Foundation

We aim to welcome every child into a safe, fun and caring environment. We endeavour to provide opportunities and experiences that support children on their ‘learning journey’ to become confident, inquisitive and valued independent learners. A balance of carefully planned and child-initiated learning enables children to make progress from their own starting point.

Stimulating indoor and outdoor environments and a broad enriched curriculum allows them to achieve positive outcomes towards reaching their full potential. Embracing diversity and developing respect for one another are reflections of the positive values, attitudes and expectations we have for each other within our school community.

We strive to ensure that each child’s progress and achievements are shared and celebrated with parent/carers and within the school community.

Within the Foundation Stage Early Years Framework there are 6 areas of learning:

Personal Social & Emotional Development	This is a very important element within our school. Beginning by building happy new relationships with each other as children join from our five feeder playgroups into our 2 classes; welcoming in new children at different times during the school year; supporting children when saying goodbye to friends as they move to new schools.
Communication Language & Literacy	Within this area we encourage children’s speaking and listening skills, enabling children to explain their thought processes and actions. We effectively teach sound work, reading and writing, enhancing children’s love of stories and rhymes. We embrace children’s ideas and imaginations so they develop into motivated confident learners with positive self-esteem
Problem Solving, Reasoning & Numeracy	We encourage children to develop an awareness of numbers, shape and space. We use practical activities to improve problem-solving strategies for use in everyday life. We give children opportunities for discussion, investigation, explanation and to explore and extend a range of mathematical vocabulary
Knowledge & Understanding	We create opportunities to develop an awareness of the world around us – people, places, living things; past and present. Children investigate, design and make a variety of things. They can choose to use a range of equipment to develop ICT awareness and skills. We nurture positive self – worth and value within diverse communities and encourage respect for different cultures and beliefs
Physical Development	This ranges from mark making and scissor control to scooters, trikes and scaling gym wall bars and providing access to practise using a wide range of equipment to enable development of fine and gross motor skills. We promote positive self-image and highlight the importance of a healthy lifestyle
Creative Development	Offers exciting experiences to foster imagination and creativity explored through all the senses. Children are encouraged to respond emotionally and physically to varied visual and auditory experiences. They have opportunities to explore different media and materials to make representations of value and importance to themselves. We embrace and develop imaginative play and creative thinking

What goes on in Foundation Stage...

What happens in our outdoor environment

We love playing and exploring outside in our special Foundation Stage garden. We like making things, building, hiding in the hut, balancing on beams, growing vegetables, digging in the mud and lots more! Thanks to the PTA we’ve got new bikes, scooters and interesting objects to play with. We can’t wait for our new climbing tower to be put up just for us.

"I like playing on the bikes, it's fantastic"

Look what goes on inside...

Role play

We’ve had lots of different role-play areas from an ‘Emergency Control Room’ to an ‘Animal Hospital’. Two of our favourites have been exploring in the ‘Jungle’ and dressing up as astronauts to fly into space from our ‘Space Centre’.

We love PE!, We have worked together to create our own dances to music from Africa. We have been brave and learnt to climb high on the wall bars and ropes. Team obstacle courses and relay races have been good practice for our sports days.

Our teachers are so proud of how hard we’ve all worked, it was hard for them to choose who to be awarded the Head Teacher’s PE award because we all try so hard.

Special things we have enjoyed this year.

We spent an exciting day being ‘Duxford Detectives’ – investigating fantastic aeroplanes, helicopters, boats and submarines. We even built our own big wooden aeroplane!

“The games were fun and I liked the rocket.”

“It was very good because it was full of aeroplanes and helicopters.”

Green Week

During ‘Green Week’ Bob the Builder helped us to think about how to ‘Reduce’ ‘Reuse’ and ‘Recycle’. The National Trust came and helped us to make a really big natural sculpture in our garden.

Superheros day!

Superheroes and story characters day was a really fun day when we all dressed up and learnt about what makes superheroes and about how we’ve all got our own special powers!