Welcome to Year R

Welcome to our Year R page. 

Wow, what a super busy and fun filled half term we are having! We have been spending lots of time getting to know each other and building new friendships, as well as having fun exploring the school environment and learning the new routines. The teachers have been so proud of how the children have settled into our school. During this term, we look forward to getting to know all about the children’s interests and abilities. Our topic is ‘Being Me in my World’ and through this we will talk about our families, our likes and dislikes and what is the same or different between us and our friends.

Here is a photograph of our EYFS team.  From left to right we have:

Mrs Drewett (Early Years Assistant),Miss Rendall (Rowan class cover teacher Tuesdays and Thursdays/ PPA cover and DSL), Miss Whitehead (Early Years Assistant) Miss Green (Birch Class Teacher), Miss Khan (EYFS Lead, Rowan Class Teacher,  SENDCO and DSL), Mrs Wallace (Early Years Assistant). 

Autumn 1

Early Years have had a lovely first term at school! We have spent lots of time getting to know one another and building new friendships. We have enjoyed lots of settling in activities including discussing the children’s ‘All About Me’ work which they produced over the Summer, and using our Jigsaw circle times to get to know one another in our classes.

We launched our new ‘Drawing Club’ this half term. We choose a story each week and the children draw a picture each day such as the character or setting. They also learn focus words and actions each week linked to that story. The children have thoroughly embraced this concept and look forward to our daily sessions! 

The children have loved exploring our vast outdoor area, and they especially loved taking part in our scooter and road safety training when they impressed us with their accuracy and fantastic gross motor skills.

The children also enjoyed lots of Harvest themed activities including an autumnal walk in the woodland where the children collected some natural resources and made leaf pictures! The half term ended with an amazing Halloween themed disco which the children loved! 

The children have had a hugely successful first half term and we are looking forward to what the next term brings us!

Autumn 2

Early Years have had another busy and fun filled term!  

The children enjoyed some history, learning all about Guy Fawkes and the significance of Firework night, culminating in some lovely firework pictures! We also learnt about the Diwali festival, and the children made some beautiful Rangoli chalk pictures.

The children also took part in the Great Binfields Remembrance service in the courtyard where they sat beautifully and made us very proud of how respectful they were. They also created some beautiful poppies using watercolours.

In December, we took part in our True Meaning of Christmas day where we enjoyed doing some Christmas writing. The children really impressed us with their amazing Nativity performance, where we spent lots of time learning our lines, song words and actions! After lots of practise, we then performed in front of KS1 and our parents and carers – everyone was so proud of what they achieved!

We rounded off our year by engaging in lots of fun Christmas themed activities, including Christmas craft.  We also learnt how to sew a penguin decoration and made our parents and carers a seasonal calendar as Christmas gifts!

The children have had an amazing and fun filled Autumn 2 term and we are looking forward to welcoming them back next year after a well deserved rest!

Spring 1

Early Years have had a wonderful start to the New Year! We began with a lovely Winter themed week which took us into the woodlands so that we could observe the changes in the season.  We then looked at the work of artist Jackson Pollock, which led us to create some fantastic snow storm pictures using his technique of ‘action painting’.

We also launched our new topic ‘When I grow up’ and the children have thoroughly enjoyed lots of role play opportunities in the learning environment such as becoming vets and doctors! Linked to this, the children have enjoyed learning all about the life of David Attenborough and how his interest in animals as a young child led him to becoming a very famous biologist!

The children have also loved making lots of Lunar New Year craft such as Chinese lanterns and lucky money envelopes, and have enjoyed our recent Drawing club based on ‘The Great Race’.

Some parents and carers also came in to enjoy reading experiences with their children and we are looking forward to welcoming more families in the new term.

The half term ended with a fabulous ‘Break the Rules day’! The children have had a super and productive term and we are looking forward to seeing them in Spring 2!

Spring 2

Wow - what another eventful and fun half term Early Years have had! We began by taking part in Bikeability Balance, where the children used their perseverance skills to learn lots of new techniques. With the beautiful Spring flowers beginning to make an appearance, we enjoyed doing some observational drawings of daffodils. We have also been keen to explore the woodlands, where we collected natural resources to make maths repeating patterns and began to observe the first signs of Spring. 

Our dedicated Jigsaw day was centred around 'Healthy Me' where we have had lots of discussions during our circle times about the different ways to keep healthy. 

Drawing Club this half term has been thoroughly enjoyed, where the children have discovered stories such as Poddington Peas and Jack and the Beanstalk. 

Our Mother's Day afternoon was a real highlight in Early Years where our mums and special people joined us for a fun filled afternoon of activities. The children then presented their loved ones with beautiful hand decorated jars filled with fresh flowers. 

We also loved this year's World Book Day and found it so enjoyable to come to school dressed in our pyjamas!  The children drew a particular character from their favourite story and shared reading experiences with other year groups. 

Early Years have also had lots of writing opportunities, such as writing about the things they will be able to do when they grow up, that they cannot do yet. We had lots of interesting ideas!

We ended the half term with a lovely fun filled Easter themed week, including learning about the meaning of Easter, Easter craft and a fantastic Easter Egg hunt! The children are in need of a well earned rest and we look forward to welcoming them back refreshed for the Summer term!