On Monday afternoon we got such a shock in Foundation Stage! We were listening to some of the lovely things that the children had been doing over Christmas when there was a strange noise outside. It sounded like a roaring and a clattering! We shot outside to find that someone (or something!) had knocked over all the building blocks. Then, eagle-eyed Emily and Joe spotted something very odd! A set of footprints tracked all around the outdoor area. After lots of discussion, the children decided that the footprints were actually paw prints from a bear!

We went inside to discuss what we had found and discovered a bear cave in the corner of the Red Classroom. Inside the cave was a baby bear and a letter. He had lost his mummy and wanted the children to help him and look after him.  We created a 'mind map' of all the ideas the children had about helping Baby Bear and one of those was talking to Mrs Dugdale about the safety of all the other children in school.  She was so glad the children had thought about this and decide to assemble all of the children in the playground so that the reception children could warn the rest of the school to look out for MUMMY BEAR!

The children have been so excited by all this and have been spotting bears all over the place! One child even saw bear print down her road!

We are all looking forward to finding out lots more about bears, where they live and what they need. We will be looking at real and story bears (such as Paddington and Rupert) and it will be so much fun!

Both classes have started their Forest School sessions. They have been having an amazing time learning all about the different things that they can do in Forest School and how our environment changes with the seasons.

Friday 19th October - Our Fabulous Finish!

What a busy first term we have had! The children have worked so hard on their learning (although they think that all they have been doing is lots of playing!) and have settled really well into school.

We closed the term with our Fabulous Finish - an autumn visit to Mill Park. We could not have picked a better day, the sun shone on us and there was no wind at all. The children made bark rubbings and listened to the trees to see if they could hear the trees 'sucking up' water and food from the soil. They found some really good spiders' webs and lots of fallen leaves. They had great fun throwing up the leaves and watching them twirl and swirl to the ground, trying to catch them as they fell.

Next they made leaf kebabs by pushing 10 leaves onto sticks whilst the adults were asking how many more they needed or how many would they have if 2 fell off. Next, the children made bugs and mini-beasts out of leaves, sticks and other things they found under the trees.

We finished with some singing, dancing and parachute games. What a lot of fun AND as the children were walking home, 2 ladies were walking past and commented on how wonderfully the children were behaving. Mrs Musgrove and Mrs Pettifer were so very proud!!

Have a look at the photos below to see some of the highlights for yourself.

Have a great week off and we look forward to seeing everyone (including the teachers!) all rested and ready for the next set of challenges.

Foundation Stage Information Evening

Many thanks to those who attended our session on Monday about what Foundation Stage means. For those who were unable to make it, please click HERE  to see the presentation slides from the session.

What a fantastic start!

We are so happy to report that all the children have settled in really well and are happy during the school day. They have done some tricky work with the grown ups and experienced so much independent learning through their play.

All the children have made new friends in both classes and cemented their existing friendships. We have seen some wonderful imaginative play and lots of concentration from all the children.

We have been doing so much! The children have used a lot of skills such as weaving, drawing, painting and cutting to make a self portrait.

We have also been thinking about what makes a good friend and the children have made a friendship cup for someone else so they can leave messages of friendship all through the year.

We would like to welcome you and your child to Reception!

We hope you enjoy looking at the things we have been doing in school and some useful information as well.

Friday 21st June

What a wonderful week we have had. After just a week of rehearsals, the children were absolutely wonderful as they delivered their topic assembly on Tuesday. We'd had to change it at the very last minute as Bog Baby disappeared over the weekend! When we got in on Monday, all we found was a trail of sticks and an email with some photos. The children very quickly worked out that Bog Baby had gone to the Duck Pond and went to ask Mrs Dugdale if they could go for a walk there to see if they could see Bog Baby once more. Mrs Dugdale said yes, we could go so on Friday we all set off on a Bog Baby hunt.

The children had a great time at the Duck Pond, although we could not find a trace of Bog Baby - he must have moved on to a bigger pond or a lake somewhere. While we were at the Duck Pond, the children did lots of observing and listening - there were all sorts of things to see and hear such as sheep, ducks, wind in the tress and splashing water. They did some lovely sketches which we will continue in school and really paid good attention to the detail in their work.

