Flitwick Lower Flitwick Lower Flitwick Lower Flitwick Lower

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BookletBookletBookletBooklet

September 201September 201September 201September 2016666

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Dear Parents/Carers, Welcome to Flitwick Lower School Foundation Stage Unit. We are sure the terms your child spends with us will be the first of a happy school career at Flitwick Lower School. The intention of this booklet is to answer some of the day to day questions we have been asked many times by newcomers to the school to make those first few days of term as worry free as possible! Much of the information will of course be mentioned during the Admissions Meeting but with so much to take in, please use this booklet to answer any of your queries over the coming months. Whilst we hope this booklet explains most of what you need to know, we are always happy to answer any questions or discuss any issues that may arise. Please choose your moment though…small matters can be dealt with easily in the course of daily contact at dropping off or pick up times, but to do justice to bigger issues a pre-arranged meeting may be best - a unit still full of children is not always conducive to staff being able to give you their undivided attention! Finally, all that remains is for us to wish you and your family a new or continuing happy association with Flitwick Lower School. Yours sincerely

The Foundation Stage Team

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STAFF The Foundation Stage Unit is staffed by a team made up of teachers, nursery nurses and Learning Support Assistants. The exact staffing arrangements and registration groups will be announced during the Admissions meeting and arrangements may change in subsequent terms. However, please be assured all the Foundation Staff work closely together planning and delivering the curriculum, and all have working contact with all the children. Please consider them all as appropriate people to liaise with should you need to speak with a member of staff.

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE AT SCHOOL TODAY?”

“NOTHING!”

The Early Years Curriculum is set out in a document called ‘The Early Years Foundation Stage’ which forms the Foundation Stage prior to Key Stage 1 of the National Curriculum. The content of this document is designed as a spring-board toward the National Curriculum and helps the children develop confidence and skills to enable them to embark on the National Curriculum once they begin Year 1. It is not intended to shift children’s ‘formal’ start to school a year earlier. It is all about giving children an appropriate education for their age and stage of development. The curriculum is organised into 7 areas of learning all of which are important and inter-connected. Three areas are particularly crucial for igniting children’s curiosity and enthusiasm for learning, and for building their capacity to learn as well as form

relationships and thrive. These three areas, the prime areas, are:

• communication and language

• physical development

• personal, social and emotional development.

There are also four speci‰ic areas that support the three prime areas. The specific areas are:

• literacy

• mathematics

• understanding the world

• expressive arts and design Our termly and weekly planning incorporates all 7 areas of learning with a focus on the individual needs of every child through play based, hands on approaches to learning.

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Communication and language This involves giving children opportunities to experience a rich language environment, to develop their confidence and skills in expressing themselves, and to speak and listen in a range of situations.

Physical development This enables young children to be active and interactive, and to develop their co-ordination, control, and movement. They take part in a weekly P.E. session in the school hall focussing on fundamental movements of running, balancing, throwing and catching. Children will also be helped to understand the importance of physical activity, and to make healthy choices in relation to food.

Personal, social and emotional development This area focuses helping children to develop a positive sense of themselves, and others. It also provides opportunities to form positive relationships and develop respect for others. Children will also learn to develop their social skills and how to manage their feelings, better understand appropriate behaviour in groups and to have confidence in their own abilities.

Literacy Children will develop their ability to link sounds and letters and to begin to read and write. They are given access to a wide range of reading materials (books, poems, and other written materials) to ignite their interest.

Mathematics Through songs, games and practical activities children are given opportunities to develop and improve their skills in counting, understanding and using numbers, calculating simple addition and subtraction problems, as well as describing shapes, spaces, and measures.

Understanding the world This involves guiding children to make sense of their physical world and their community through opportunities to explore, observe and find out about people, places, technology and the environment. Our links with the community are very important in this area and we often take visits in and around the local area or enjoy listening to a speaker or performer in school.

Expressive arts and design Children have opportunities to explore and play with a wide range of media and materials, as well as providing opportunities and encouragement for sharing their ideas and feelings through a variety of activities in art, music, movement, dance, role-play and design and technology.

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BELONGINGS

Please make sure all your child’s belongings are named including items of clothing, lunchboxes and water bottles. Please send a coat with your child whatever the weather. They may need it during the day but staff are well aware that if it has been threatening to rain, the heavens are guaranteed to open at 3.25pm whilst you are standing on the playground and we are giving out those wonderful paintings! Outdoor learning is an integral part of our curriculum and we endeavour to make the most of our lovely outdoor environment rain or shine! Children may be asked to bring in objects from home linked to our current learning.

