- Year 1 98.2%
- Year 2 95%
- Year 3 98.2%
- Year 4 97.3%
- Year 5 98.2%
- Year 6 96.5%
- Year 7 94.5%
Whole School
Att Value
Phoenix Primary School ‘Where We Rise to the Challenge’
Foundation Stage
Welcome to Phoenix Foundation Stage 2016 -2017
We will be adding lots of information to our Foundation Stage page. Please check regularly for updates, information and photographs of our learning. Don't forget to read our regular Foundation Stage Newsletter to keep up to date with FS learning and events.
​If you have any comments about your child's development and learning, please write them on post it notes. You can find these in a basket by the door. We will add them to your child's learning story.
​Foundation Stage Staff:
Phase One Leader and Foundation Stage Teacher: Mrs Casson
Unqualified Teacher: Mrs Christopher
Support Staff: Mrs Renshaw, Miss Wilding & Miss Cotton
Important information:
Reception times: 8.50- 3.10
Our Nursery session is currently only an afternoon session from 12.15 - 3.15
Please bring your child into Foundation Stage each morning. As part of our safeguarding, one member of staff will be supervising the door and may not be available to talk. Please speak to any other member of staff should you have any queries or require any information.
Please join your child for a short activity or story at the start of the session. The door will be open for a little longer very morning except Thursday and we hope you take this opportunity to spend a few minutes with your child. We look forward to seeing you there.
IMPORTANT
* Please label all of your child's clothing.
* Ensure that you bring your child into class, do not leave them at the door. One member of staff will be supervising the gate and may not be available to talk. Please come into Foundation Stage and speak to another member of the team should you have any queries or concerns.
* Encourage your child to hang up their coat, find their name and spend a few moments with them sharing a story or an activity, allowing them to feel confident and happy before you leave.
* Please inform a member of staff is someone different is collecting your child.
* Reception children need to have their red reading bags in school EVERY day. Thank you.
*Support your child to develop their skills of independence. Practise putting on shoes, zipping coats and tying laces, children are expected to 'have a go' themselves in school, please encourage this at home.
Our Three R Rules
* Respect
* Responsibility
* Resilience
Children are encouraged to show respect towards others.
They are encouraged to be resilient, have a positive attitude and keep trying.
They have to be responsible, looking after themselves, each other and things they use in Foundation Stage.
Summer 2
We have a busy half term planned. The children will be exploring transport and travel and thinking about the places they would like to go and how they would get there. This will also link to our work on World Wise week when the children will look at different countries around the world. We have started the topic thinking about Space. Through the story 'Whatever Next' by Jill Murphy the children have explored space travel and begun to learn about the planets. They have been learning about space travel and as part of our science week work the children have been learning about Sally Ride the first woman in space.
In Maths the children will use their knowledge of shapes to make models linked to their space theme. They will discuss the properties of different shapes and also use their mathematical knowledge to solve problems including doubling and halving and sharing.
Transition will be a focus for this half term as some children in Nursery are preparing to move to Reception and the children in Reception complete their time in Foundation Stage and make the move into Key Stage 1. The Reception children will be spending time with their new teaching team and the children will be talking about what they can expect to stay the same and what will be different in Year 1. Towards the end of the half term the children will spend time in their new classroom and explore the upstairs environment in groups, looking at the different areas they will access.
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​​​​​​​There will be a meeting for parents of children starting Reception to discuss the transition and expectations for Reception. More information will be sent home.
We will be completing work based on Refugee and World Wise Week. The children will use the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and talk about danger and how Snow White has had to leave her home and the people who helped her.
If you have any questions please speak to a member of the FS staff. Thank you.
Science Week - Thank you to Jacob's Grandad for coming to make rockets with us, the children really enjoyed your visit and had lots of fun making their own rockets throughout the week.
The children have loved reading the story 'Whatever Next' and acting out the story of Baby Bear's adventures to space in his rocket. The children have made their own rocket models and pictures, shared their thoughts and ideas about space in the floor book, had picnics with their friends and retold the story in detail. Well done Foundation Stage.
Summer 1 2017
This half term our topic is 'Change'. We will be looking at life cycles and growth. The children will learn about Spring and be encouraged to observe the changes in and around the school grounds. They will be busy planting lots of seeds, caring for them and thinking about what they need to help them grow. They will be observing caterpillars grow and keeping a diary of the changes. The children will also be thinking about how they have grown and changed since they were babies and toddlers.
