Reception 2024 - 2025

EYFS (Foundation Stage 2) 2024 - 2025

Miss Thwaite

Teaching Assistants: Mrs Halpin (Monday), Mrs Christian (Wednesday), Mrs Taylor (Tuesday, Thursday, Friday)

Spring Term 2025

Hello and welcome to spring term at St Mary of the Angels Foundation Stage 2 (EYFS). The children settled into school so well in the autumn term and in this term they will continue to learn through a combination of adult led and child-initiated activities. Play is vital for children's development and they will continue to learn and develop skills and knowledge in our indoor and outdoor learning environments.

Here you will find everything you need to know about what your child will be learning at school.

We have lots of exciting things to look forward to this term and are going to be very busy!

Religious Education

In RE this term we will continue to learn about the meaning of our school mission statement - Love Jesus, Love Learning, Love Life. Our topics are 'Getting to know Jesus' where the children will learn that Jesus loves each and every one of us, and 'Sorrow and Joy' where we will learn how important it is to always try to be kind to others. We will also learn about the events of Holy Week and Easter. This term we will continue to join in with a variety of prayers and will listen to stories from the bible.

Phonics and Literacy

The children will be introduced to the level 3 sounds of the Twinkl phonics programme and will practise recognising and writing them. We will practise identifying the initial sounds of words and pictures, segmenting and blending, and will continue to learn to recognise and read tricky words which cannot be sounded out. We will also learn to read and write simple sentences, using our phonic knowledge and tricky words to help us. We will develop our letter formation and will practise including finger space and full stops in our work. 

Children will bring home four reading books each week, two from our school reading scheme and one Rhino Reader and minibook to allow them to practise the sounds they have learnt and the phonics skills they have been taught that week.

We will continue to develop our speaking and listening skills and will read the books 'The Naughty Bus' and 'Something Else', amongst many others related to our interests and topics. We will talk about the characters and stories in order to develop a good understanding of what we have heard and will create simple recounts.

Mathematics

In Maths we will develop our counting skills and will practise recognising, matching and comparing numbers and objects. We will learn to count sets of objects accurately, using one to one correspondence (touching each object as it is counted), and will develop our subitising skills (identifying how many objects are in a set without counting). We will also add and subtract, find one more and one less than sets of objects and numbers, will explore the composition of numbers to five then ten and will learn about 3d shapes.

Topic Activities

Our spring term topics will be 'Marvellous minibeasts' where we will investigate and explore a variety of minibeasts. We will create pictures and play dough models, will sequence lifecycles and will go on a minibeast hunt around the school and will join in with action rhymes and songs. During our 'How does your garden grow' topic we will explore a variety of plants and flowers and will learn the names of some of the parts, e.g. petals, stems and leaves. We will plant and nurture our own seeds, will make simple tray gardens, and will create pictures of flowers using art and craft materials.

This term we will also continue to explore technology and how it is used in everyday life. We will take part in activities using BeeBots and will learn about E-Safety. 

Supporting your child with their learning

There are many ways in which you will be able to support your child with their learning during the spring term. Every Friday Google Classrooms will detail what we have been learning during the week and will contain activity ideas you can complete with your child. You can access this using your log in details which will be provided to you. I will also send home additional games and activities.

Your child will bring home a phonics book which will contain the sounds they have been taught each week. Please help your child to practise recognising the sounds and tricky words regularly as this is so important for the development of their reading and writing skills. Please also listen to your child read every night, talk to them about the stories and characters and write a comment in their reading record. Books will be changed by a member of staff on a regular basis.

PE Days

Our PE day is Thursday. Please make sure that your child comes into school in their PE kit on this day and remove earrings if your child has their ears pierced.

Forest School Dates:

Unless stated otherwise, our Forest School dates for this year are as follows:

24th October 2024

9th January 2025

20th March 2025

1st May 2025

19th June 2025 (amended date)

Please ensure that your child comes into school on these days dressed accordingly to the weather forecast in old clothes which you don't mind getting dirty! During the winter months it is important that children are wrapped up with multiple layers. If they are wearing an all in one they will need a coat for the afternoon along with a change of shoes. Please ensure that additional clothing your child brings in to school is clearly labelled with their name.

Open Invitation

You are always welcome to chat with me after school, or to make an appointment at the school office. We really look forward to working with you and your child this year.

Kind regards,

Miss Thwaite