The foundation stage is a very important year in your child’s education. We warmly welcome you to Ashcombe Primary School and look forward to working with you and teaching your child. 

Our curriculum
There are 7 areas in the foundation stage curriculum and these 7 areas are of equal importance:

The prime areas of learning

-      Communication and language
-      Physical development
-      Personal, social and emotional development

Specific areas of learning

-      Literacy
-      Mathematics
-      Understanding the world
-      Expressive design

For us to be effective in teaching we need to:

• Work in partnership with parents
• Use the children’s interests
  
• Create first hand experiences
• Make learning fun, enriching, challenging and playful.
• Give the children real problems to solve and scaffold their learning

Assessment
We will host a literacy and numeracy evening in October.

We continually assess your child’s learning through daily observations. During the year we will report on the early learning goals and characteristics of learning.


​The working day
We have three carpet times of approximately twenty minutes.

-      Phonics
-      Maths
-      Another for modelling activities, world and creative e.t.c.

 Three learning sessions which include:

-      One group working with an adult
-      One group taking part in a self-sustained activity
-      Two groups learning through self-initiated play

 There will be time for the children to break for fruit, milk and a story mid-morning.

 During the week we also include a P.E. session (in hall or outside), music, Jigsaw (P.S.E scheme of work).

Our school day finishes with stories and songs.

Mrs Byron, Mrs Bridge and Mrs Wilson
 

General Information

• We have an open door policy ​
  
• Please send in book bags  every day ​
• Please bring a coat (named) to school everyday​
• Please keep checking your child’s name is visible on any uniform​
• Please encourage your child to stand with you in the mornings and  not   play on the equipment that has been set up outside​
• Please don’t let them walk on the wet grass/mud​
  
• A pair of wellies (named) are now needed in school​
  

Phonics

• ​To  read  a word you need to  blend  the sounds together​                                                                                                              c     a     t  = cat​​
• To  write  a word you need to  segment  the word.​                                                                                                                          dog   = d    o    g​
• The first sounds taught are single letters, the first 6 sounds always taught are:    s  a  t  p  i  n  ​    ​
• Later in the year they will learn diagraphs  e.g                                                                                                                                 sh        ch        ee ​​​​

How?

• ​Use magnetic boards with letters so that letter formation is not a worry​​
• Phonic activities come home as we learn each new sound so that you know what we have done and can practise at home.​
• Sounds/letters are not taught in alphabetical order​

• We sing the jolly phonic songs and learn the actions​​
• We learn the letter names as well as the their sounds​​​​

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Helping at home

• Foam letters in the bath or magnetic letters on the fridge​​
• Eye spy with my little eye what begins with the sound…s​
• As you lay the table “can you get the m  u  g. (robot talk)​
• Let them be teacher. Pretend you don’t know the sound and let them teach you.​​   ​

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Sight word cards to support reading and writing​

• Sight words are words that cannot be sounded out e.g. was/here​​​
• Your child will be issued with sight word cards during the year (please keep in book bags and practise with your child at home) There are some useful ideas on the back of the cards to make this more fun!​

Sight word reading books

Your child will be issued with their first reading book which will be one that contains only sight words. ​
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Please….​

• Share books with your child.​
• Share the title and author ​
• Talk about the pictures.​
• Predict what may happen next.​
• Think how the characters are feeling.​
• Use finger under the text moving left to right.​​​​​

We will start your child on a PINK ONE STAR level book.​

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