Welcome to Foundation!

There are two Reception classes - RT and RHG.
RT's class teacher is Mrs Turner (EYFS Lead) and their TA is Miss Hinds.
RHG's class teachers are Miss Gutteridge and Mrs Hartley and their TA is Mrs Williams.
Miss Pearson works with lots of different children from both classes to help them with lots of different activities.

Mrs Green is our speech and language therapist who works with some children during the week.

Our email addresses are:

z.turner@woodgate.bham.sch.uk

s.gutteridge@woodgate.bham.sch.uk

v.hartley@woodgate.bham.sch.uk

PE will be on Wednesday mornings with our Sports Coach Dan. Please make sure the children come to school in the correct kit. If they do not, they will not be able to participate in our PE activities.

Here you will be able to find out about the recent projects and activities we have been involved in.

EYFS Timetable:

8.45 School opens

9.00 Daily Little Wandle Phonics session

Continuous provision, adult led activities and outdoor learning throughout the morning on a given theme

Lunch

Daily Mastering Number maths session

Continuous provision, adult led activities and outdoor learning throughout the afternoon on a given theme

Healthy/fruit snack and storytime/singing session

3.15 hometime

Early reading sessions happen 3 times a week

Thursdays 2.45 Parent Drop-In sessions

Friday pm Celebration Assembly

Home Learning

EYFS will send home a piece of home learning every Friday.  It will be in your child's school bag.  Please send the home learning back in on Monday morning.

The piece of work with cover a range of themes, subjects and genres.

Please read with your child each night (5-10mins) and please record in their reading record book.  This will earn them 'reads.'

Parent Voice

This is what parents said about their child's transition to school Sept 2023

“All of the information given and meetings were extremely helpful in helping my child prepare for school.  Email addresses are also useful for asking small questions.”

“Would recommend the school to other parents.  Brilliant school.”

“We are really happy with the support we are getting and Scarlett is getting in Reception.  Scarlett loves going to school and we have seen how far she has come on since starting in September.”

“Chester has had a fantastic start to his school journey and we couldn’t be happier with his progress.”

“Everything leading up to Amelia starting school was very helpful and made the process really easy.  Amelia has settled in really well.”

“We applied late in the summer for a place and the whole process was simple and straightforward.  Brooke has settled in really well and any issues have been dealt with perfectly and promptly by fantastic staff i.e. separation anxiety at the beginning of term and any problems regarding other children.  We never had a home visit but the taster afternoon was really good.  Brooke really loved it and I was able to see the class and meet the teachers.”

“My child has had a great start to school.  Definitely helped meeting the teachers before starting.  I think it’s a great idea and didn’t come as a surprise when he started.  Its good for parents to get a feel of the surroundings too.  Overall great experience and highly recommended!”

Pupil Voice

This is what children in EYFS say about school:

What is your favourite thing about school?

“My favourite thing about school is learning” Brooke-Leigh RT

“Doing phonics its so fun” Ollie RT

“Learning – doing phonics” Isla RHG

What have you learnt today?

"So what I have learnt – phonics I have learnt to read” Brooke-Leigh RT

“I have learnt tricky words – the then” Ollie RT

“Finger spaces and letters” Matilde RHG

“Learnt things with Miss Pearson and Miss Gutteridge – two words” Lucas RHG

Parent Drop In Sessions

Please join us every Thursday at 2:45 p.m. for Parent Drop In.  You will have a chance to see your child's environment ,work with your child on a variety of tasks and talk with the EYFS team.

Here are what some parents have said about the sessions Spring 2024.

“Such a great thing to offer, I have enjoyed seeing my child do different things each week.  Gives me a clear idea of what’s going on/the setting he’s in.  It’s amazing and think it’s the best thing for me personally as I want to be involved in his school life.  Great time to speak to teachers more 1:1 as well. Happy.” Aubrey RT

“I have enjoyed seeing my child in his school environment and how he acts with his friends.” Kenzo RHG

May 2024

We have had the exciting opportunity of visiting the ducklings that hatched in school.  We compared them to the chicks that hatched in spring.  

Teddy bears' picnic

We had a great time at the teddy bears' picnic.  The children explained how they made their sandwiches to their adults using key vocabulary.  Then they wrote a list of what they would take to the moon, just like baby bear in Whatever Next!  Thank you for your attendance, it was the busiest Parent Drop in session so far!

Number bonds!

The children have been using ten frames to record their knowledge of number bonds, using double sided counters.  

April 2024
The children are fascinated with our new theme this half term - Space!  They have dressed as astronauts, built rockets and beds so they can sleep in space.

Easter bonnet parade!

We were very lucky with the weather - the sun came out just in time!  All the children enjoyed parading around KS1 playground showing off their beautiful bonnets.

Story in a shoebox

Thank you so much for all your support in helping your child create such amazing stories in shoeboxes!  They were so creative and the children were so proud of them!

Living Eggs

The children had an amazing experience of watching the eggs hatch and observing closely the changes over two weeks.

All the children had the opportunity to hold or stroke the chicks and spent lots of time recording pictures and labelling them.  

March 2024

The children have really enjoyed the Drama sessions with Hannah from the Birmingham Rep Theatre.  They have explored all the Superhero stories and traditional tales we have covered this term.

EYFS After school club

We have started an EYFS club this half term. It is on Tuesday evenings. The children are enjoying a range of activities and crafts, including origami, clay, junk modelling, painting and working with a range of different materials and fabrics. Take a look at what we have made so far...