Lastly, the children spent some time feeding the birds - not just the hungry ducks but also putting some wild bird seed down on the grassy areas for the smaller birds. We had such a lovely time that the children now want to do more work about duck ponds!

Friday 3rd May

Yesterday 'our creature' had left us a book to help us find out about him.  It was called 'The Bog Baby', so now at least we knew what he was.  We started reading the story and all had fits of giggles when we tried to suck our toes like the Bog Baby did!!! He left us a challenge to find items on a scavenger hunt to cheer him up so we decided to go to Mill Park to help him out.

At Mill Park we had a ball! We did pond dipping, colour matching, building homes for minibeasts and sticky collaging.  Have a look at the photos below to find out what we got up to.

Wednesday 1st May

We managed to contact an 'expert' to come into school to help us with ideas about how to look after 'the blue creature' who had made a nest in our setting.  The children welcomed Nick and sat in awe as he spoke knowledgeably about pond creatures and why our creature may have left its pond.

 The medium term planning for our new topic is here.  If you would like to look at the leaflet to find out more then click here.

Monday 29th April

 It was all very different when the children arrived at school on Monday! We knew that Baby Bear had gone home but did not expect our classrooms to have been invaded over the weekend by something very watery!! Whatever it was had left the children lots of fun things to do, like investigate 'frog spawn' (it looked like lime jelly to us!), hook things out of the water with nets, explore a range of different fish and sea creatures, manipulate a water wheel and investigate some very odd looking ice!

We all got together and decided that something had been in the classrooms. Just then, Tyler spotted something else very odd in a quiet corner of the classroom. It looked like a nest with lots of twigs and nestled among the twigs were some odd blue spotty feathers. Matthew wondered if the mystery creature was a peacock because he knew that peacocks have feathers that are almost the exact same colour as our creature. We decided that a search was in order. First, the children carefully looked around both the classroom and the corridor outside, searching for any sign of what our visitor might be. They could not find anything so we moved to the outdoor area. There were lots of birds singing and squawking and we all wondered, as it has feathers, if our visitor was a bird. After much looking, Milo spotted two little eyes peeking out from one of the plants in the planter. 

It was a little blue creature! But what was it?? We all took it carefully inside and placed it on its nest while we tried to decide what it was. First, we wondered if it was a bird as it had wings but it had no beak. Then someone suggested it might be a lost baby dragon but it had not got horns or claws like a dragon. How strange it is! We decided we need to find out a lot more about this creature. Bella even went home and did some searching on the internet. She has an idea of what it might be but we're still not sure. We need to find out a lot more about our strange, blue visitor...

Wednesday 27th February

Wow! What an exciting few weeks we have had on our Bear Hunt. We have looked at lots of different stories featuring bears such as Brown Bear, Brown Bear, Where's my Teddy and We're Going on a Bear Hunt. We have found out lots about bears and the children even made their own non-fiction books using the facts they had written. Did you know that bears do not eat, wee or poo when they are hibernating?? Have a look in the lovely class books to find out more. As part of their work, the children used the computer to draw their own teddy bear, adding lots of lovely detail such as fur texture. Have a look here to see some of the fab results.

Two weeks ago it was Chinese New Year and the children had so much fun learning about some of the different things that Chinese children might do to help them celebrate, such as making a lucky money envelope, ribbon and lion dancing and tasting noodles and rice.

Most recently, we had another big shock! Just as we were talking about all the lovely things we had been up to over the half-term break, Joe came flying into the classroom telling us he had found some massive footprints in school. See for yourself...

After much brainstorming, ideas and discussion, the children decided that a giant had been in school. When we started to read The Teddy Robber, the children realised that the giant could have been looking for a teddy he might have dropped, maybe even OUR Baby Bear! Emily even suggested that both Mummy and Baby Bear had been stolen but that Mummy Bear had got stuck at the bottom of the giant's sack and been unable to save her baby from falling out of the top. How sad Mummy Bear must be!