The children will continue sharing some 'Traditional Tales' reading the story of Jack and the Beanstalk. They will use their talk for writing strategies to map out the events in the story and learn how to orally retell it. Ask them to tell you the story, is it the same version you were told as a child? What is different? Please talk to your child about how traditional tales can differ.
The children will also be reading stories by Eric Carle including 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' and 'The Bad Tempered Ladybird'.
The children in Reception will continue with their daily phonics sessions. Please practise the high frequency and phase 3 tricky words sent home. If you need another set please speak to a member of staff. The Nursery children will be continuing with their Phase 1 phonics, listening for rhymes, identifying alliteration and segmenting sounds they can hear in cvc words such as c-a-t and v-a-n.
Children in Reception will continue with their handwriting practise and be encouraged to write for different purposes. This half term they will be writing letters from Jack to the Giant, a list of ingredients to help the Little Red Hen, instructions for how to plant a beanstalk and they will be identifying and labelling parts of a plant. The Nursery children will continue with their daily mark making and development of fine motor skills through a range of different activities.
In Maths the children will be developing their knowledge of 2D and 3D shapes, identifying examples around school and using them to build with and in their art work. Challenge your child to find examples of shapes in and around your home. They will be comparing heights, measuring using standard and non-standard forms when looking at their 'beanstalks' and finding different ways to measure time. Children will have daily opportunities for counting and ordering and the Reception children will be practising counting in 2's. 5's and 10's as well as consolidating their doubling and halving skills. The children will also be completing maths challenges that encourage them to apply their problem solving skills. Please continue to talk about your own daily use of maths as part of 'Numeracy for Life' work.
​​​​​​​The children will be using a range of technology to support their learning and will be encouraged to develop their independence by completing simple programmes on the MacBooks, Interactive whiteboards or on the iPads.
​​​​​​​The children will be exploring the work of Artists Vincent Van Gogh and Monet and using their work as inspiration for their own paintings.
As part of our P4C sessions the children will be considering whether Jack was right to climb up the beanstalk, go against his mother's wishes and take the Giants hen. The children will consider making choices and identifying the reasons behind those decisions.
Reception children will continue to bring home their reading books, please try and listen to them read for a few minutes each day and record a comment in their diary.
Children need black velcro pumps for PE, please check with your child that the ones they have in school still fit.
Many thanks for your continued support. We are looking forward to a busy and fun filled half term.
Any questions or concerns please speak to a member of the team. ​​​​​​​
Outdoor Classroom Day - We had great fun! We worked with Year 6 to measure distances, we created large scale art work for our displays and we were mini beast hunters.
18.5.17 Mrs Bentley came to talk to FS about the Bees in her allotment. She made us honey cake, brought some frames from the hives and let the children dress up as bee keepers. Thank you Mrs Bentley, the children really enjoyed your visit.
Mega Maths! Practical, fun and child-initiated maths activities this week.
4.5.17 - Super shape work - This week the children in Foundation Stage have been on shape hunts, looked at the properties of 2D and 3D shapes, used shapes to build, construct and in their art work as well as making their own shapes using straws and sticks.
Outdoor fun!
27.4.16 We have been busy planting our own beans to see if we can grow a beanstalk like Jack. Ask the children can they tell you what is needed to help the beans to grow? The children will be carefully observing them over the coming weeks.
We have been learning about St George's Day and shared the story of St George defeating the dragon. The children enjoyed dressing up and retelling the story.
To celebrate 'Maths week' in Foundation Stage we have been completing a range of different activities.
We love Maths in FS. The children choosing a range of maths activities during continuous provision. Great turn taking, problem solving and high levels of engagement and perseverance.
Making gingerbread and talking about the changes we observed as we mixed the ingredients together.
Fun in Foundation Stage during 'Book Week'. We do love to dress up but it doesn't stop us doing all of the things we love!
