Welcome to Chestnut Class – Foundation Stage
We are the youngest children in the school and the reception year lays the foundations for your child’s school journey. Our class teacher is Miss Kelloway. We are lucky to have Miss Quartly, Miss Weech and Miss Cullen as our full time classroom assistants.
We believe that all children deserve the very best possible start in life and recognise the fundamental role a child’s early years has in shaping the person and learner they become. We aim to inspire and engage children in learning from the very start and aspire for our children to become happy, confident and resilient learners, who approach challenges with positivity and determination. We want our children to be kind and caring, skilful communicators and aim to ignite their curiosity about the world around them.
In Chestnut class, we learn through a mixture of adult led, adult directed, and child led activities, both inside and outside in our wonderful outdoor space and school grounds. We love reading stories and one of our most exciting activities is helping children on their journey to becoming reading experts themselves.
Learning through play, is an essential part of the early year’s foundation stage. Our progressive EYFS curriculum is designed to lay strong foundations, so that the children develop the characteristics of an effective learner, as well as equipping them with the knowledge and skills to be ready to progress seamlessly onto the Key stage 1 curriculum.
Our overarching learning experiences cover the six terms but can also vary to include current topical events in society and to follow the children’s interests and fascinations. We have daily phonics sessions, and we listen to stories, poems or nonfiction texts every day. We enjoy spending time in our class book corner, as well as visits to our school library. The children will build on their mathematical knowledge through engaging inputs and activities. We develop our physical skills through both fine and gross motor activities and have PE sessions once a week. Each area of learning and development is implemented through planned, purposeful play and through a balance of adult-led and child-initiated activities.
We work closely with families in Chestnut class and share learning from both home and school using an online learning journal. We have an open door policy in chestnut class, so please do come and speak to a member of the chestnut class team about your child.
How can you help?
Enjoy reading as much as possible with your child- talk about the book and vocabulary. Play with your child supporting their imagination, language and communication. Encourage them to playfully explore numbers, counting and practical maths opportunities such as laying the table, weighing ingredients etc.
