Welcome to Foundation

“If children feel safe, they can take risks, ask questions, make mistakes, learn to trust, share their feelings, and grow.” ~ Alfie Kohn

In Foundation Stage at Green Park School we aim to create an environment where children feel happy, safe and secure and can learn in an exciting and fulfilling environment. In their first year of school we work with the children to ensure that they are well prepared and can gain the knowledge, skills and resilience they need for their school years ahead.

The Early Years Foundation Stage

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) sets the standards for learning, development and care for children from birth to five.
The statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage contains the legal requirements and statutory guidance which we must follow.
There are four overarching principles for the EYFS. These are:

• Every child is a unique child
• Every child is a competent learner from birth who can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured.
• Children can learn to be strong and independent through positive relationships.
• Children learn and develop well in enabling environments in which their experiences respond to their individual needs and there is a strong partnership between practitioners and parents or carers.

The statutory framework covers the education and care of all children in the early years including children with special educational needs and disabilities.

Learning and Development

Children learn new skills, knowledge and show their understanding through 7 areas of learning. These are broken down into prime areas and specific areas.
The 3 prime areas are

– Communication and language
– Physical development
– Personal, social and emotional development.

These 3 areas are essential as the skills in these three aspects underpin all other learning.

The 4 specific areas are

• Literacy
• Mathematics
• Understanding the World (this covers Science, RE, History, Geography and technology.)
• Expressive arts and design (this includes music, art, role play, story-telling, dance)

For children of this age, they learn through play. It helps them develop in all areas of learning. It gives them the opportunity to practise and refine the skills they have been taught in lessons, as well as helping them to become independent learners.

Your child will be encouraged to grow in confidence and independence and to enjoy their own successes as well as those of other children. This is achieved through the provision of many new and exciting learning opportunities for your child.

During independent learning time the children will have equal access to both the indoor and outdoor environments. These are both carefully planned to meet all areas of the curriculum and the children’s needs and interests.
We are very fortunate to have a large indoor and outdoor area that provides the following activities

Inside

• Writing
• Maths
• Creative
• Art
• Water
• Sand
• Malleable
• Jigsaws
• Reading
• Understanding the World
• Small World
• Construction
• Role Play

Outside

• Bikes/scooters
• Climbing frame
• Wooden blocks- various sizes
• Building blocks
• Den building
• Water
• Sand
• Maths
• Mark making
• Role play
• Reading

A typical day in Foundation

8.35-8.45 Doors open
8.45 Register and weather
8.50 Lesson 1
9.10 Independent Learning time
10.00 Lesson 2
10.15 Morning snack and story time
10.30 Independent Learning time
11.30 Lesson 3
12.00 Lunch
1.00 Lesson 4
1.15 Independent Learning time
2.00 Afternoon snack and story time
2.10 Independent Learning time
2.45 Prepare for home and story
3.15 End of the day

During the week the children will have 5 phonics lessons, 5 maths, 2 Literacy, 2 Handwriting, 2 Understanding the World, 2 PSED, 1 PE, 1 Music and 1 art. We will also visit the school library and woods.

Parent Partnerships

We believe that to make a child’s start to school a success the partnerships we have with parents and carers are essential. This starts with an informal meeting before the children start school in June. Parents are given a brief outline of what to expect in Foundation and it is a chance for the early questions to be answered.
Parents are then encouraged to attend the first of the three transition mornings we have in the summer term with their child. These groups are small and give parents the chance to talk to all of the team in an informal way.

In September home visits are offered to all children. We do not make these compulsory for all but find it is another way for us to support parents in the first few weeks.

At Green Park School we have an open-door policy. Parents are welcome to talk to parents on the door in the morning or after school and we also have an email that is monitored daily.
Our online learning journals on ‘Tapestry’ give parents an insight into some of the learning children do at school. We also welcome parents to share any home achievements on this platform and we enjoy sharing these with the children at school.

Special Lady and Men’s day at school plus encouraging parent helpers on trips also help to build strong relationships with the whole family.

Welcome to year 3 and 4

In Year 3-4 at Green Park School we strive to continue to maintain the happy, safe and secure environment created in the first three years of your child’s academic career. We continue to create a stimulating environment and build on the independence the children have gained throughout Year 1-2 encouraging them to take more ownership of their learning and personal organisation. We will continue to ensure that children build relationships with staff and their peers and are taught key knowledge and skills to build upon what they have already learnt.

