Learning in the Foundation Stage is themed around children’s interests, questions and the world around them. The children will enjoy carefully structured and purposeful activities, whilst being given lots of opportunity for independent play, supported by staff, both inside and outside the classroom.

Our annual curriculum framework for the Foundation Stage is taught through six, half-termly themes. It allows us lots of flexibility and freedom to be guided by the needs and interests of the children in our class. Please find the details of our framework attached in the downloads section of this page.

The themes for this academic year are:

Marvellous Me

Let's Celebrate

Amazing Animals

Terrific Tales

Wonderful World

Growing & Going

The themes for the Summer Term are detailed below:

Theme 1: Wonderful World (6 weeks)

The children will begin by exploring what the season of spring brings to our environment, looking at the new life we see and the changes in the weather. We will explore our school environment and go on a ‘spring walk’ to see what we can find! The children will explore colour and art techniques by creating artwork inspired by nature and, linked to this, begin to grow their own seeds and discover the important things that plants need to help them flourish. Our theme will continue with a wider focus on the planet Earth, and we will look at the places we have visited and where our families have originated from, making links and comparisons between communities and cultures. We will also focus on what we can do to look after our special planet, including re-using and recycling materials. As part of this, the children will experiment with floating and sinking, and design and create their own boats that float. As our theme continues, we will be rocketing off to outer space to learn about the solar system and the first moon landing. To finish off, we will be getting out our magnifying glasses to discover the hidden world of minibeasts followed by a final week of learning about people in our community and the jobs that they do. Keep an eye out for updates on some special visitors!

Theme 2: Growing & Going (7 weeks)

During our final term, the children will consider how they have grown and changed since they were born then link this knowledge to how other living things change over time, including the farm animals we will meet on our trip to Sacrewell Farm. We will research life cycles, enjoying first-hand the experience of metamorphosis watching our own caterpillars turn into butterflies. We will link our previous learning about growing seeds and our farm visit to look at how food is produced. The children will also have opportunity to cook and taste test their own food in the bungalow kitchen. Yummy!

We will end our busy year in Foundation Stage by observing the changes in our environment over the summer season, looking at the weather and linking this to staying safe in the sun. We will talk about where we might go on our summer holiday, learning about transport and make our own maps to show us the way. Finally, we will discuss the important journey the children will be making into their new class and help prepare them for this change. They will also take on the very important role of helping to welcome our brand-new Foundation Stage children, who will start in September.

This term, the children will continue to receive their 'reading for pleasure' book and their 'book bag books', linked to their learning in Phonics. Don't forget, reading for pleasure books are for grown-ups to read to the children and for you to enjoy together. Book bag books will match where each child currently is in the Read Write Inc. Phonics programme and the expectation is that they are read several times before they are changed again, to encourage fluency. 

During this term we will continue to focus on the weekly reading and then spelling of up to five letter sounds or high frequency words. Your child will bring these home in their orange ‘Words’ book. This is also of great importance to your child’s reading and writing development. Little and often is the key when learning spellings, so five minutes a few times a week is perfect.

We really encourage the sharing of books for enjoyment in school and we would like that to be continued at home. Regular practice really does make a huge difference to children's progress in reading, as does talking about what has been read with someone at home too. It would be great if you could share your child's book daily and sign their Home & School Communication Diary to let us know they have read, even if the book hasn't been completed.

PE will take place on Mondays and Tuesdays in the Foundation Stage. We would like your child to wear their PE kits to school on these days. The correct PE kit consists of: a white t-shirt, navy shorts/leggings/jogging bottoms and plimsolls/trainers for indoor sports. A tracksuit is an optional extra for outdoor activities when the weather is colder (we will not go outside if it is very cold or wet though). Please ensure that all items of PE kit, including your child's kit bag, is clearly named.