Welcome to our Early Years Foundation Stage. Our staff are:
Miss Elson, Miss Grace and Mrs Cassidy
Firstly, we would like to welcome our new families to Widnes Academy. We will do all we can to support your child on their journey with us from their first day to their last day.
As a Foundation stage team we strive to ensure that your child has the best possible start to school life and support them in whatever challenges they may face. If you have any queries or concerns (no matter how small they seem) please speak to the adults in Foundation Stage as we want you as parents to be happy.
This year our Foundation Stage (Nursery and Reception) will be operating as a unit with Nursery children attending for morning only sessions. The staff will work closely with all children attending and will operate a Key Worker system. Miss Elson is the Reception Teacher and Early Years Foundation Stage Leader, Mrs Cassidy and Miss Grace support both Nursery and Reception as key workers..
The primary form of communication will be through our Evidence Me online learning platform which is available through an app which can be used on smartphones and tables. We will share photographs of the activities which the children have completed in school and would love you to also share what they have been getting up to at home. The things which you share are fantastic talking points to help your child build confidence and help to create links between home and school.
Our focus books for this term the children will learn to retell the story, create their own endings for stories and act out the stories recognising how key characters would feel.
Our key focus books for this term are, Where the wild things are, I am Henry Finch, Halibut Jackson and Little Red.
For the first half term our topic is Family and Friends.
During mathematics sessions the children will begin to develop their knowledge of numbers. For example, for number 4 understanding that it can be 3+1, 2+2 and 4+0 etc). We will focus on all number bonds up to 10. We will also explore what one more and one less than a number is.
PE- Reception PE day will be a Friday. Please can the children come to school dressed in their PE kit on those days. During our Pe sessions we will focus on the key words high, low, under and over. We will move our bodies and parts of our bodies to explore these concepts.
Understanding the world – The children will begin to look at the environment around them The children will also be encouraged to share information about who is special to them.
Expressive arts and design - The children will have the opportunity to explore their new environment working in the Creative and Construction areas using their imagination to build and create.
Phonics - The children will begin to learn their letter sounds. The scheme which we follow at Widnes Academy is called Bug Club Phonics. Please see below for the order in which we learn our letter sounds in Reception.
The link below will take you to a website with lots of free Phonics games which you can play at home.
Reading- each week the children will bring home a reading book, please can they read it at least three times at home with parents or carers. The children will also bring home a library book to share with you at home
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Water bottles – can children please bring in their water bottles every day.
Please remember to put names in ALL items of school uniform.
Nursery sessions are:
Monday – Friday – 8.45am – 11.45am
Reception sessions are:
Monday – Friday – 8.45am – 3.10pm
At Widnes Academy we follow the ‘Early Years Foundation Stage’ (EYFS) curriculum which is divided into 7 areas of learning.
Prime Areas of Learning:
· Communication and Language
· Personal, Social and Emotional Development
· Physical Development
Specific Areas of Learning:
· Literacy
· Mathematics
· Understanding of the World
· Expressive Arts and Design
Also we plan our activities to focus on the ‘Characteristics of Effective Learning’ as they help the children to develop important life skills and attitudes.
· Playing and Exploring
· Active Learning
· Creative and Thinking Critically
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:
Widnes Academy
Cholmondeley Street
Widnes
WA8 0EL
Tel: 0151 424 2799
Email: school@widnesacademy.co.uk