Year R
Welcome to Year R!
As we approach some key events in the calendar, our current learning adventure is called 'Let's Celebrate' which we will launch with a party! We will be learning about how people celebrate important times in different ways and joining in with celebrations in school as we approach Christmas. The curriculum overview for this adventure can be found here.
Year R is an exciting year where we welcome children on their school journey. This year sees children complete their early years foundation stage with experiences within the seven areas of learning that they began within their pre-school settings. We value the importance of play both indoors and outdoors as a rich context for children’s learning in which they explore the world around them, practise skills and consolidate what they have learnt. Strong and meaningful relationships are formed between staff and children allowing us to plan for each child’s individual journey. We are a three-form entry school and have up to ninety children organised into class bases of Oak, Willow and Birch with family groups within these. These are:
- Butterflies family group in the Oak class base with Mrs Vidler and Mrs Atwell.
- Bees family group in the Oak class base with Mrs Worley.
- Ladybirds family group in the Willow class base with Miss Power.
- Dragonflies family group in the Willow class base with Miss Mitchell.
- Mrs Jamieson and Miss Bruce will be also be teaching within the Woodlands.
In addition to their class based experiences each week, children have PE twice a week where they will spend time in the hall or outside developing their physical skills. Children go on a fortnightly welly walk in the school grounds and have their boots in school ready to explore on any day throughout the week.
As our learning is personalised and generated by interests that the children share; activities and focus areas change on a regular basis. We have attached our Learning Adventure Map below to give some detail about our EYFS Curriculum and share with you some of the key texts we cover, amongst many others!
Year R Recommended Reads
Please use the link below to access a range of recommended books to share with your Year R child. These have been carefully selected to represent a wide range of age appropriate themes.
https://www.booksfortopics.com/reception
Here is a poster view of the same books available to download.
50 Recommended Reads Reception
Year R Termly Updates 2024 to 2025
Autumn Term 2024
We are all feeling a sense of belonging to our new classes after completing our first learning adventure ‘Belonging at Netley Abbey’. The children have settled amazingly into school life at Netley Abbey and we are so proud of them for learning so much about their new school. Everyone enjoyed a tour of the school and meeting other members of the school community. We were wonderful photographers taking photos of interesting places and people around the school building. We have shared stories about starting school and a book called ‘Super Duper You.’ The children have been able to tell us about their super abilities and what they can do. After listening to the story of ‘Once there were giants’ we looked at our baby photos and talked about how we have changed. We welcomed babies and grandparents into our classrooms to hear about life at different ages. In our key person groups we have spent time learning each others names and finding out more about each other. We wonder what you enjoy about belonging to Netley Abbey Infant School?
The curriculum overview for this adventure can be found here.
Year R were super explorers in launching our new learning adventure with our very first welly walk around school. We looked for creatures that live in the woods and found some mini-beasts and birds. In literacy we read the book ‘Who’s hiding in the woods’ and found out some information about woodland animals. We made our own class version of the book by drawing and labelling an animal hiding in the woods. We went on further welly walks to explore autumn and also completed our sponsored welly walk. Thank you to everyone who sponsored us for this, we are looking forward to adding to our Year R experiences. After reading ‘The Gruffalo’ we used different art media to draw the characters from the story. In P.E. we enjoyed taking part in a Gruffalo dance, using our imaginations to move through the Gruffalo’s deep, dark wood. When learning the story of ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’ we made and ate our own porridge, it was very yummy! Our adventure ended with a walk to Westwood with many of our grownups from home joining us to share some songs in the woods. We wonder how the woodlands will change over the coming weeks?
The curriculum overview for this adventure can be found here.
We look forward to updating you about our future experiences here.
Year R Termly Updates 2023 to 2024
What we enjoyed learning in Year R last year!
Year R have settled wonderfully into school life at Netley Abbey and we are all feeling a sense of belonging to our new classes after completing our first learning adventure ‘Belonging at Netley Abbey’. We are so proud of each of the children in how well they are learning about their new school. The curriculum overview for this adventure can be found here.
