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Early Years Foundation Stage

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  • Reception Spotlight - Spring Term

    Published 22/03/24, by Adam Gilbert

    What a busy and jam packed term we have had in Reception!

    In Spring Term 1, our topic was called ‘People Who Help Us!’ We kick started this topic by learning all about the people in our school who help us. Each class visited a mystery person in the school (Mr Myers, Mrs Kennett & Miss Granelli and Mr Hennessy) to find out what they do in the school and how it helps us. We then moved onto the Emergency Services with a visit from Police Officers from our local Police station and a Paediatric Nurse from St Helier Hospital. We found out lots of important information about their jobs and saw some of the equipment they use. We even sat in a Police Car and try on some pieces of police uniform. Wow! We ended our topic by learning about a variety of other people who help us in our local community including people who help us at night when we are asleep. We read the story ‘All Through the Night’ by Polly Faber.

    During Spring Term 1, we also celebrated National Storytelling Week and completed a variety of different activities about The Gingerbread Man. It was so much fun!

    In Spring Term 2, our topic was ‘What a Wonderful World!’ We started this topic with the help of Google Earth finding out all about where we live! We were fascinated to see our school on Google Earth and loved looking at different places of interest in our local community. Learning about and using maps was a big focus for us. We created our own maps learning all about a ‘Birds Eye View’ and we used maps to look for clues/rewards around our school. A big part of this term has also been celebrating special events such as Pancake Day, World Book Day and STEM Week! We absolutely loved having visitors into our classrooms for STEM Week and we were fascinated by their job roles. I think we were definitely inspired to become engineers from these visits. We had a science day full of science experiments and activities and working with Year 4 on the IPads for technology day was really useful.

    We loved welcoming our families into Reception for our ‘Mothers & Others Day’ and we think they thoroughly enjoyed our special gifts and song we sang for them. What another busy term!

    Every morning, we have continued to impress our teachers with our fantastic phonics! “Phonics helps us to read and to write!” This term we have learnt; 14 digraphs and trigraphs, 9 new tricky words, and we are now reading words not only containing these digraphs and trigraphs, but also longer words where we need to ‘chunk it up!’. We have continued with our ‘Let’s Read’ sessions in the mornings and have thoroughly enjoyed becoming more independent and fluent readers. There is a real buzz in the classroom seeing all of the children developing their love for reading!

    In maths, we have been very busy continuing to develop our subitising skills. Remember ‘don’t count, say the amount!’ We have also been developing a deeper number sense by finding 1 more and 1 less, calculating doubles and finding halves of a shape and of a number.

    In our PE lessons we have been working on our gymnastic skills in Spring 1 and our Dance skills in Spring 2. Developing our coordination skills to create different gymnastic movements was a little difficult at first, but with lots of practise, we got there! We have loved our dance lessons. We have been learning basic samba moves from Brazil and also basic Charleston steps from the roaring 1920’s!

    We have had a fantastic Spring Term in Reception and seeing the children continuing to grow and develop as learners has been amazing!

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  • Nursery Spotlight - Spring Term

    Published 15/03/24, by Adam Gilbert

    The children all settled back into Nursery life quickly following the Christmas break and did a super job of remembering our rules and routines. At the beginning of our Spring term, we had lots of new friends join us in Nursery, they all settled in well and quickly became a wonderful addition to our Nursery!

    Our Spring 1 topic was ‘People Who Help Us’ and we kick started this by having some great discussions about all the different people who help us and what it is they do to help us. We spent time learning all about the Emergency Services, focusing on Police, Paramedics and Firefighters. We spoke about what they can do to help us in an emergency and even had a go at matching the Emergency Services with the different scenarios. We have also learnt about the importance of calling ‘999’ in an emergency. We were lucky to have three Police Officers visit us where they told us lots of information and we got to ask them some questions too. Our favourite part was when we got to wear the Police Officers hat and sit in their Police car! We have also spent time learning all about the roles of a dentist and a vet. We especially enjoyed exploring our Veterinary Surgery role play area where we put all our knowledge of vets to good use and helped to make all the animals better. During this topic we were also very lucky to have visits from two of our Parents one of whom is a children’s Doctor, it was so interesting to hear all about the important work she does to make us feel better when we are unwell. Our other visitor told us all about her job at the hospital, we especially loved the video of the emergency helicopter landing!

