Welcome to our final term in Foundation - Term 6!

It almost feels impossible that we can be writing our final welcome back message for the year but here it is and we are looking forward to the most amazing term yet!

The term where our little Robins, Wagtails and Swifts really do wow us by continuing to show us just how fantastic they all are. 

We will be consolidating our knowledge of number and will also continue to work on shape and problem solving. 

We will be reading and writing simple sentences and we will begin the term with one of our favourite stories 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' which will not only form the basis of our Literacy work but also lots of our work around Understanding the World. 

There will be lots of opportunities to create some lovely art work linked to this story too. 

This term we will also spend a week where we focus on art during Sky Arts Week.

We have lots of fun planned for our final term before our Foundation children move onto the next stage in their journey at Minster.

The weather is hopefully warming up now so please ensure children have a sunhat, their water bottle and that sun cream is applied before they come into school. 

Our PE day is a Monday.

Children will need to wear PE kit to school (navy shorts, white t-shirt and trainers) and all jewellery will need to be removed, this includes earrings.

Thank you

End of Term 5

Well what a busy term we have all had!

We celebrated the coronation of King Charles III with lots of fun activities throughout the week and to end the celebrations we cheered on our teachers who competed in a variety of races.

We also spent a week thinking about Mental Health Awareness and have learnt ways to support our own mental health

In Maths we have been securing our number knowledge and have begun to describe 2d and 3d shapes. 

In Literacy we read the story Oliver's Vegetables.

We have made lists, wrote letters and labelled vegetables. 

We have talked about what vegetables we enjoy eating and have created art work by drawing fruit and vegetables. 

We are now looking forward to our final term in Foundation. 

Have a lovely week full of fun!

Welcome back to Term 5!

Wow! Term 5 already!

We hope that you all had a wonderful Easter break. 

This term promises to be a very busy but enjoyable one. 

We are all looking forward to the warmer (and drier) weather and to many more opportunities for outdoor learning. 

We will be reading the story Oliver's Vegetables which will of course lead us to growing  our very own plants and vegetables in the garden. 

We have developed a deeper understanding of number and will continue to work on this. We will focus on number bonds and number patterns. 

This term we will celebrate the King's Coronation. We are really looking forward to whole school celebrations.

As always, we will be using our Minster Muscles in every area of our learning!

Just a reminder that Foundation PE is on a Monday and that children need to come to school wearing PE kit:

Navy/Black joggers/leggings/shorts.

White T-Shirt

Navy/black jumper/hoody or school jumper

Trainers (preferably velcro if your child cannot tie their own laces) 

Earrings needs to be removed or covered before coming to school.

Please ensure children have suitable coats for outside.

End of Term 4!

Foundation you really have wowed us this term, using your Minster Muscles to become increasing independent in all areas of your learning.

Well done to you all!

We started the term with a Reading workshop for your parents and we are seeing lots of progress in your reading. 

Science week was so much fun. We watched as Skittles sweets created a rainbow, we built strong houses for The Three Pigs and also investigated liquids through the story of The Gingerbread Man. 

We had a lovely time with our mummies when we invited them in to enjoy a cake and some time with us for Mother's Day. 

We would like to wish you all a very Happy Easter and a well earned rest.

See you all in Term 5!

Term 4

Wow! Term 4 already!

We have lots to look forward to this term where hopefully Spring will make an appearance and we will begin to see the sunshine a little more. 

This term we will consolidate what we have already learnt in Maths and will be extending our number skills to include addition and subtraction. 

We will be using our phonic knowledge in more independent writing beginning with writing lists for pancake toppings. We will learn about why we celebrate Pancake Day and will even taste real pancakes during our snack time!

We will be reading the story of The Little Red Hen and will enjoy lots of activities related to the story.

In PE we will be focusing on multi-skills and we may even be able to participate in some of our lessons outside when the sun is shining. 

Just a reminder that children need to be wearing school PE kit; white t-shirt, blue or black shorts or tracksuit bottoms, plimsols or trainers.

We are looking forward to this term where we are sure all children will come back ready to learn and have lots of fun!

End of Term 3

What a busy term that was!

We certainly came back after the Christmas break keen to continue our learning journey and have continued to make good progress. 

We were very lucky to begin the term with a visit from the Police. They came into school and parked their car in the playground where we were all able to sit inside and listen to the sirens. We asked lost of questions and the police told us how they are there to help us as well as to prevent crime. Back in class we were all keen to make our own Walkie Talkies and belts to hold equipment. 