Our Gingerbread Investigation. We started our work by discussing why the Gingerbread Man stopped running when he got to the water. 'He can't swim' suggested Nilah 'He will get soggy if he's wet' said Nyah 'He was scared' said Thormi. We wondered about the effect of different liquids on the gingerbread. We used our numeracy in life skills to carefully measure the same amount of each liquid, with children identifying when we reached 100ml. We used the same containers for each liquid and poured each liquid at the same time. We used the timer to measure how long the liquid soaked into the Gingerbread for and then after 15 minutes we observed some of the changes. Come and look in our floor book to see what we found!
We visited Mr Tumnus' house and did some writing about Narnia.
Parachute fun with Kyle!
Fine motor activities in Nursery
Spring 2
Ways to support learning at home.
- Read regularly. If your child is in Nursery or Reception, share stories and encourage them to talk about what they have heard, retell the sequence of the story and discuss the events.
- If your child is in Reception please encourage them to read their reading book for a few minutes every night. Little and often helps the children become more confident, develop good reading habits and support application of their phonics skills and knowledge.
- Help the children complete home work activities often this is 'talk' based but will give the children confidence to share their knowledge during group and whole class discussions.
- Talk to the children about their day and their learning. What have they been doing? What have they enjoyed and why? If your child has a real interest in a particular topic please let a member of the team know and we may incorporate this into our learning at school. The children are more engaged when they are motivated and interested by their learning.
- Ensure that your child has a pair of black pumps that fit them for our PE sessions in the hall.
Learning this half term.
This half term we will be continuing our work on Narnia, thinking about the characters and ways we can describe them. We will use our imagination and begin to think about where the wardrobe might take us. The children will use their talk 4 writing skills to support the retelling of some 'Traditional Tales' including 'The Gingerbread Man', 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears and 'Little Red Riding Hood'. The Reception children are being encouraged to apply their phonic knowledge when writing and will be generating their own sentences when writing. In phonics the children will continue to learn new sounds from phase 3 of the Letters and sounds document and practise writing the corresponding graphemes.
In Maths the children will be comparing sizes and exploring capacity and volume. The Reception children will be consolidating their knowledge of money and thinking about halving and doubling. the nursery children will begin to combine two amounts and find the total and count on from different numbers.
The children will be thinking scientifically and carrying out different investigations looking at materials and the effect of different liquids on Gingerbread. They will be talking about what make a 'fair test'.
​​​​​​​The children will be using a range of technology to support their research of different topics and they will using the computer to complete a simple program.
​​​​​​​As part of our P4C work the children will be considering questions such as 'was Goldilocks right to go into the Three Bears house?' and 'Why did the Gingerbread Man run away?'. The children will also thing about characters they would like to meet any why.
​​​​​​​The children will be learning about Lent and how Easter is celebrated and begin to think about new life.
Mandy Griffin our school nurse came to talk to the children about her job and how she helps us. She explained to the children all about the importance of washing their hands. Can they tell you about her visit?
Pancake Day! The children used their numeracy skills to weigh and measure the ingredients, they worked hard to mix the batter and then enjoyed tasting the pancakes with different toppings.
Fun in the Doctors surgery and Baby clinic! The children have enjoyed pretending to be doctors and nurses, looking after the dolls and, the staff and each other.
16.2.17 We loved our trip to St George's Hall for 'The Narnia Experience'. The children were amazing, they recalled so much of the story and they were so excited to meet Mr Tumnus, Mrs Beaver and even The White Witch!
Friday 3rd February - NSPCC Number Day. We had a great day in Foundation Stage today. The children came to school wearing numbers and also made their own number labels working hard on their numeral formation. The children had lots of fun completing a range of maths activities. They are really developing their counting and numeral recognition skills. Well done to everyone!!
Ice Investigations.
The children had a dilemma today. They wanted to play with their favourite figures but unfortunately Sleeping Beauty and Spiderman had been frozen. The children had to use their scientific knowledge to help free the figures. They had great ideas about melting the ice and what they would need. Some suggested water and Mrs Evans reported that the children were really sensible and talked carefully about the safest way to use the hot water.
The children used the water, salt, food colouring and flour in their investigation and made their predictions about which would melt the ice the quickest.
31.1.17 Exploring capacity.
Kung Hey Fat Choi! We have enjoyed sharing the Chinese Zodiac story and learning about the animals who raced. We used our chat mat to explore different objects linked to the Chinese New Year celebrations and we made our own dragon. We turned our coffee shop into a Chinese restaurant and we finished our week with a Chinese banquet and a dragon dance. Look at all we have been doing.
