Welcome

Welcome to our Foundation Stage at Ford Primary School!  We hope you find this information useful.  We are confident that it will provide you with a flavour of our Foundation provision. We have a very committed, enthusiastic and experienced staff team to support and guide your child through their Foundation years so that they reach their full potential.

We would love you to watch our Foundation virtual tour.  Please click on the video below to meet some of our staff and find out more about our unit. 

Welcome Booklet

Please see our Oak Class Welcome Booklet.  Tickles and Honey, our class bears, would like to show your child our Foundation Unit. 

Our Foundation Unit comprises of Nursery and Reception-aged children (3 -5 year olds.) Our Nursery children are in Acorns and our Reception children are in Oak Class.

Learning Environment 

Our unit allows the children in Acorns and Oak Class to move freely around during child-initiated playtimes, both inside and outside.  We benefit from having two large classrooms which can be partitioned for group times, a small learning room and an intervention room, in addition to our own kitchen for activities such as cooking.  The children have their own toilets within the unit too and there is immediate access to our Foundation outdoor area.  We are part of the whole school, so we make regular use of other areas in the school, such as the main school playground, the hall, and the library.

Our unit is divided into separate areas, including a home corner, a creative area, a ‘funky fingers' table and a construction space.  These places are carefully planned and resourced in order to provide the children with as many different learning opportunities as possible in their play.  Our Foundation outdoor area includes two tarmac areas and a small grassy area. 

Organisation 

We plan a wide range of opportunities for children to learn through fun, hands-on experiences and activities during adult-led group times each day and child-initiated play. We usually teach maths, writing and phonics each day in group times.  Other areas of learning, such as Personal, Social, Emotional Development or Physical Development are taught in group times too.  All seven areas are planned for during our fantastic child-initiated play, where the children have a choice of activities to play with to encourage the children’s independence and learning. 

The Foundation Curriculum 

We follow a framework called the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) ‘Development Matters’ that sets out the learning, development and assessment requirements for all children until the end of the reception year.  At Ford, we are currently following an ‘early adopter’ curriculum which will be mandatory in September 2021.  Please read the following letter for more information: https://bit.ly/3sjt47J

Please click here to view the EYFS Curriculum Development Matters from birth to five years which is clearly set out: https://bit.ly/3fauTQI

Our Topics 

Whilst following the ‘Development Matters,’ we also ensure our curriculum is child-centred and based upon the interests of our children. For example, from our observations and interactions with the children, if they have a particular interest in planets, we would plan a topic and related activities around this area. 

Topics we have covered in recent times include:

‘Oh I do like to be beside the seaside!’ and ‘Down at the bottom of the garden!’

We began this academic year with a topic called ‘Once Upon a Time’ based on traditional tales, followed by a topic named ‘Let’s Celebrate’ where we covered areas such as Harvest, Diwali and Christmas. 

Here are examples of our curriculum coverage for both Autumn Term topics: 

Autumn Term 1: https://bit.ly/2OTcYDn          Autumn Term 2:https://bit.ly/2NLnpYU

Our current topic is ‘”Animal Magic.”

We use our local community to enhance our learning, such as playing collaboratively at the local park, going on welly walks to the local allotments or learning about road safety on a walk around the area. We partake in educational visits to enrich our curriculum, such as exploring Mount Edgcumbe on the ferry, visiting Pennywell Farm and the Aquarium. 

Reading in the Foundation Unit 

At Ford Primary School, we consider reading to be an essential skill that will be a huge factor in ensuring success later in life. This is why we place a large focus on helping our children master this skill and become confident readers.  We use the Read Write Inc (RWI) programme to get children off to a flying start with their reading and writing. RWI is a method of learning centred around phonics.  Using RWI, the children learn to read effortlessly so that they can put all their energy into understanding what they read. It also allows them to spell confidently so that they can put all their energy into composing what they write.

When using RWI to read the children will:

• learn that sounds are represented by written letters
• learn 44 sounds and the corresponding letter/letter groups using simple picture prompts
• learn how to blend sounds
• learn to read words using Fred Talk
• read lively stories featuring words they have learned to sound out
• show that they comprehend the stories by answering questions

When using RWI to write the children will:

• learn to write the letters/letter groups which represent 44 sounds
• learn to write words by saying the sounds in Fred Talk
• write simple sentences

So that you are able to support your child's learning at home, please take some time to explore the links below to see videos and examples of how RWI is taught.

https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/reading/reading-schemes-oxford-levels/read-write-inc-phonics-guide/

On the following link, click the icon in the top-right hand corner of the film to see the full playlist including ‘What is Read Write Inc Phonics?’ and ‘How to say the sounds.’

https://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/find-out-more/parents/

Tapestry 

Tapestry is a secure online journal which records your child's learning and achievements during their time in the Foundation Unit. We make written observations, take photographs videos of your child throughout the school. Parents can also add their own observations of their child's experiences at home and out and about to share with us.

You can access this on a laptop or by using your iOS or Android device. 

Our Blog

Each week, we write a blog explaining what we covered during the week linked to the curriculum and all our fun experiences.  We also include a video highlighting photographs of the children. Click here to view our link to see our amazing learning: https://bit.ly/3lKyvdc

For ideas on how to help make your child ready for starting school, please click on the following link: https://www.pacey.org.uk/working-in-childcare/spotlight-on/being-school-ready/#parents