We have been putting all of the skills we learnt in Maths over terms 1 and 2 into being able to compare groups of objects and now when talking about what we see we are using more mathematical vocabulary including the words 'more than' and 'fewer than'. 

Our Phonic knowledge is increasing and we have been using it in our supported and independent writing. 

We were all very shocked when a cave appeared in the classrooms.

What was inside?

We did not know but through reading 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt' and by writing notes we soon worked out that perhaps it was in fact a bear!

Some of us were excited and some of us were a little nervous but along the way we had lots of fun and ended the term by going on our very own bear hunt, through the long wavy grass, the thick oozy mud and by then actually finding a bear down in the forest area! 

Lots of fun and now we are ready for another fun filled term as we look forward to Term 4. 

Welcome to Term 3

We have completed two terms at school and are now at the beginning of Term 3!

We have had some very cold and icy weather and there seems to be more forecast so please remember to wrap up warm ready for outside play and learning.

We will continue to observe the changes to the weather and our environment and enjoying lots of winter activities.

This term we will continue to introduce letters and their sounds during our Phonics. We have already learnt so many and are becoming very good at blending to read. This term we will be developing our skills in spelling.

Name writing is very important so we will continue to practise this.

We all have a reading book (please remember to write in your child’s reading planner) and we are suing our phonic skills very well when reading them.

We have been using our Maths skills to deepen our knowledge of number, shape and pattern. We have widened our knowledge of mathematical vocabulary.

Last term we impressed Craig in our PE sessions with our listening skills and how good we are at following instructions. We are looking forward to lots more fun PE sessions this term.   

Term 3 will be lots of fun and there will be another opportunity for our parents/carers to come into school and participate in an activity with us.  

Term 3 will be a busy but fun term!

End of Term 2

What a busy but fun term we have had!

Lots of lovely activities, including dress up for Halloween and then Christmas activities. Our parents and carers enjoyed joining us in school to make a Christmas decoration.

It was lovely to see so many of you!

Term 2 is a time when as a school we think about Christmas Around the World and in Foundation we learnt about Christmas in England. We all enjoyed talking about our family traditions and listening to how others celebrate Christmas in many different ways. 

We learnt lots of new songs and the story of Whoops-A-Daisy Angel ready to perform to our grown ups and WOW so many of you turned up to watch us!

We were amazing and our teachers and TAs were extremely proud of us all. 

It has been a long term but one with lots of fun and lots of learning too.

We are now all ready for a rest and to enjoy Christmas with our families. 

The foundation team would like to take this opportunity to thank all of your families for their support with nativity costumes and for supporting your learning at home.

We would also like to wish you and your families a very

Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year!

See you all in January for Term 3! 

Foundation Nativity is on Wednesday 7th December at 9.15am and 2.30pm.

Term 2

Well our first term at school certainly whizzed by and now we are at the beginning of Term 2! 

As we head into Autumn/Winter the weather is changing. We will be observing the changes to the weather and our environment and enjoying lots of autumn activities. We will be learning about Guy Fawkes and Remembrance. 

This term we will continue to introduce letters and their sounds during our Phonics. We have already learnt so many and have begun to use these when blending to read.

We will be sending your very first reading book home so you will be sure to impress your grown-ups with your amazing phonic skills.

We have been using our Maths skills and have learnt to subitise in Maths. We will be continuing to deepen our knowledge of number, shapes and pattern. 

Term 2 is always such an exciting term as it is our Christmas term. We will be inviting our grown-ups back into school at the beginning of December to enjoy a Christmas activity with us, and we will begin to rehearse our Nativity and songs ready to perform in December!

We also have Christmas jumper day and party day to look forward to too.

What a lot of exciting things to look forward to!

Reminders:

• Please ensure that children have a warm coat (hats, scarves and gloves) and sensible footwear for playing outdoors. 

• We encourage all children to change into their wellies before going down to play in the sandpit or mud kitchen and we wear wellies during our weekly Forest School sessions.

• Please ensure your child has a pair of wellies in school where we will store them for the children to access when needed. 

• When you listen to your child read their reading book remember to sign or write a comment in their reading record so that we know they are ready to change it. 

End of Term 1

How, just how have you all completed your first term at Minster already!

You have all been absolutely amazing and wowed us with how you have settled and adapted to the changes from nursery and pre-school settings to 'big school'

Well done to you all, you really are little superstars...

