Welcome to Early Years!
This is where the adventure of school life begins, and we are so excited to share this special year with our children and their families. In the EYFS, we create a safe, nurturing, and stimulating environment where every child is valued, supported, and encouraged to thrive.
Our classroom is carefully designed to promote independence and creativity. Children have access to a range of indoor and outdoor provision. Our learning environment is carefully planned to develop a love for learning and a space where children feel safe and enriched. We believe in learning through play, exploration, and hands-on experiences. Every day is filled with exciting opportunities for discovery — from building friendships to developing early reading, writing, and number skills.
In Reception and Nursery, children learn through the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework, which is built around seven key areas of learning and development. Together, these areas provide a balanced, play-based curriculum that helps every child grow into a confident, curious, and capable learner. Throughout the year we will be following a number of exciting themes to capture the children's interests including- people that help us, Growing and much more. We will also learn about lots of Celebrations, such as Diwali, Christmas, Chinese New Year and Easter!
We really value the learning and development that takes place at home too. There are several ways you can help to share this with us:
Wow Stars: Throughout the year we will send 'Wow Stars' home in your child's book bag. This provides the opportunity to record any significant achievements on the stars and share them with us by posting them back in their book bag, we will celebrate these with the class on the day they return.
Reading Books: Your child will bring home reading books each week - one to practice their phonics and one to read for pleasure! We change books weekly and expect your child to read 5x a week. Please write a comment in their reading record diary to help us to understand how they are getting on with reading at home. This will really aid us in supporting your child to progress in reading.
Social Media: We love seeing the children's achievements outside of school, as well as photographs of those invaluable life experiences such as family days out. Be sure to send them on one of our social media pages or through the App Dojo.
To help foster a love of books and storytelling, each child will have the opportunity to take home our Reading Scrapbook. When it's their turn, children are invited to create a simple collage, drawing, or photo page inspired by the story – maybe their favourite character, a fun part of the plot, or even a picture of them enjoying the book. These scrapbook pages are then shared in class to celebrate reading and inspire others to explore new stories. It’s a lovely way to promote early literacy, encourage creativity, and connect home and school learning in a meaningful and enjoyable way.
We value working in close partnership with families and are here to support you every step of the way as your child grows, explores, and thrives in Reception. If you have any questions/queries, please do not hesitate to chat to one of us during home time/registration or contact the school office. We look forward to a year of learning, growing, and fun together!
Miss Nicholls
At Willow Tree we pride ourselves in our partnership with parents. Parents have daily face to face contact with their child's Key Person and staff are always available to meet and greet in the morning and again at the end of the session. We hold regular parents 'Stay and Play' sessions and parent workshops. We provide parents with a weekly blog to show them what their child has been up to in school each day. Parents are emailed copies of their child's learning journey observations each half term to share with family and friends.
We promote healthy eating by offering a well balanced self-serve snack area including; fruit, savoury snacks, milk and water.
In order to get your child off to a flying start, there are a number of ways that you can help them before they start school.
Independence
Developing your child's independence will allow them to function throughout the day without feeling frustrated or overwhelmed.
Encourage your child to be more independent by practising:
- Putting on and fastening a coat
- Putting on/taking off shoes and wellies
- Toileting - the full works!
- Hand washing
- Using cutlery
- Carrying lunch
Personal Skills
During the day, your child will be interacting with lots of adults and children. They will need to:
- Share resources
- Take turns
- Wait patiently
- Listen to others
Physical Development
Providing plenty of opportunities for physical activity will develop their gross motor skills. Visiting local parks, having a walk to feed the ducks, using large playground equipment or visiting soft-play areas are brilliant ways of building confidence as well as skill.
Communication and Language
Develop your child's language skill by chatting to them as often as possible. When you are out and about, talk about what you can see, hear, smell, feel and taste.
Develop a love of Reading
By far, the best way to develop your child's vocabulary is by sharing books together. Look at the pictures together and discuss what is happening. Point to the words on the page as you read them and encourage your child to repeat words and join in with familiar phrases. Please watch the two short videos below for more information about the importance of reading with your child.
We work hard to develop a love of reading at Willow Tree, with reading at the heart of our curriculum. We use books to ignite curiosity and gain understanding of the world. At Willow Tree, we take every opportunity to read to the children. We are delighted to share some fantastic book recommendations for Nursery and Reception children. Please follow the links below.
'The Reader Teacher' - Visit this site to view 100 'must reads' for NURSERY
https://www.thereaderteacher.com/nursery
'The Reader Teacher' - Visit this site to view 100 'must reads' for RECEPTION
Best Books for Reception | Ages 4-5 | The Reader Teacher
Mathematical Development
Develop your child's awareness of numbers by singing counting songs or rhymes. Ask them to show you numbers using their fingers. When you are out and about, look for numbers in the environment, for example on doors, car registration plates or road signs. Follow the link below for some songs to sing together :-)
10 Counting Songs to Teach Your Kids - Empowered Parents
Topics covered in the Autumn Term:
Our work this term is based on the theme of Friendship and Animals.
In English we will be developing our speaking and listening skills.
We will start learning the letter sounds in our journey to develop our love of reading.
In Maths we will learn about numbers up to 5 and amounts which equal each numeral.
In PSED we will focus on 'being me in my world.' We will find out about our choices and feelings and will start to develop our independence.
In RE we will discover the Special People in our immediate lives but also in the world beyond.
In Science we will find out how we have grown and changed and we will explore the Natural World - with a focus on the Autumn season.
In Geography we will find out about the location of places around school.
In History we will compare school life in the past to that of ours now.
In Art and DT we will explore how we can mark make using different mediums.
In Music we will make music both in and out of doors.