           

    Our Spring 2 topic was ‘Once Upon a Time’ where we focused on a different traditional tale each week. We started our topic by reading the story of Jack and the Beanstalk. We enjoyed listening to this story, answering questions and joining in with the ‘fee fi fo fum’ chant! During our busy time, we were busy using our hands to mix blue and yellow paint together to make the colour green which we then hand printed onto our very own beanstalks, they look great! We were so excited to plant our very own beanstalks. We spent time talking about how we can care for our beanstalks to make sure they grow big and strong (just like us!) We also read the story of The 3 Little Pigs and retold this during our play. We were busy building our own houses out of straw, sticks and bricks and testing them out together to see which one is the strongest. We also created our own paper plate pigs and drew maps to help Mummy pig find her way to the 3 little pigs houses. We have also read Goldilocks and the 3 Bears, The 3 Billy Goats Gruff and Little Red Riding Hood!

                  

    This half term we have also enjoyed lots of additional enrichment activities such as National Storytelling week, Children’s Mental Health week, World Book Day and STEM Week. During National Storytelling week our focus story was The Gingerbread Man. We used our five senses to explore a gingerbread man biscuit (our favourite part was eating it, yum!) During our busy time we had fun creating our own gingerbread characters as well as using our maths skills to match the correct amount of pegs to the numeral on the gingerbread man. We loved drawing giant gingerbread men on the big paper and working together to decorate them. As part of Children’s Mental Health Week, we spent time talking and thinking all about our feelings. We practised recognising feelings by looking at different facial expressions and sharing times that we have felt different emotions and why we felt that way. The children enjoyed watching video clips from the film ‘Inside Out’ – they especially liked the ‘guess the feelings’ game that we played. Throughout the week we read both ‘The Colour Monster’ and ‘The Crayons Book of Feelings’ and spent time discussing the different colours and emotions from both books. During busy time, the children enjoyed completing a feelings sorting activity where they had to recognise the sad, happy and angry pictures and sort them to the correct emotion.

              

    In Maths this term we have been singing a range of number rhymes as well as practising our number recognition to 5. We have also spent lots of time practising our counting skills and completed activities where we had to match the amount of toys to the correct numeral. We have been learning all about how to compare amounts using the words ‘more than’ and ‘less/fewer than’ as well as developing our understanding of positional language. We have spent time reviewing our knowledge of 2D shapes by naming and describing their properties. In the Maths area, we loved tracing round the 2D shapes to see what pictures we could create. We then moved onto learning about 3D shapes which we have learnt is a shape that has three dimensions and is not flat.

                     

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  • World Book Day 2024

    Published 15/03/24, by Adam Gilbert

    Theme – Reading for Pleasure 

    Our entire school recently took part in World Book Day on 7th March 2024! This incredible annual event is a charity event held in the United Kingdom and Ireland on the first Thursday in March. On World Book Day, every child in full-time education in the UK and the Republic of Ireland is provided with a voucher to be spent on books; the event was first celebrated in the United Kingdom in 1998. 

    It is important for children to develop a love for reading as it helps grow their vocabulary and their understanding about the world. The closeness of snuggling up with their favourite book leads to an increase in self-confidence and imagination, and helps children gain a wealth of knowledge from the books we share with them. 

    To kickstart the day, the whole school were invited to the MUGA in the playground for a costume parade. Each year group had a turn to parade around the MUGA showing off their wonderful costumes of their favourite book character. Miss Brown and Mrs Garcia chose 4 winners! However, all of the costumes were absolutely incredible so thank you! 

    Throughout the day, we did a variety of activities. We wrote stories just by choosing random words from the thesaurus to determine, the setting, characters, problem and solution. It was lovely to see the imagination and creativity flow.  

    We made ‘loo roll’ book characters which was great fun! In addition to this, we had a ‘trade off’ where children bought in books from home they no longer wanted and traded them with a book they wanted. We finished our day by watching some ‘Masked Reader’ videos where we had to guess who was behind the mask. 

    We are immensely proud of all our students for their enthusiasm and creativity during World Book Day.  

    Let’s keep the love for reading alive throughout the year and keep those pages turning! 

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  • Children's Mental Health Week - EYFS

    Published 26/02/24, by Adam Gilbert

    This week has been Children’s Mental Health Week with the theme of ‘My Voice Matters’. Over the course of the week, we have been doing lots of different activities to encourage the children to talk about their feelings because ‘it matters!’ We ended the week with a dress up day where we all wore something to express ourselves!

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  • Paediatric Nurse Visit

    Published 21/02/24, by Adam Gilbert

    To finish our topic of ‘People Who Help Us’, Reception were very lucky to have a special visitor from St Helier Hospital. 