You have learnt so much already! From beginning to learn new names of children and adults in the year group, learning where all of the classroom and outside resources are, to learning letter sounds and new concepts in Maths. 

We have introduced 13 new letter sounds (s, a, t, p, i, n, m, d, g, o, c, k, ck) already and you have begun to use these to read simple words! Amazing!

In Maths you have learnt that when we can see a number of objects without having to count them we call it 'subitising' and you really are all so good at doing this. 

We have been looking at numbers and what makes that number, e.g. 2 and 1 makes 3, or you can see 1 and 1 which is 2 altogether.

Well done to you all.

We have explored emotions through the story of The Colour Monster and can talk about how you are feeling. 

You have enjoyed visiting our forest for Forest School and have learnt about hazards so that when we are in the forest again next term you are aware of how to keep yourself and others safe. 

It has been a very busy Term 1 and we really are so proud of all your achievements.

Well done Foundation!

Have a very happy half term holiday and a well deserved rest.

The Foundation Team

Foundation 2022-2023

TERM 1

A huge welcome to you all! 

We are really looking forward to getting to know you all.

Term 1 is where we will build relationships and help children to settle into the new routines of the school day. 

We understand that starting school is a big step for both children and grown ups so please do not hesitate to speak to your child's teacher if you have any questions. 

This term the children will begin to explore their new environment both inside and outside.

When playing in the mud kitchen and sand pit area children will need to wear wellies.

We have a place to store wellies so please remember to send them in clearly named. They will also need suitable clothing for the weather, e.g. coats, hats, gloves. 

We will be sharing our learning with you each week. A weekly learning sheet will be sent home and can also be found on the school website. 

Reminders: 

• Please sign up to Marvellous Me. It is a great way to see all of your child's  achievements!

• Foundation children will be doing PE on Mondays. Kindly ensure your child wears their PE kit to school on this day. Earrings must be removed or covered before coming to school on PE days. Any changes that may occur will be notified via Marvellous Me.

• Please ensure that all clothing is clearly labelled with your child's name. 

• Please ensure that your child has a named water bottle each day. 

We are very excited for the term ahead!

The Foundation Team

Term 6

We cannot believe that we are writing this but...

Welcome back and welcome to TERM 6!

Both Robins and Wagtails have achieved so much this school year and with one term left to go before they head off to Year One they really do have lots more to learn and achieve. 

This term we will be begin by looking at poetry in our Poetry week and we will be celebrating Father's Day by thinking about and thanking our dads, grandads, uncles and brothers. 

In Maths we will be revisiting number and consolidating what we have learnt throughout the year. We will focus on problem solving and patterns in numbers. We will begin to look at doubles and halves and will also count in 2s and 10s! 

We will refer to the Colour Monster story when talking about our emotions. 

Our PE sessions will enable us to practise skills ready for Sports day which we are all looking forward to. 

All of our Foundation children have made us so proud and we know that Term 6 is going to be our best yet. 

Sunny days and lost of fun together will bring smiles to everyone's faces.

So, lets start Term 6 the way we will carry on...

"to be the best we can be"

Term 5

We have had a busy four terms so far and we have all come so far. We have two terms left and so many exciting things ahead. 

This term in Phonics we will be focusing on sentence writing.

We will use our phonic knowledge to segment when spelling words and we will blend sounds when reading. 

We will continue to focus on number in Maths and will be looking at number bonds to 5 and 10. 

Now that the weather is warmer PE will take place outside and we will be practising skills ready for sports week. 

We are all looking forward to a fun term and to the warmer weather.

Term 4

We cannot believe we are already at the beginning of Term 4! They say time flies when you're having fun and we are all certainly enjoying our days with the Robins and Wagtails. 

This term we will be continuing our learning journey and will build on all of the skills we have learnt so far as well as learning new ones. 

Hopefully the days are getting warmer but we still need our coats and suitable footwear for outside play. Don't forget to keep your wellies in school for forest school or for playing in the mud kitchen. 

PE will continue to be on a Monday and we are hoping to be outside for this.

We will need to wear PE kits to school and make sure that we have a jumper too. 

Take a look at the Gallery of Learning icon to see some of the things we did in Term 3.

We look forward to seeing you all for an adventurous Term 4!