World Book Day

The children had a great time snuggled up with books.  They drew their favourite characters and found clues in the classroom to know which traditional tale they were going to retell.

Which traditional tale did the children find the clues for?

March 2024

The children have been sharing traditional tales.  We have been writing about Goldilocks and the three bears, The Gingerbread man and Jack and the beanstalk.  We have made porridge and planted bean seeds.

It is Parent Consultation day on Wednesday 13th March, please make sure that you have signed up for an appointment.

It was our Mothering Sunday assembly on Friday 8th March.  Thank you to everyone who attended.  The children really enjoyed celebrating with you.  

We can see two children being Goldilocks peaking into the Three Bears' cottage!

The Gingerbread man

The children made the Gingerbread man's house out of shapes and drew him to place inside.

February 2024

The children completed a Superhero during our fantastic finish.  They had a great time solving clues and rescuing Superdog from Evil Pea!  They also completed gross and fine motor skills indoors and outdoors showing us their super powers!

The children also made pancakes ahead of pancake day.  They really enjoyed retelling how to make them to their adults in Parent Drop In session and really enjoyed tasting them!

The children have also being using all the key vocabulary in their play.  Here is Ollie - he is hiding in his lair!

Pancakes!

Here are the children making pancakes and tasting them.

Superheroes!

Do you recognise your Superhero?  The children had a great time dressing up for our fantastic finish!

Home Learning Task

The children made their own Super Veggies!  Here are some that were made at home.

Soup making

The children made soup out of vegetables we had been observing from the story Supertato!  The children chopped and sliced the vegetables, mixed and watch the soup boil and simmer!  When they tasted the soup, it was "the best thing they ever tasted!" 

January 2024

This month we have been thinking a lot about superheroes, including reading stories such as 'Supertato'. We have made superhero masks and we have thought about which superpower we have...

December 2023

The children have enjoyed all the celebrations for Christmas.  They were all superstars in the Wriggly Nativity production.  The children enjoyed the beautiful Christingle service and  learning about the meaning behind the Christingle.

November 2023

The children have loved you joining us for our Drop In sessions.  Please come into school every Tuesday at 2:45 p.m. to work with your child.

We have celebrated bonfire night, Diwali and completed our Remembrance activities, ending with a visit to our school garden of Remembrance.  

The children have been brushing their teeth in school.  They have all taken home a toothbrush, toothpaste and timer.  There is a chart to record their teeth brushing at home, please return once completed.

October 2023

The children have been learning phonemes and tricky words.  They have been writing them independently using grapheme cards and chalk.  Please look out for the Little Wandle home learning sheet every FRIDAY so you can support your child at home.

We have been making shapes for spiders webs after sharing the story Walter's Wonderful Web!  Please look for different 2D shapes around your home with your child.

We had a wonderful time on our Cultural Celebration Day!  The children looked amazing in their traditional dress and had a great time at our Afternoon Tea Party!

September  2023

All the children have settled into school life well.  They come into school with bright and cheerful good mornings and are following routines well.

The children have been discussing their emotions and ways to resolve disputes.  We have really enjoyed sharing The Colour Monster book in class.

We have celebrated School Grounds Week and had great fun building our scarecrows - we won the school competition for the best scarecrow!  We also made bird feeders and observed the birds eating all the seeds.

We also visited the book fair.  We listened to a story from Australia and listened and played a didgeridoo!

Autumn

The children have walked around school looking for signs of autumn.  We collected many items and painted, decorated and made leaf men with them. Please look for signs of autumn with your child on the way to and from school.

Home visits

All visits have been completed and it was wonderful to visit all the children in their homes.  We are looking forward to seeing them in their school uniforms on Monday.  Here is the information you will need for their first week at school.

Reception start dates:

Your child will either be in mornings or afternoons for these days Monday 11th to Wednesday 13th and then full time from Thursday 14th September.

We will ensure that the gate at Trimpley road will be open for collection of children attending morning sessions at 11:30 a.m. and be open for the children attending afternoon sessions at 12:45 p.m.

Non-negotiables in reception.

Fastening coats.

Now the weather is turning cooler and wetter, could you please encourage your child to practice to put on and fasten their coat or jacket.  

Thank you for your support.

Outdoor Learning

Every week all the children will go outside with their designated adult. Children will be taking part in activities such as planting, observing growth, building, enjoying mud kitchen activities and experimenting with how water travels. 

Reading area

The children will be accessing the reading area, using story spoons, googly eye I spy's, story props and the listening centre. Sharing stories with your child is a special time and is a crucial part of them learning to love books.

Some useful websites 
Phonics Play:

https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/

We use this website daily in school to support phonics. The children love the interactive activities and it has a range of activities to support their learning of blending new sounds.  We love to play buried treasure, dragons den  and pick a picture games!

This link provides daily phonics lessons with a teacher that talks you through each sound.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP_FbjYUP_UtldV2K_-niWw/videos.

Oxford Owl:
https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/help-child-learn-age-4-5/

Oxford owl provides a range of educational resources and activity ideas for all areas of learning 

Websites to get active:

GoNoodle

Joe Wicks daily PE lesson

Jumpstartjonny

https://www.jumpstartjonny.co.uk/home

Cosmic Yoga

The children also enjoy https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/shows/alphablocks to support their phonics sessions.