    We got to meet a paediatric nurse (Evie’s daddy) and  found out about their role and what they do day to day. We learnt that paediatric nurses look after children when they are feeling poorly both in the hospital and at their houses  (in the community). 


    We got to explore some of the equipment they might use including a heart monitor and we looked at their uniform. Thank you Evie’s daddy, we had so much fun!

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  • Storytelling Week

    Published 20/02/24, by Adam Gilbert

    Our entire school recently took part in Storytelling Week, from 27 January to 4 February! πŸ“– This incredible annual event is a vibrant celebration of the power that stories hold, reminding us of the joys of sharing them. βœ¨πŸ“š

     Stories have the remarkable ability to teach us about the world around us, letting us step into someone else’s shoes, encouraging empathy, and broadening our horizons. They also provide a means to relax and escape from the everyday, whilst nurturing essential literacy skills. 

    To kickstart the week,  Mrs. Ryder and Mr. Gilbert, shared an enchanting tale during our assembly. They then set a thrilling challenge for the children: to learn and retell a traditional story over the course of the week! πŸ“šπŸ“

     The culmination of this exciting week was a magnificent assembly, where each year group showcased their incredible storytelling skills. The performances were absolutely captivating! 

     Throughout the week, our eager students eagerly shared stories amongst themselves, and were treated to some mesmerizing tales from adults around the school. In addition to this, all parents, grandparents, aunites and uncles were invited in to school to read with their children and share stories.

    🌟 We are immensely proud of all our students for their enthusiasm and creativity during Storytelling Week. Their dedication to honing their storytelling skills was truly inspiring! 🌟

    Let's keep the magic of storytelling alive throughout the year, nurturing a love for tales that will last a lifetime! πŸ’«πŸ“š

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  • Police Visit

    Published 01/02/24, by Adam Gilbert

    Meeting the real-life superheroes that keep our community safe 🦸‍β™€οΈπŸ¦Έ‍♂️

    Our children in Early Years had an absolutely amazing day on Monday! They were thrilled to meet three Police Officers from our local Police Station. πŸš“ The excitement was contagious as they got a first-hand look into the incredible work they do to keep us safe.

    πŸ’™ The children listened with awe as our local heroes talked about their role in helping people in our community. They were fascinated to learn about different aspects of police work and bravely asked questions.

    But that was not all! The highlight of the day was sitting inside a real-life police car πŸš”, trying on a variety of police hats, and getting their fingerprints taken. πŸ–οΈ We could see the joy and excitement on their faces as they actively engaged in these hands-on experiences.

    We are incredibly grateful to the friendly Police Officers for taking the time to visit our school and make this experience unforgettable for our children. πŸ™Œ Thank you!

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  • Humanities Week - EYFS

    Published 04/12/23, by Adam Gilbert

    A Century of History - Humanities Week

    πŸ“š What a week it's been! Humanities week returned with a bang, diving into 'A 100 Years of History' with a rich focus on working historically. πŸ°πŸ‘‘

    Reception's topic was ‘The Royal Family’ specifically looking at Queen Elizabeth II and King Charles III. We launched our week by being historians looking at sources to guess our theme for the week. We then looked at images of Queen Elizabeth II and King Charles III and compared them. Our next challenging task was to create a timeline of events. During busy time, we have been drawing portraits of Kings and Queens, creating crowns, building models of Buckingham Palace, and getting ready for our Royal Ball.

    On Wednesday, we were very lucky to have the opportunity to join a drama workshop. We met Phileas Fogg who took us on an adventure around the world in just 30 minutes. We learnt how to say ‘hello’ in different languages and had a special mission to find the boomerang in Australia!

    On Friday, we showcased all of our wonderful to the rest of the school in the top hall. We then walked round to look at the other year group and found out what they had be learning about too!

    Nursery were super busy during Humanities week learning all about Queen Elizabeth II and King Charles III. We found out lots of information about them including about their childhoods, their families , their hobbies and the different important jobs that they do! We spent time looking at two photographs - one of the Queens Coronation and one of the Kings Coronation. We spent time talking about what a Coronation is as well as the similarities and differences we could spot between the photos. We enjoyed drawing pictures of the King and Queen and sharing our knowledge with the adults around us. We have also been super busy using our great cutting skills to create our own crowns. Phew, what a busy week! πŸ™‚

    Each year group's dedication to being exceptional historians was truly remarkable, examining primary and secondary sources with genuine enthusiasm and gaining plenty of knowledge. The week culminated in 'dress up as a historical figure' day and exposition, where all the children got to see what each year group had been learning about.