In our classrooms we have explored different learning areas and the activities we can choose to do in each one. We have enjoyed going on a tour of the school and meeting other members of our school community. In our key person groups we have spent time learning each others names and finding our more about each other. We have shared stories about starting school and a book called ‘Super Duper You.’ The children have been able to tell us about their super abilities and what they can do.
We celebrated what we have found out so far about our school with our families at our first come and play session. We wonder where you feel a sense of belonging?
We started our learning adventure with our very first welly walk around school. We explored what lived in the woods and found some different mini-beasts and birds. In literacy we read the book “Who’s hiding in the woods” and found out some information about woodland animals. Then we made our own class version of the book by drawing and labeling an animal hiding in the woods. We enjoyed exploring autumn and found out about the changes that happen. It was great fun playing in our own pumpkin patch role play area. Our learning adventure ended with the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears and making and eating our own porridge which was very tasty and great fun!
The curriculum overview for this adventure can be found here.
We have had a great time learning about Nursery Rhymes this half term. There have been lots of highlights. We started our learning with books based on two winter rhymes. We had fun playing in the snow foam, and it actually snowed, just a little, on the same day. Mrs Power came and taught us the makaton signs for some nursery rhymes, including Miss Polly had a dolly. We all enjoyed making up our own version of this rhyme, changing Miss Polly to ourselves and the dolly to one animal / character. We have also had STEM week this half term. During our come and play sessions we made London bridge, boats that could float and rainbows from Lego/Duplo among other things. Our Visitors during STEM week taught us about bacteria and allergies. It was very interesting and we all learnt something new. Thank you to them for giving up their time to come and talk to us and preparing great presentations.
Our Nursery Rhyme adventure ended with us dressing up as a character and recording our favourite rhymes as well as a nursery rhyme parade.
The curriculum overview for this adventure can be found here.
During this adventure we have listened to traditional tales where characters run, including ‘The Three Little Pigs’ and ‘The Gingerbread Man’. We retold the stories, sequenced the main events and wrote down our ideas. On a local area walk we looked for houses that would be strong enough for the pigs to move into and in class we explored materials we cold huff and puff like the wolf. We loved helping the little old lady by baking some new gingerbread man biscuits and even wrote down instructions for how we made them. In a different version of the story the Gingerbread Man manages to get away and we thought about where he may run to. He had been exercising to keep fit so we discussed ways the other characters could stay healthy to be able to catch the Gingerbread Man next time. In maths we found different ways to create numbers such as seven being made from six and one or five and two. We looked at the staircase pattern when towers of amounts are placed next to each other. We celebrated World Book Day in school through dressing up as inspiring characters and thought about stories Jesus told as part of our R.E. learning.
We wonder which books you enjoy sharing at home?
The curriculum overview for this adventure can be found here.
We launched our new adventure with a trip to Sir Harold Hillier Gardens and enjoyed seeing what was growing there. We hunted for mini-beasts under the trees and in ponds, we looked for items that do not grow in a garden and loved our coach ride! Everyone planted their own sunflower seed to take home for a sunflower competition. We thought about what a plant needs to grow and wrote instructions to share what we did. After receiving a police report about Hefty Hugh and Lanky Len we visited the farmyard crime scene from ‘What the ladybird heard’ and wrote our own riddles about the animals from the farm. Caterpillars arrived in the classroom and we watched them change into butterflies before watching them fly as we released them. We celebrated World Bee Day by dressing up as mini-beasts and sharing our country dancing on the playground and looking for the mini-beasts that live in the school grounds. We used clay to create our own mini-beasts adding details such as wings and antennae. Using our number knowledge we shared mini-beasts between leaves, making sure the groups were equal. We wonder what you have noticed growing in the world around you?
The curriculum overview for this adventure can be found here.
In sports week, we enjoyed doing yoga, gymnastics and had a great sports day! Thank you to everyone who came to support us.