Please name anything sent in to avoid any upset or confusion.

Weekly P.E. session Your child will need a named P.E. kit in school at all times. Uniform information is provided during the Admissions meeting as well as being available on our school website. Earrings and other jewellery can pose Health & Safety problems during a PE lesson. All jewellery will need to be removed on PE days. To get as much out of our P.E. sessions as possible, children are encouraged to get changed as independently and quickly as possible. Staff are always on hand to help, but would be grateful if you could encourage independence at home too. Please do not rush out and buy trainers or plimsolls since our Local Authority (Central Bedfordshire) advises that children work in bare feet during indoor PE sessions except for health & hygiene reasons. Staff will let you know when appropriate outdoor footwear is required.

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Learning outdoors Additional items such as a sun hat, joggers and jumper, as well as a change of socks, are also useful to keep in school for any opportunities to visit the environmental area. If you wish your child to wear sun protection cream please apply some before school. Staff can encourage children to reapply at lunchtime if necessary. Please ensure your child’s sun cream is in a named zip-lock bag.

Please remember to name everything.

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TO AND FROM HOME At times we ask children to bring in certain things linked to our current learning, so if you get a message “My Teacher says we can take in ……….”, please give them the benefit of the doubt! Each Friday, a brief note goes home outlining what the children will be doing the following week, as well as anything special needed from home and other incidental information and messages. Children will also bring home ‘Learning Logs’. These are books with a general task to complete as an opportunity to support your child’s learning at home. Please return them on the date given on each task. The children wear aprons for potentially messy activities but glue and paint have almost magical properties of finding that one area of uncovered new school uniform! If this happens, soak the garment in COLD water and wash in non-biological detergent. Donations of reclaimed food packaging e.g. yoghurt pots, cereal boxes etc. would be gratefully received for our modelling and building. Please note that as a nut free environment, we cannot accept packaging that has contained nuts. Old clothes, buttons, wool, ribbon, discarded wrapping paper and any other unwanted bits and pieces can find an educational use in a Foundation Unit! So please do not bin them, send them in! Birthday invitations – Staff are happy to give out birthday invitations, but please put

first names and surnames on the envelopes! We often have several ‘Ben’s’, ‘Callum’s’ and ‘Megan’s’; sometimes the birthday girl or boy is surprisingly unsure of which child it is for! At the beginning of each half term we ask parents to make a voluntary contribution. This enables us to provide cooking and other ‘hands on’ activities over the half term.

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DAILY ARRANGEMENTS The Foundation Unit opens at 8:50am for the children to arrive and organise their belongings. The lunch break is between 11:45am and 1:15pm. School finishes at 3:30pm. At the end of school please wait around the edges of the Foundation Unit playground so that we can easily see all of you and bring the children to you. We will only

release your child to you or your nominated representative. If someone unknown to us is collecting your child, please let us know beforehand. Please ask any older siblings to wait for you on the main playground because there simply isn’t room for everyone in our play area. If you need to take your child out during school time please sign them out at the main office and then back in when you return. This is to ensure that in the unlikely event of an emergency, such as a fire, we have an accurate record of how many children are in the building. If your child is absent from school, a phone call to explain or speaking to a staff member is sufficient so that our registers are correct. If you wish to take your child out of school during term time you need to fill in a form from the main office applying for permission. Information regarding Absences from school is provided during the Admissions meeting.

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HEALTH & HYGIENE As part of the Local Authority School Readiness initiative, please ensure that your child is able to use the toilet independently, dry and clean themselves before they start school. Of course, we expect that accidents will happen and we are able to deal with these, and can support you and your child with any potential difficulties. We all want the children to have a happy transition into school so please make sure they are comfortable and confident in their toilet habits before they start. The only medications we are allowed to administer are inhalers and antibiotics. Forms giving staff permission to administer these are available from the office. If your child is taking any medication that needs to be given during the school day please first consider if they really are well enough to be in school and if you decide they are, please complete the form to give staff permission to administer it. Please note, we are not allowed to administer Calpol or any other painkilling medication. Please complete the general permission letter in your information pack from the Admissions Meeting which will notify us of any allergies or special dietary requirements. Please inform us in writing if this information changes so that we have all the information we need to keep your child safe at school. If your child has sickness or diarrhoea, please keep them at home for 48 hours after the symptoms have ceased. Head lice are part & parcel of school life unfortunately. Fads in treatment change so if your child is affected consult a nurse, pharmacist or doctor for advice on appropriate treatment and please let us know.

