Welcome to Foundation Stage!
Lions
Lovely Lions look, listen and learn
The EYFS Curriculum
The Early Years curriculum (EYFS) sets standards for the learning development and care of children from birth to 5 years old. It features the 7 areas of learning and development. It sets out expected developmental milestones in the 7 areas of learning. These areas of learning encompass aspects of all those 'subjects' in later phases of education. Teachers and teaching assistants work as a team of foundation stage practitioners and skilfully link learning intentions based upon themes and following children's interests. This is a strong emphasis on active play based on learning.
Find out out more about our curriculum by clicking on our Key skills documents.
Newletters
Progression maps
Key skills termly overview Autumn
Key skills termly overview Summer
Key skills termly overview Spring
Termly Overview
At Barleyhurst Park Primary School we are determined to foster an environment that enables our youngest learners to be happy and motivated. We aim for children to be excited, enthused and to think and work creatively. We nurture children in order for them to feel secure, valued and respected. This enables them to flourish both socially and academically.
Below are our half termly overviews, showing the learning opportunities available to the children each half term.
Medium term plan Autumn 2.docx
Overview Autumn term 1.docx
Medium term Autumn 1.docx
Overview of autumn 2.docx
Foundation Stage 2
In our early years foundation stage we meet the needs of all our children through a challenging and exciting environment full of interesting and exciting provision. Our attached information guide outlines what to expect in our Foundation Stage 2 environment.
Reading
Attached is a guide outlining how we teach reading within the foundation stage.
Useful websites
Please find attached useful websites you may wish to share with your child at home.
See how we learn
The lovely lions are always incredibly busy exploring their learning environment...have a look
In Lions Class, the children used a drawing app on the iPads to create lovely pictures of a family member as part of their Changes topic. They looked in the mirror to observe their own facial features and talked about similarities and differences between themselves, their parents and siblings, including skin, hair and eye colour.
The children have been practising their cutting skills and using a range of materials to create collages of their self-portraits and The Journey on a Bear Hunt as part of their topic All About Me.
Self-portraits
In Maths, Lovely Lions have been learning about matching, sorting, pairing, sets, same and different, as well as comparing and thinking of their own sorting rules. They have applied their knowledge through a range of fun, practical games.
During busy times, Lovely Lions explore all areas of learning, either independently or alongside their peers. They show kindness, excellent behaviour, creativity and lovely manners throughout.
Well done, Lovely Lions - keep up the great work!
In Lions Class, we celebrated the launch of our Phonics Scheme with a fantastic Monster Phonics Day in the Autumn Term.
The children dressed up as their favourite Monster Phonics characters and enjoyed a day full of fun phonics activities alongside our 10 friendly monsters. They have loved getting to know the different characters in our phonics scheme, remembering the sound each monster makes, and learning about their jobs and where they live in Monster Phonics Land.
The day ended with a lively Monster Phonics Party, and the children looked wonderful in their monster character outfits.
A huge thank you to all of our parents and carers for their support!
As part of our topic 'Autumn' the Lions visited the wildlife hospital Tiggywinkles. We spent the whole day learning about how hedgehogs and other British animals are looked after when they come into the hospital. We have also enjoyed having a picnic with our classmates and teachers.
What a great experience we have had!
Mixing primary colours to make secondary colours for the autumn leaves
We celebrated Leo's 5th birthday by making cupcakes.
The children had to listen to the instructions to know how to make the yummy treats. They had a go at measuring and mixing the ingredients together and helped the adults to pour the batter into the cupcake cases.
Once the cupcakes were baked and cooled down, Lovely Lions decorated them with writing icing and chocolate chips. We all enjoyed our cupcakes at Leo's birthday party. What a delicious treat!
Leo's 5th Birthday Party
We listened to the familiar story 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears'. The children made some porridge and then ate it all up just like Goldilocks did with Baby Bear's porridge. It was just right!
We have been using 2D shapes and our own ideas to create pictures during busy time. We have also learnt about repeating patterns and symmetry.
We have used 2D shapes to create symmetrical butterflies.
Symmetrical butterflies
In Lions Class, we celebrated 'The Chinese New Year'. One of our challenges was to taste noodles using chopsticks. We have tried our best to pick up the noodles and they tasted super yummy.
We have enjoyed reading and retelling the story of 'The Three Little Pigs'.
Building houses out of different materials using different joining techniques was so much fun.
We worked together in groups and made sure our houses had 4 walls and a roof.
When THE BIG BAD WOLF tried to blow them down (with a hairdryer), we were courageous and felt super proud of ouselves for being great team players.
Prior to this, we also made predictions and used 'wow' words to explain why we thought that some of the houses will be blown away and some will stay standing up.
What a lovely trip to Melrose shops we have had!
We wrote our shopping lists and went to the shops to buy items for us and for Leo, the Lion.
We have been so well-behaved and respectul to the shop keepers and the other shoppers, and because of that, everyone praised us.
We have even received some free sweet treats from a shopkeeper who was really impressed by our manners and knowledge.
Lovely Lions enjoyed the trip to St Mary's Church. They have been learning about old and new buildings and talked about similarities and differences between them. The loved making 3D models of St Mary's Church.
Throughout the Specialist Week 'Learning Outside', Lovely Lions have been exploring the nature, investigating and planting seeds and plants and enjoyed the Guided Reading sessions, Story Times and Maths lessons outdoors. They also loved painting, drawing, writing, exercising, building and having so much fun in the sun.
Great work, Lions!
Exploring seeds