Term 3

The terms are flying by and we have now reached the end of Term 3. We have had lots of fun this term and have worked hard in so many areas of the Foundation Stage Curriculum. We have done some brilliant performances of the story, We're Going on a Bear Hunt and even prepared ourselves for and been brave enough to head out on our own bear hunt. Towards the end of term, we explored the traditions associated with Chinese New Year. We recalled many facts and produced a wonderful dragon dance using our creative skills in art and music.

In maths, we are becoming very secure in our ability to subitise and our knowledge of number facts to five. We have also had lots of fun with different part, part whole models to support our adding.

With the introduction of digraphs this term we have been able to read and write an increased number of words and our segmenting and blending skills are really developing.

Definitely time for a rest so we can recharge our batteries ready for Term 4! Well done Robins and Wagtails!

Term 3

Happy New Year!

We hope that you have all had a wonderful Christmas and a well deserved rest!

We have had a very good start to our day and we have all enjoyed seeing each other and sharing our Christmas news. 

We will be continuing our learning learning through stories, numbers and by exploring the world around us. 

This term we will continue to learn both inside and outside so please ensure that all children have suitable coats and have a pair of wellies in school. We will probably need hats, scarves and gloves too as the weather is getting colder. 

Please remember to look out for our weekly learning sheets in book bags and on the website. 

The Foundation Team 

End of Term 2

Another fantastic term with you all!

You really should be so proud of yourselves Foundation. You have learnt so much and shown lots of adults who have visited us how settled and keen to learn you are.

We began the term by discovering jungles in our classrooms and over the weeks we read the story ‘Walking through the Jungle’ which resulted in us creating our own stories ‘Walking through the Farm.’

 We have had lots of fun in the forest and have even made our own Stick Man.

We have been deepening our number knowledge and can talk about and show numbers in many different ways. We can even relate number to shapes!

We have continued to talk about our emotions through colour using the story

The Colour Monster. It really is helping us to regulate our emotions and understand how others are feeling too.

Then to finish our very busy term we learnt some Christmas songs and performed them to our families. We even learnt to sign one of our songs!

We have added some of our favourite photos of learning to the Gallery of Learning section.

So as you say see we have been extremely busy and now it is time for a rest and to enjoy the Christmas holidays with our families and friends.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all.

              See you in Term 3!

Term 2

Well our first term at school certainly whizzed by and now we are at the beginning of Term 2! 

As we head into Autumn/Winter the weather is changing. Please ensure that children have a warm coat (hats, scarves and gloves) and sensible footwear for playing outdoors. 

We encourage all children to change into their wellies before going down to play in the sandpit or mud kitchen. 

Please send wellies into school where we will store them for the children to access when needed. 

This term we will be introducing letters and their sounds during our Phonics. The children will be learning actions (Jolly Phonics) to help them remember each letter sound and we are sure that they will be coming home and showing you these. 

During our literacy we will be reading the story Walking through the Jungle before moving onto The Christmas Story later in the term. 

When you listen to your child read their reading book remember to sign or write a comment in their reading record so that we know they are ready to change it. 

We will be deepening our knowledge of numbers in Maths. It is important to develop children's number sense so that they understand the number rather than just recognising the numeral.

We will be extending our learning through our play and we are sure to be participating in lots of festive activities. 

We are looking forward to lots of fun this term!

End of Term 1

Wow! What an amazing first term at school you have all had Robins and Wagtails. We are super proud of you all and the way that you have settled into school. 

You have adapted well to new rules and routines and have shown maturity when walking to PE or for school dinner.

We have introduced class inputs and you have all demonstrated good sitting and good listening which has meant you have been participating in great learning. 

 Absolutely amazing! 

We have been working both independently and as part of a team meaning you are using your 'Minster Muscles' and we have heard many of you talking about using them which is fantastic. 

We really are very proud of you all and want to wish you and your families a very happy half term holiday.

We are looking forward to seeing you in Term 2.

The Foundation Team

It has been so lovely to welcome our new Robins and Wagtails into school this week. We are very proud of how well they have settled. They have been brave at times when coming in as we know some of our new parents have been too but once in their class the children have been exploring their new environment, building relationships with the adults and unfamiliar children and some recconnecting with their friends. It has been lovely to see.

The children are beginning to learn some routines and rules of being in school and we can already see them working on some of our Minster Muscles, such as teamwork and independence. Well done Foundation!

It has been a really positive start to the school year and we are very much looking forward to the year ahead! 

Warm regards,

The Foundation Team