Welcome to Foundation Stage

As we start another year here at Waltham Leas, it’s a period of settling in to a new class for your child, and to a certain extent for you, so to make this as painless as possible, we thought we’d share with you a few snippets of information, so you know what’s happening this term.

The two classes in Foundation Stage are taught by Mrs Larkin (Honey Bee Class) and Mrs Norman (Butterfly Class), who are supported by Mrs Hooper, Mrs Carpenter and Mrs Pinchbeck; members of our fabulous team of TA’s.

We strive constantly to make our Curriculum as interesting and exciting as possible for the children, following the expectations of the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum.

Our Topics

Once Upon a Time… Let’s Celebrate!

To support this learning, we have arranged:

An autumn walk around our village on Monday 14th October at 1.00pm

Sunita Patel from The Indian Experience will be visiting us for the day on Monday 4th November

We will be celebrating Divali on Thursday 7th November (we would like the children to come to school wearing multicultural clothing on this day)

We will be taking our special teddies/dolls to All Saints church for a naming ceremony on Tuesday 19th November

Reading It is important to establish a good reading routine with your child and we would highly recommend sharing a story every night as part of your child’s bedtime routine. Once your child brings home a reading book (around November time) we ask that they read at home at least three times each week and that you record this in their reading record books. If you could encourage your child to read for 5-10mins daily that would be amazing!

We will also be giving a range of homework to the children. This will support their learning in class, so if you could encourage them to complete it, we would be very grateful. The arrangements for homework in Foundation Stage are as follows:

Star Books- this book is to encourage reading for enjoyment. Your child will change their book on a Wednesday morning.

Weekend Challenge Busy Bee/Butterfly Books- challenges will be set at the start of each half term and the challenge books are to be handed in to class teachers at the end of the half term.

Sound Books- the sounds the children learn in our daily phonics sessions will be put into these books so that you can help your child to learn the sounds at home.

Word Books will be sent home at half term. These will contain 3-4 words each week for your child to learn to read.

Reading Books- towards the end of the term all children will bring home a reading book.

Dates for this TermSchool Photographs (individual)- Thursday 19th September

F.S. Curriculum Evening- Monday 30th September 5.30-7.00pm

Parent/Teacher Meetings- week commencing 18th November (more information will be given nearer the

time)

F.S. Christmas Play- Thursday 12th December at 2.00pm

Family Bingo Evening- Thursday 12th December 6.00-7.30pm

Grandparents Christmas Sing-a-long- Monday 16th December 9.30-10.30am

UniformAll children will require a pair of wellington boots to keep in school for outdoor learning.

One final request, we have already found some uniform around school, and have struggled to reunite it with the correct owner because there was no name in it. Please help us by ensuring that names are written in clothing, so that our Lost Property Box remains as empty as possible.

A reminder that Butterflies have PE on Tuesdays and Honey Bees on Fridays so the children will need to have their kit in school at that time. We ask that the children have outdoor PE clothes as well as indoor as some of the PE sessions during the year will be outdoors.

We hope everyone has a fantastic year; if you are unsure about anything, please contact us and we will do everything we can to help.

Mrs Larkin Mrs Norman