In our Foundation Stage Unit our FS1 (Nursery) and FS2 (Reception) children work alongside each other in many ways. We join together for things such as Busy Fingers, Collective Worship, Daily Mile, RE and PE, and have separate times and space for our focus learning time.

Our Foundation Stage Unit daily routine includes the following activities:

• ‘Busy Finger Activities’ are set up to encourage children to develop their Fine Motor Skills.  Such activities might include; lacing, threading, construction, cutting or puzzles.
• During ‘Collective Worship’ children ‘Gather‘ together and listen to the ‘Word‘ from the Bible.  The children are given time to ‘Respond to the Word’ and then discuss a ‘Mission’ to enable to them to go forth and spread God’s Word.  Children have opportunities throughout the year to plan their own ‘Child Lead Collective Worship’ sessions.
• daily phonic sessions where reception follow our ‘Essential Letters and Sounds’ scheme, and nursery develop their ‘Phase 1’ skills.
• The ‘Daily Mile’ is a great way to keep the children fit and healthy and develops their Gross Motor Skills.  We sometimes do ‘Cosmic Yoga’, ‘Wake and Shake’, ‘Fitness Challenges’ or ‘Action Rhymes’ instead of running a Daily Mile depending on the weather.
• Planned ‘Adult Led’ and ‘Independent’ Group Activities are used to teach new learning and skills to the children.
• During ‘Child Initiated Learning’ time children have access to our ‘Snack Station’. Children are encouraged to access their healthy snack independently and they sit together while they eat.  They learn about hygiene and the importance of washing their hands before they eat. ‘Child Initiated Learning’ sessions allow children the opportunity to select resources independently and apply and embed all the learning that they have been taught

In the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) we focus on learning through play.  Our timetable is a balance of Adult Led and Child Initiated activities, covering all 7 areas of development and RE:

– Personal Social and Emotional Development (PSED)

– Communication and Language (CL)

– Physical Development (PD)

– Literacy (L)

– Mathematics (M)

– Understanding of the World (UW)

– Expressive Arts and Design (EAD)

– RE

Phonics

In our daily phonics lessons we follow the Essential Letters and Sounds (ELS) program. In Reception, the children begin with a revision of Phase 1. They then work their way through Phases 2-4. During each lesson, they revise the sounds and use their phonic knowledge to help them to read and write words. Please see below for more information on the program and progression in reception. 

As mentioned in the Power point above, it is important that we are modelling the correct pronunciation of the phase 2 and 3 phonemes, diagraphs and trigraphs. Please watch the videos below to help you to learn how.

Our Yearly Curriculum Overview

Our RE The topics are embedded into our overall topic theme, but where possible we also try include some mini topics based on the interests of the children in the cohort.  They may be short, one or two week topics or may last for the whole half term.  We may also adapt our learning to fit in with the current news or weather e.g. a snowy day, Coronation.