Welcome to Year R!

2025-26

In Year R, our teachers are Mrs Jandula (Class 1), Mrs Baker (Class 2), and Mr Tagarsi (Class 3). We are also supported by our dedicated Learning Support Assistants (LSAs): Miss Cameron, Miss Drury, Miss Speller, Miss Croft, Mrs Eldridge, Miss Wheeler and Mrs Howlett. 

If you have any questions, please get in touch with your child's teacher. If they are not around at pick-up, you can speak to them by phoning the school office and requesting an appointment.

Keep referring back to this page for regular updates about the children's learning. 

Curriculum Newsletters

Year R Spring 1 - Curriculum Newsletter

Year R Autumn 2 - Curriculum Newsletter

Year R Autumn 1 - Curriculum Newsletter

Update – Thursday 29th January 2026

This week, our focus book has been Norman the snail with the silly shell. We have read the book lots of times, and everyone thoroughly enjoyed it. We used Colourful Semantics to build sentences about what we could see in pictures from the story.  We then wrote the sentence to match the pictures. We also sequenced the story and made sure we used the words first, next, then and finally/last when retelling from our pictures. We learnt facts about snails and slugs, and what their similarities and differences are.

For our adult-led writing task this week, we gave Norman some silly shells and wrote a sentence to describe what we could see, e.g. He has a book shell, He has a boat shell. 

In maths, we have been exploring the numbers 6, 7 and 8.  We have matched pictures showing these numbers in different ways, e.g. six on a dice, 7 fingers being held up, 8 shown on a domino. We have also shown these numbers on a tens frame and number line.  We have ordered numbers up to 8,  and had to explain what number was missing when a friend removed a number without us looking.  We also had to say how we knew which number was missing, e.g., I knew 5 was missing because 4 is one less and 6 is one more.

In phonics, we have learnt the digraphs air and er, and the tricky words are pure and sure.  We have also been reading words that contain double-letter digraphs, for example, carrot, digger, letter, and rubber.

We have created lots of snails in different media.  We used our fingers to dot spiral shells, curled paper strips around a pencil to create 3-D shells and collaged.

Have an amazing weekend, and don't forget to post all your adventures on Tapestry.

Update - Friday 23rd January 2026

This week, our Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet story has been No-bot, the robot with no bottom. We have continued to use colourful semantics to help us build sentences, which has been really helpful for our oracy practice. We then used the sentences we had built and wrote them. We wrote labels and captions to describe pictures from the story, e.g. it was a hat, it was a boat.  The children sequenced the story, and we created speech bubbles for Gary the elephant and the rabbits.

We also explored real-life robots, looking at pictures of robots from the past, present, and future, and learnt about the important jobs some robots do.

On the art table, we have made a collaborative robot, made shape robots and explored folding paper in different ways to create different textures. 

In maths, we have been exploring weight using scales, objects, and cubes. We identified which objects were heavier and/or lighter, and then explained what we knew. We worked with a partner to estimate the mass of objects in cubes. We all explored capacity, learning about full, half full and empty. We then explored this using water beads from different-sized containers.

In phonics, we have learnt the digraphs ur, ow, oi and ear. We have also learnt the tricky words my, by and all.  

We have been reading in our small reading groups and practising our handwriting this week. The letters we practised this week were m, n, r and b.

Update - Friday 16th January 2026

This week our focus book has been Wanda and the Alien.  We built sentences using words and pictures, making sure we orally rehearsed before building practically.  We sequenced the story and looked at how the characters might be feeling.  The animals in the story were afraid of the alien because he looked, so we discussed if we should be afraid of people that are different to us.  We also wrote speech bubbles for some of the characters in the book.

In the art area the children made shape rockets to match the one in the story, they mixed yellow and blue to make green and created toilet roll tube aliens.

In phonics we have learnt the digraphs oo, ar, or and ur.  We also learnt the tricky words was, you and they.

We have continued to read in our small groups three times a week and practised our handwriting. Our letter focus this week was l, i, t, j, u, y. One afternoon a week we are going to use a year one class to practise our handwriting, this is a brilliant opportunity to start transition discussions and get the children comfortable with the classrooms. We will only be in the classroom for around 10 minutes a week.

In maths we recapped number bonds to five using double sided counters, we also recapped one more and one less to five. We also explored composition, looking at pictures showing different amounts of peas in their pods.

Update - Friday 9th January 2026

Welcome back, we hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.

This week we have started our Sue Hendra topic, and over the next 6 weeks we will be using her books to inform our learning.  This week, our focus book is Supertato. We have been using the book to help us practise our writing and reading. We have also had Supertato-themed maths and art activities.

We built sentences using stickers with pictures and words on, these described what Supertato was wearing. For example, each sentence started with a picture of Supertato, then the word 'has' and the word 'a, they then had to choose an item of clothing and the colour that it was.