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LUNCHES AND SNACKS Every child joining Foundation is entitled to Government funded Universal Infant Free School Meals. Your child automatically receives this unless you opt for them to bring a packed lunch for their midday meal. Children also receive a free piece of fruit each day as part of a Government healthy eating initiative. However, if children wish to bring one in, such as fruit, raw vegetables or raisins, they may do so. Please make them as accessible to the children as possible: snacks ready peeled in a named bag or tub to put in their drawer. There is also an opportunity to sign up to the Coolmilk scheme at www.coolmilk.com which is also free until the week in which your child turns 5 years old. As a rule, sweets are not allowed in school. However, some children like to bring in sweets or little cakes when it is their birthday to share out at the end of school with their classmates. We encourage the children to take this treat home with them.

Please note that we are a NUT FREE School.

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READING BOOKS Clearly the resources we have in school are limited and to make sure they last as long as possible we ask that the children carry their reading books in a book bag. Canvas school bags are available from the school uniform supplier in black or yellow, and whilst more expensive than plastic wallets, these will probably last your child all the

way through the school. Please name these as there are literally hundreds in school. Some children like to customise theirs with a small key ring to help recognise it. Children have free choice of all the books we have access to. As their reading develops, they may be guided to choose a reading book to take home from an appropriate range. We are also very proud of our well stocked library. Our weekly visit enables your child to borrow a book or Maths game for one week. Please encourage your child to treat it with care and respect as you may be asked to purchase a replacement should it become lost or damaged.

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TOP TIPS FOR SHARED READING AT HOME Always read the book to your child first unless of course they clearly want to do it themselves. Remember to look at pictures, talk about them, try and draw a story out from your child whether it’s the actual one or not, read the story to them pointing at the words as you go, let them read it to you when they want to. When you child has a book with new or unfamiliar words, encourage them to look for clues as to what it may say. Look to the picture; look at the first letter of the word; what would make sense? Do not let them struggle; tell them the word if they do not get it, even after you have suggested some clues. Remember to use positive words of encouragement at every step! Remember: reading and re-reading a book is one of the early ways to learn to read. Do not worry if you have read a book ‘umpteen’ times, you are bored silly with it and your child seems to have memorised it! This is one of the first stages of learning to read and breeds confidence. Confidence is perhaps the biggest thing when learning to read. Never, never criticise a child’s genuine attempts; always look for something positive to say about their reading … hard, we know, when they have stumbled over the same word on every page and tempers are frayed! This is also why a little and often is best! We aim for all the children to enjoy reading, not to feel pressured or put on the spot and tested. We know as an adult how that feels! Try to make reading together a quiet, fun, relaxing, enjoyable and regular time. We know this is sometimes difficult with people’s busy lives but 10 minutes daily is better than 1 hour once a week and the progress children make with a little practice and often is almost guaranteed. Your child will receive a ‘home school’ record which needs to be in school every day. The inside covers of this will give some more hints and tips, but if you would like any guidance on helping your child with their reading please come and talk to us. We are happy to help.

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PARENTS IN SCHOOL There is a notice board in each cloakroom where we display any information that you may need to know or that we feel may be of interest to you. We also display some of our planning documents so you can see what the children are covering. Look out for Open Days where you are invited to view children’s learning. We like to see parents in school and are happy for you to come back into the Foundation Unit after we have let the children go at the end of each day. For instance, if your child is repeatedly telling you about something they have done, please come in and look; feel free! Your child will be involved in a Class Assembly during their time in Foundation. Class Assemblies are opportunities for the children to present their achievements and learning to the rest of the school and their parents. Parents will be informed of Foundation class’s dates in correspondence sent home. If you would like to help the children in school and could spare even just an hour a week, why not join our team of parents and grand-parents who regularly come in to help support practical activities with the children? We also need volunteers to help maintain and run our library. If you would like to volunteer, or are able to help in any way, please make yourself known!

If there is anything we have missed please come in and ask!

We look forward to working with you.

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FLITWICK LOWER FLITWICK LOWER FLITWICK LOWER FLITWICK LOWER

SCHOOLSCHOOLSCHOOLSCHOOL

Temple WayTemple WayTemple WayTemple Way

FlitwickFlitwickFlitwickFlitwick

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