23.1.17 The children enjoyed their PE session with Kyle today. They are developing their throwing and aiming skills, becoming increasingly accurate and hitting the target. Some children are developing their underarm throw, others are becoming more confident with rolling and other children had great fun developing their accuracy with the large sponge balls. Please remember that your child needs a pair of black PE Pumps, velcro or slip on that they are able to put on themselves.
As part of our 'Winter' theme the children helped to set up a 'Polar Region' in the tuff spot. The children identified some of the animals they would need including Penguins, Polar Bears and Arctic Foxes. The children were introduced to 'Fake snow' and shared their thoughts and ideas about what it looked like, how it felt and the similarities and differences between the real snow and the fake snow. The children were all very interested to see what would happen to the powder as the water was added. Ask them to tell you all about it.
Winter fun in FS- Look at some of the great things we have been doing in Foundation Stage.
Our new 'Winter Explorer' role play area.
Nursery had great fun in the 4D room re-telling the story 'We're going on a Bear Hunt' by Michale Rosen.
Spring 1
This half term our theme in Foundation Stage is 'Winter'. The children will be developing their speaking and listening skills through a range of small group activities. They will focus on turn taking, discussion and sharing stories in Key worker groups to develop these skills. The children will learn about the 'Polar Regions' the climate and the animals that live there. Using the floor books, the children will have the opportunity to identify questions they would like to find the answers to and share their own knowledge with their peers.
On Monday's we will have PE with our specialist teacher Kyle and the children will be developing their throwing skills this half term. The children will also be developing their movement skills and use music as a stimulus. The children will be listening to 'Still Life at the Penguin Cafe' and will explore moving like polar animals. They will also investigate materials, and create art work inspired by winter colours and shapes.
In Maths the children will be developing their estimating counting and ordering skills. The Reception children will be completing single digit additions and subtractions and all of the children will explore measurement. Through our PFEG work (financial education - giving children the opportunity to understand money, it's value as well as the responsibilities it brings) the children will be talking about money and jobs and how people are paid for their jobs. This will link to our PLOD 'People who help us'. The children will learn about where money comes from, the value of coins and how people might get paid differently for the jobs they do.
We will be sharing a range of stories including 'We're going on a Bear Hunt' by Michael Rosen, 'Cudldy Dudley' by Jez Alborough 'The Gruffalo' and 'Stickman' by Julia Donaldson. Through our 'Talk 4 Writing' the children will retell stories, use maps to help them sequence the stories and write about their events. The children will continue with their daily phonic sessions, in Nursery, developing their rhyme and alliteration and in Reception developing their knowledge of phase 3 digraphs and blending for reading. Please support your child at home by encouraging them to read every night.
Our 'Philosophy for Children' this half term will be based on some of the stories we have read and will also encourage children to be more responsible. Through discussion the children will think about how everyone is responsible for our environment and children will consider the consequences of their actions. Through stories such as 'Cuddly Duddly' ask questions including 'Have you ever wanted to be alone'? Why? 'How did you feel'? Discuss the issues from the story and how Dudley and his family feel.
As part of our 'Global Learning' The children will be learning about Chinese New Year and how it is celebrated.
The children will also be thinking about how we use numeracy very day in our 'Numeracy for life'. Please support them and identify ways you use numeracy every day.
Foundation Stage enjoyed a visit from Santa's Elves and two of his reindeer, Charlie and Maverick. The children found out what reindeer like to eat and how their antlers grow.
Outdoor fun! The children made their own sleigh today and had great fun using it in their play.
Our Christmas 'Stay and craft' session today (13.12.16). Thank you to all of the parents who came to join in the festive activities, the children had a great time and really enjoyed being creative with you. We hope you all enjoyed it as much as the children.
Owl Babies. The children in Foundation Stage have been reading the story Owl Babies by Martin Waddell. They enjoyed re telling the story, setting up a small world Owl Baby home, finding out some Owl facts and making their own Owl 's using different collage materials. Come and have a look at our display to see some of the lovely work they have produced. Ask your child to tell you the character names and what happens in the story?