The children also realised that the footprints were of bare feet. We do not know where his right foot was! Since then, they have been doing so many things including estimating and measuring the footprints using pens, cubes and other classroom resources. They have also had a go at designing and making some shoes for the giant such as these lovely creations.

The children have been learning sketching techniques and used their new skills to sketch different kinds of shoes. They wanted to look at each other's work so we had a 'gallery showing' of the beautiful sketches and the children walked around, assessing and discussing the work. In true 'showing' fashion, they also had some appropriate drinks and nibbles as they browsed the artwork that was on display. We are so proud of the care and detail the children put into their work and of the respect they showed for each other when discussing the work.

With so much still to learn about giants, bears, shoes and glasses, we are looking forward to some really fab learning from now until Easter. Let's hope the lovely weather stays with us...!

Friday 11th January

 What an exciting week we've had!  On Monday afternoon we got such a shock in Foundation Stage! We were listening to some of the lovely things that the children had been doing over Christmas when there was a strange noise outside. It sounded like a roaring and a clattering! We shot outside to find that someone (or something!) had knocked over all the building blocks. Then, eagle-eyed Emily and Joe spotted something very odd! A set of footprints tracked all around the outdoor area. After lots of discussion, the children decided that the footprints were actually paw prints from a bear!

We went inside to discuss what we had found and discovered a bear cave in the corner of the Red Classroom. Inside the cave was a baby bear and a letter. He had lost his mummy and wanted the children to help him and look after him.  We created a 'mind map' of all the ideas the children had about helping Baby Bear and one of those was talking to Mrs Dugdale about the safety of all the other children in school.  She was so glad the children had thought about this and decide to assemble all of the children in the playground so that the reception children could warn the rest of the school to look out for MUMMY BEAR!

The children have been so excited by all this and have been spotting bears all over the place! One child even saw bear print down her road!

We are all looking forward to finding out lots more about bears, where they live and what they need. We will be looking at real and story bears (such as Paddington and Rupert) and it will be so much fun!

Both classes have started their Forest School sessions. They have been having an amazing time learning all about the different things that they can do in Forest School and how our environment changes with the seasons.

Friday 19th October - Our Fabulous Finish!

What a busy first term we have had! The children have worked so hard on their learning (although they think that all they have been doing is lots of playing!) and have settled really well into school.

We closed the term with our Fabulous Finish - an autumn visit to Mill Park. We could not have picked a better day, the sun shone on us and there was no wind at all. The children made bark rubbings and listened to the trees to see if they could hear the trees 'sucking up' water and food from the soil. They found some really good spiders' webs and lots of fallen leaves. They had great fun throwing up the leaves and watching them twirl and swirl to the ground, trying to catch them as they fell.

Next they made leaf kebabs by pushing 10 leaves onto sticks whilst the adults were asking how many more they needed or how many would they have if 2 fell off. Next, the children made bugs and mini-beasts out of leaves, sticks and other things they found under the trees.

We finished with some singing, dancing and parachute games. What a lot of fun AND as the children were walking home, 2 ladies were walking past and commented on how wonderfully the children were behaving. Mrs Musgrove and Mrs Pettifer were so very proud!!

Have a look at the photos below to see some of the highlights for yourself.

Have a great week off and we look forward to seeing everyone (including the teachers!) all rested and ready for the next set of challenges.

Foundation Stage Information Evening

Many thanks to those who attended our session on Monday about what Foundation Stage means. For those who were unable to make it, please click HERE  to see the presentation slides from the session.

What a fantastic start!

We are so happy to report that all the children have settled in really well and are happy during the school day. They have done some tricky work with the grown ups and experienced so much independent learning through their play.

All the children have made new friends in both classes and cemented their existing friendships. We have seen some wonderful imaginative play and lots of concentration from all the children.

We have been doing so much! The children have used a lot of skills such as weaving, drawing, painting and cutting to make a self portrait.

We have also been thinking about what makes a good friend and the children have made a friendship cup for someone else so they can leave messages of friendship all through the year.