We use lots of different approaches to learning, ways of recording and practical experiences to make our learning fun and memorable.

Learning and Development

In Year 3 and 4 children will learn new skills, knowledge and show their understanding in the following subjects: Reading, Writing, Maths, Science, History, Geography, Computing, Physical Education, Art, DT, PSHE, Religious Education, Music and French. Children continue to be taught each of these subjects individually.
For children in Year 3 and 4 lessons are typically 50 minute sessions with a range of carpet time, group work, independent work and then a plenary/summary of learning. Every lesson follows a pattern of ‘I do, we do, you do’. This means that in every lesson there is a teacher led ‘I do’ section whereby stories, key non-fiction texts, artefacts, videos and knowledge organisers are used to introduce and discuss new content with the children. Following this there will be a ‘we do’ activity often involving partner talk and questioning, sorting activities, practical investigations and exploring artefacts. Finally the teacher will model and support children to complete the ‘you do’ element which allows children to apply what has been taught through independent practice. This could be a practical experiment, written work, worked presented verbally, drawing pictures or using technology.

During the week the children will have 5 maths, 4 Literacy (one of which is an extended writing lesson), 1 Handwriting, 1 Science, 1 History or Geography, 1 Computing, 1 Art or DT, 2 PE (1 indoor and 1 outdoor), 1 music, 1 french, 1 PSHE and 1 RE.

Speaking and listening runs through every area of learning through our Oracy framework.
Throughout the week in our lessons we enjoy using different indoor and outdoor areas like the woods, the field, the daily mile track, playgrounds, and the discovery room. We also visit the school library.

Assemblies

Children in Year 3 and 4 attend whole school assemblies on Tuesday (Singing) and Wednesday (Whole School SMSC). On Monday we have a class assembly around a variety of themes such as British values, PSHE, RE or Social and emotional needs. Every Friday we have a year group assembly to celebrate our learning, daily mile achievements, at home achievements and present TT Rockstar and teachers’ Stars of the Week awards.

Homework

In year 3 and 4 we have homework each week. Each week there will be a piece of literacy homework comprising of Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar or a reading comprehension. We also ask that the children spend a minimum of 25 minutes on TT Rockstars each week. We also use the reading rainbow system in this year group but now the children begin to bring home a bookmark to fill out independently themselves however we still ask that the parent/carers try to read with their children four times a week.

Residential/Trips

In Year 3 and 4 we try to create memorable experiences to go with our topics including different trips. Some examples from the past have been farm visits, trips to places of worship, walks in our local area and Milton Keynes Museum. We also have the very exciting opportunity for the year 4 children to go on a residential holiday for one night and have a Wild Child experience.

Swimming

All year 4 children will be given the opportunity to have swimming lessons as part of the National Curriculum for this year and as part of our duty to ensure all children are able to swim by the time they leave primary school.

Music lessons

When children join us in year 3 they are given the opportunity to begin peripatetic lessons with the option of playing a range of different instruments including violin, guitar and brass.
Our Year Four children as part of their music curriculum take part in Bollywood brass where they all learn to play a brass style instrument and perform as a year group at the end of the year in a concert with schools across Milton Keynes.

Daily Mile

In Year 3 and 4 we do the daily mile everyday first thing in the morning. We see this as a fab way to start our day and focus on keeping ourselves healthy. We tally how many miles the children complete and then give out awards when they have completed half a marathon. The highest amount we have had so far has been six marathons in a year.

A typical day in Year 3-4

8.35-8.45 Doors open for morning work or reading for enjoyment
8.45 Register
8.50 Daily Mile
9.00 Maths
10.00 Story and Snack time
10.10 Playtime
10.25 Literacy
11.30 Whole Class Reading
12.00 Lunch
1.00 Science
2.00 Art
2.55 Prepare for home and learning champions
3.15 End of the day

Parent Partnerships

We believe that to make a child’s school experience a success the partnerships we have with parents and carers are essential. At Green Park School we have an open-door policy. Parents are welcome to talk to teachers on the door in the morning or after school and we also have an email that is monitored daily. Please do not hesitate to ask. No question is too small and we are always happy to support you and your child and work as a team. We have really enjoyed welcoming parents on our school trips, special days, to watch the many concerts we take part in throughout the year such as the Carol Concert, Rocksteady and Bollywood Brass.