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  • Reception Spotlight - Autumn Term

    Published 04/12/23, by Adam Gilbert

    Welcome to the Reception Team!

    Miss Pearce (Peter Rabbit Class) – Miss Atkins (Paddington Bear Class) – Miss Smith (Elmer Class)

    We are extremely lucky to have lots of members of staff who support the children across the week in all three classes and have helped us to settle them in to Reception life.

    Mrs Roberts – Mrs Sutton – Mrs Kent – Mrs Bassey – Miss Coton – Mrs Vick – Mrs Salvador

    What have we been up to this half term?

    This half term, our topic has been Magical Me and we have spent lots of time playing and getting to know the children in Reception. We have had learnt lots about each other and ourselves including - our families, bodies, exploring our senses and bones! We have been busy exploring our new environment and building new friendships with our peers. Everyone in Reception has drawn their own family portrait to add to create their own family gallery in their classroom – it looks lovely!

    Every morning, we have impressed our teachers with our fantastic phonics! “Phonics helps us to read and to write!” This half term we have learnt; 20 new phonemes, 3 tricky words, and are now beginning to blend for reading and segment for spelling. In more recent weeks, we have been doing our ‘Let’s Read’ sessions and have thoroughly enjoyed looking at the books and talking about the pictures. There is a real buzz in the classroom seeing all the children engaged and their love for reading!

    In maths, we have spent time singing lots of number rhymes and becoming confident with counting to and from 10. Whilst following our ReknReks scheme, we have become familiar with the different Numberblocks and are now beginning to subitise numbers to 5.

    This half term, we have been really lucky to have Coach Lucy come in every Monday for our own tennis session, and we have loved it! We have been practising our ball skills and ensuring we have control over our racket through different games. In our PE lessons, we have been developing our gross motor skills by completing different challenges; obstacle course, jumping through hoops, throwing, and catching and balancing on stilts!

    “I like learning phonics and making my teachers proud!” – Rosa

    “I enjoyred reading ‘we’re going on a bear hunt’!” – Jax

    “I love making new friends here!” – Evie

    “I love maths, it is my favourite and counting all the numberblocks!” – Sebastian

    “I like playing outside and doing all my writing!” – Caleb

     

    We have had a fantastic start to our school journey at Aragon and our teachers are incredibly proud of all our hard work. We cannot wait to continue all our wonderful adventures that are ahead of us next half term!

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  • Tennis Lessons

    Published 11/10/23, by Adam Gilbert

    We have been very lucky in Reception and have had a coach from the Tim Henman Foundation come and teach us basic ball skills and control. Every Monday we will be having Coach Lucy come in to teach us some more tennis skills! Take a look at some of the action shots we got today! 🎾 Thank you to Raynes Park High School and Sixth Form for organising this opportunity!

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  • Healthy Me Week 2023

    Published 14/07/23, by Adam Gilbert

    Healthy Me Week 2023 returns with a bang! πŸ’₯ πŸƒπŸΎβ€β™‚οΈ

    ‘Inclusion’ is this year’s focus of one of our most favourite weeks of the school year. We kicked off the week with a whole school assembly on the field whereby members of staff completed an obstacle race but with one of their senses removed to show what it’s like to compete with a physical impairment. Children watched and cheered on their teachers and then were able to have a go at some inclusive activities themselves including seated volleyball, goal ball and boccia.

          

          

           

    During Healthy Me Week all of the children across the school took park in ‘Art in Action’ topic work. This varied from making foil people in action, drawing people in action using a variety of styles and also taking photos of people in action.
    Below is a picture of a collaborative piece of art work created by a single piece of foil for each person (some exceptions for the accessories) where the children learnt the art of folding, twisting and cutting to make a person in action. Using just their hands and foil!

    No photo description available.

     

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  • Reception Park Trip

    Published 13/06/23, by Adam Gilbert

    We have been busy learning all about Our Planet in Reception and last week we went on a Scavenger Hunt to our local part – searching for a whole list of things to find in our local area. We had lots of fun; these are some of the things the children said about our trip:

    • ‘I love finding sticks and turning them into magic wands!’
    • ‘We saw a squirrel and watched it climb and jump’.
    • ‘We saw dogs in the park, they were running and chasing! There were 1,2,3,4!’
    • ‘I found a stone, it’s a small rock!’
    • ‘I liked walking with my friends, it keeps us healthy’.
    • ‘I found the gate first on our list, we have to have gates to keep us safe and to shut the park field when it is dark’.
    • ‘Animals live in the trees and make dens and nests.’
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