Hedgehogs – Mrs Wrightson and Mrs Loney

EYFS Welcome Letter

A warm welcome back to spring term, we hope you and your families had a wonderful Christmas break.

This term the children will be looking at the question ‘What is our world?’ We shall start by jetting off into space with Baby Bear in the story Whatever Next. Over the course of the term we shall be looking at where we live and what we can do to support our local environment. This will be supported by the text ‘Somebody Swallowed Stanley’ which is a wonderful story all about a plastic bag. We are also planning a trip to the Deep in Hull to look at all the wonderful animals that live on our planet and research how we can support local conservation.

We have a very exciting term ahead.

Important information about this term:

• Please can all children have a PE kit in school all week. On occasion we need to swap PE days so it’s always handy to have it in each day. This is to include a pair of trainers or sandshoes and socks.

• In addition to a PE kit can all children also have a spare set of clothes in school.

• Checking Tapestry. We post lots of wonderful learning on there each week. We also love to see what your child has got up to when not in school, so please do upload pictures and videos. It is very important that you access Tapestry regularly and check the memos in order to keep up to date with information and messages.

• We sometimes have a story or learning time in other areas of the school. Please do not worry if we are not in the classroom. It just means we are busy in another area of the school.

• As we are progressing through the year we are encouraging our older children to become more independent. Please encourage your child to walk into the classroom independently and hang up their belongings.

• At the end of the school day we would now like parents/carers to wait by the small green gate. A member of staff will let your child out and you can come forward to collect them from there.

Thank you for your continued support. We look forward to another exciting term.

Mrs Wrightson and Mrs Loney.

Tapestry
Tapestry is an online learning platform that we use to communicate between home and school.
An account will be created for your child that is accessible by parents or carers and allows staff to post observations and photographs of your child learning and playing within the setting.

You will also receive information via memos therefore it is important that you check your account regularly to keep updated with forthcoming events and notices.

Downloading the app to your phone and enabling notifications is the easiest way to do this.

A typical school day
This is a general guide to our day as timings can vary. Group learning changes daily and
covers the seven areas of learning outlined in the EYFS framework.

AM PM

8:45am – Doors open
9:00am – Doors close- choosing time.
9:30am – Group work
10:00am – Snack (snack is available at any time)
10:15am – Group work
10:30am – Choosing time
11:40am – Story time
12:00am – Lunch

1:00pm – Check in
1:10pm – Choosing time
2:00pm – Group work
2:15pm – Choosing time
3:10pm – Story/singing
3:30pm – Home time

Fruit
A piece of fruit is available at each snack session. We encourage children to try the different fruits that are on offer.

Water
Your child will need to bring a water bottle to school with them. This is available for the children to independently drink at any time of the day. We encourage the children
to drink at regular intervals. The children are also offered milk at snack time.

Knowledge Organiser
Each term we will send home a knowledge organiser to let you know about the topics that we will be covering or anything new happening within our class. This will enable you to talk about the learning that is happening at school.  We will also keep Tapestry updated with all the wonderful learning happening in class, so please do check regularly.

School Uniform
Uniforms all look similar so please do label your child’s clothes so that they can be returned easily. Ensure footwear is suitable for practical activities. We encourage all children to bring a spare set of clothes to keep on their peg in case they get wet. This doesn’t have to be school uniform. We also request that children have a named PE kit in school.
FS1 children are not required to wear uniform but can so if they wish.

Belongings
Each child has their own peg to hang up their personal belongings. Please encourage your child to leave their toys at home as they are precious to children and we don’t want them to get lost.

Collecting your child.
Doors open at 3:30pm, please wait in the EYFS playground. If another adult is collecting your child please let staff know when you drop them off.

Please follow the link to the Hedgehog’s Knowledge Organisers.

Knowledge Organiser EYFS Hoglets Spring 2023(1)

Knowledge Organiser EYFS Hedgehogs Spring. 2023

This document gives an overview about what your child will be learning this term.

Please find some useful links to documents relating to the new EYFS Development Matters framework:-

DfE_Development_Matters_Report_and_illustrations

EYFS – characteristics-of-effective-learning-display-poster

EYFS_framework_-_March_2021

Welcome Chester – our School Dog

From time to time Chester the Dog visits school to work with the children.  A full risk assessment has been completed which will be available on our website. Chester is nearly 2 years old, a labradoodle (hypoallergenic) and belongs to myself (Mrs Owens).

There has been extensive research about the many benefits that can be seen by having a school dog.   

• Dogs teach children about responsibility – by children having to remember to feed and give water to the dog it can give them a sense of importance and satisfaction that they may not get from other responsibilities.  
• Dogs teach children patience – they do not always do as they are told first time!  
• Dogs teach children compassion – just like us dogs feel pain and emotion.  
• Dogs teach children about socialisation – by the children learning how to interact with a dog they can better learn how to socialise with other children.  
• Dogs are fun – they greet you with a wagging tail every day and put a smile on your face, even on a bad day. 
• Please follow the link to the Risk Assessment for this activity:-  Risk Assessment – Dogs in School- Sigg

Please follow the link to the letter which was circulated to parents/carers:-  School Dog letter