Autumn 2 in Foundation Stage
This half term we are focusing on Festivals and Celebrations. The children will look at Autumn and discuss the changes they can see in the environment. We will be using the 'chat mat' to talk about Autumnal foods, Bonfire Night, Diwali, Remembrance Day and Animals in Autumn. The children will share a range of stories including 'Owl Babies' by Martin Waddell, 'The Enormous Turnip', 'Room on the Broom' and 'The Gruffalo' By Julia Donaldson and 'Winnie the Witch' stories by Korky Paul. The children will also listen to rhymes and identify rhyming words before having a go at making their own linked to our theme. They will also begin to recite some poetry off by heart.
​Staff have recently had training in 'Talk 4 writing' and will be using this approach to support children with their story knowledge and writing. The children will share some stories and learn them using actions and story maps. With this knowledge they will be able to retell stories in detail, become familiar with the structure and then use this knowledge to support their writing.
​The children will continue with their daily phonics lessons and will be moving onto phase 3 sounds which includes learning digraphs. A digraph is two letters together that make one sound, examples include 'sh' and 'th'. The children will be practising blending for reading and be encouraged to generate and have a go at writing their own sentences.
In Maths the Reception children will be focusing on addition and subtraction, using lots of different materials to support the development of their mathematical thinking. They will also be looking at shapes, positional language and comparing size, numbers and length.
​The Nursery children will have a 'Number of the Week' focus and will be counting and matching numerals as well as identifying numbers in the environment.
​As part of our P4C the children will be using the story 'Owl Babies' to discuss some of the themes including 'loss' and exploring different feelings and emotions. Through the themes in our stories they will discuss questions such as:
If you had a magic wand what would you do?
Would you rather be a witch or a fairy? Why?
Would you rather fly or be invisible?
Why?
As part of our 'Global learning' the children will consider celebrations around the world including Diwali and Hannukah and begin to gain an awareness of similarities and differences between people, an awareness of different places, and a positive attitude towards difference and diversity.
The children will explore pattern and colour in art and be encouraged to generate their own 'firework' pictures. They will use iPads and Mac books to support their learning across the curriculum and develop their confidence and competency using technology.
In December we will start our 'Christmas' themed activities, including sharing the Christmas Story.
As part of our Sparkles and Spells week, the children enjoyed making potions, brooms and writing labels for their dough models.
September in Foundation Stage
Reception children had their first school lunch today. Thank you to all of the parents and extended family members who came to have lunch in school. We hope you enjoyed it as much as the children did.
Parent Information
FOUNDATION STAGE NEWS
Foundation Stage Documents and information
Early Years Links
www.phonicsplay.co.uk - this site has some free resources and ideas for helping your child with phonics.
www.bigeyedowl.co.uk
www.communication4all.co.uk - lots of resources for story telling
28.6.16 Book swap and story session
The Children in Reception enjoyed a visit to Old Swan library. Thank you to Anne Marie for making our visit so enjoyable. The children had a story session and had the opportunity to look at and then check out a book.
Maths Party Day. We had great fun on Maths party day using lots of equipment to count and sort and exploring shape, space and measure. Thank you to all of the parents who joined us.
Thursday 28th April - The children were very excited to visit the 'Fairtree Homes' building site next to school, wearing their hard hats and hi-vis jackets. A huge thank you to Mr McKibbin from Fairtree homes who organised the visit and explained to us how the equipment works. The children were also very excited when Ivor Goodsite came to say hello. "It was awesome" said Barnaby. "It was great" said Alfie "I saw the house coat" said Josh explaining to his friend about how the insulation is fitted. The children were very enthusiastic about their trip and had a fabulous time. Have a look at our photos.
Sport Relief. The children in FS had great fun cycling the Sport belief mile on the main yard.
Alex and Mary from the Children's centre came to make vegetable soup. Thank you to those parents who came to join in the session.
Water and bubble fun!
We made Gingerbread. We gathered the ingredients and mixed them together. We talked about the smells and textures and the children had great fun. The children decided that their Gingerbread would make a lovely Mother's Day gift. We hope they tasted as delicious as they smelt when they were cooking.
Reception enjoyed telling the story of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory through dance.
We read the story of Goldilocks and the Three bears. Some of the children had not tasted porridge so we made it for snack. Before we tasted it we discussed what the oats looked like and felt like. We then added milk and observed the changes before tasting it with sugar, jam or honey on. The children were keen to paint pictures from the story and we developed 'The Three Bears Cottage' in our role play area.
week beg 22.2.16 Making and tasting porridge.
This week the children have enjoyed sharing the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. They have been learning that this is a 'Traditional Tale' and we have read several versions to compare similarities and differences. The children have enjoyed re-telling the story with props and have been writing letters of apology from Goldilocks. We are encouraging the children to use their phonic skills in writing and identifying the sounds they can hear in words and applying their knowledge of 'tricky' words such as 'the' and 'she' in their writing. The children have helped to make our home corner into 'the Three Bears' cottage and they have also made and tasted porridge for snack. We made a pictogram to show who liked the porridge and who did not. When you are in Foundation Stage have a look at the fabulous paintings the children have done based on this story. Next week we will be reading The Gingerbread Man.
Chinese New Year. We celebrated Chinese New Year in Foundation Stage and we tried lots of different Chinese food. A big thank you to Rev. Saltmarsh our class governor who joined us for the morning.
The Stick Man- children painted pictures of scenes from the story. Other children made their own stick characters. The children worked collaboratively and shared their ideas.
Nursery mark making. The children used the flour to practise the sounds in their names.
Making our own ice lollies. We used the chat mat to talk about the different items we would need. The children shared their ideas about how to make their own ice lolly. They cut up the fruit they wanted and added their juice and a lolly stick. Thank you to Sue for letting us use her freezer.
The Reception children enjoyed their visit to central library on Friday 29th January. They were very excited going on the minibuses and had a great time with Mike finding out about the history of the library and exploring the different areas. The terrace was great fun and the children enjoyed looking at the huge range of books in the children's section.
The children have been busy drawing their designs in the construction area. They have been enjoying large scale mark making and working together to complete games and activities. We had two birthdays to celebrate and the children have been developing their travelling and jumping skills on the equipment outdoors. Great fun!!!
4-15th Jan 2016. The children have been playing cooperatively, been very creative, drawing and designing and using their problem solving skills to see how they can make the cars travel down the tubes at different speeds. They have been in the 4D room and talked about life in Polar regions. The children produced some great pictures based on their own knowledge of these animals. Well done Foundation Stage you have been very busy and remembering to share and look after our equipment.
FS fun. The children are always busy, they have fun sharing with their friends and they have been enjoying role-play and construction activities.
Story and Rhyme time session with Irene from the library service. Foundation Stage enjoyed sharing a story and joining in songs and rhymes. We found about about the library and the services available and all of the children received their Book start and Book time packs. Thank you to all of the parents, carers and younger siblings who stayed to join in the session. It was also our Superhero party and bobble hat day, we had a great time!!
Thursday 26th November we had an outdoor 'Stay and Play' Thank you to everyone who came, the children enjoyed playing outside with you.
Reading with our buddies from Years 5 and 6
Fun in our new outdoor buildings. The children enjoyed exploring the Coffee shop, Garage and Post Office.
Some children have been fascinated by the spiders they have found in the sensory garden (Mrs Casson, not so much!!) They observed them closely and enjoyed talking about what they could see. Have a look in our floor book for the great thoughts, pictures and writing the children shared about their interest.
Dinosaurs and Volcanoes. The children made plasticine dinosaurs and worked collaboratively to make a Modroc volcano which they used to create 'Dino Land'.
'Mud Day" Tuesday 30th June 2015. Look at the fun we had !!! A HUGE thank you to all of the parents who came and joined in with our 'Mud Day' fun, the children had a great time, we hope you did too!!
29.6.15 Mrs Allen has sent pictures of Troy and Jaz so we can see how much they have grown. She said they are very happy in their new home and have settled well. They are still eating a lot and have grown lots. Troy tried his wings and flew up the top of his box. They are getting ready to move outdoors soon to their new coop. Thank you for the updates Mrs Allen.
The chicks are growing and the children have enjoyed making lots of observations and taking care of them.
Everyone loves the chicks!! We were all very careful holding the chicks today. "They're so cute" said Sarah, " They feel tickly" said Josh, "It's trying to fly" said Wiktoria "It's so fluffy" said Amber, " it's cheeping" said Marwan