On the maths table, the children had to find one less by completing evil pea challenges, capturing him in jelly like Supertato.  We also played a subitising pairs game, children had to turn over two cards and if they showed the same amount but in a different way, they won the cards, e.g. two apples and a hand showing two fingers is a winning hand.

The children loved turning themselves into tricky word games; they wrote tricky words on labels, stuck them to themselves and then played a game with their friends. I played as well, I read one of their words, and they had to read one of mine.  We changed the game slightly so that they could win the word if they read it correctly.

In phonics this week, we have learnt three new digraphs and one trigraph.  We learnt ai, ee, igh, oa.

We changed our role play into a Superhero headquarters, many of the children loved making their own capes and masks and becoming class superheroes.

    

Update - Friday 19th December 2025

This week, we have been learning about the Nativity story. We discussed why Mary and Joseph had to travel to Bethlehem, who visited them in the stable and why they had to hide Jesus from King Herod. The children all decided that he wasn’t a very nice man.

We have created our own nativity scenes, labelling them and talking about the different characters. We built sentences using pictures and words about the shepherds, wisemen, and Mary and Joseph, the children then read them back. We also created stable scenes using lolly pop sticks and drawing the main characters.

We have played lots of Christmas learning games, such as Christmas bingo and Christmas eye spy. We have also created snowmen, paper chains and Christmas trees to help decorate the classroom.

We enjoyed our Christmas lunch, which we ate while wearing our Christmas Crowns.

Thank you so much for your support during our nativity performance. The children were very excited to see all of you there and were so proud of themselves. We are all proud of them as well; every child was amazing.

We wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

         

Update – Friday 12th December 2025

This week we have started our Christmas celebrations. In Topic Time, we introduced the children to timelines, and they learnt what the words past and present mean. They also learnt about Christmas lights, and found out that before electricity was invented, they used to have lit candles on trees. The children did a sorting activity; they had to sort objects that used electricity and those that didn’t use electricity.

In phonics, we have been assessing already taught phonemes, decodable and tricky words. We have also been recapping tricky words and digraphs that the children have recently learnt.

On the cutting table, we cut strips of green paper, organised them by colour, and stuck them down to create Christmas trees. 

On the writing table, we have been writing captions for Christmas pictures, such as his big sack, his hot mug, his bells, and his red hat.

We have continued to practice the nativity play and look forward to our dress rehearsal in front of the Nursery and Year 1 next Monday. If you still haven’t brought in your child’s costume please do this as soon as possible, thank you.

In the tuff tray, we have been using numicon to find different ways to make five. We gave this a Christmassy twist by drawing around the five numicon and turning them into elves. Then we laid two pieces of numicon into the empty space, e.g. two and three, to show ways of making five.

We have been reading lots of Christmas-themed books and have loved seeing and sharing your Christmas-related activities on Tapestry.

Update - Friday 5th December 2025

This week, we have been reading Stickman and using it to inform our learning. We have learnt what a speech bubble is and had a go at writing one, writing the caption 'I am stickman, I am not a stick'.  We have done lots of tricky word practice and have played lots of games to help us remember them.

On the art table, we made our own split pin Stickman and drew our favourite scene from the book.  

In phonics, we have been reviewing plurals and specific phonemes we have learnt this half term. We have been completing lots of writing tasks during our classroom activities.  We have also been practising our handwriting, this week we have focused on the letters c and a, making sure that we use the formation phrases and that we are ready for handwriting.  Before handwriting, we make sure we are sitting up straight with our feet flat on the floor.  We then use the phrase 'pinch, pinch, pinch, flick' to help us pick up our pencil correctly. If you would like to practise the letters at home, please use the phrases-: c - curl around the cat, a - around the astronaut and down to space.  Please make sure they are forming the letters in an anti-clockwise direction.

We have been spending time practising our nativity, singing songs and practising our lines. All of the children have been practising extremely hard and have been making us all very proud. We can't wait for you all to see their amazing performance.

Update - Friday 28th November 2025

This week, we have been reading Monkey Puzzle. We have used the story to inform lots of our continuous provision activities. We have had a small world scene where the children could act out the story, taking on different roles and using their oracy skills to retell the story.

In art we enjoyed creating our own parrots from the story. We used feathers as paint brushes and printing tools to create our parrots. We also used our colour mixing knowledge, mixing green to paint frogs.

In maths, we explored one more and one less with numbers up to 5.  We also used part-whole models and numicon to explore bonds to 5. We practised our stem sentences to explain what we knew, e.g. 2 is a part, 3 is a part, 5 is the whole.

In phonics, we have learnt the digraphs sh, th, ng, nk, and the tricky words, she, push, he, and of.

We also had an amazing stay and play focused on handwriting. Thank you to all those who came.

Please don’t forget to keep reading and logging this in reading diaries.

Update – Friday 21st November 2025

This week, our Topic Time and writing were informed by A Squash and a Squeeze by Julia Donaldson. We looked at the front cover and discussed the title, author, illustrator and other information we could find on there. The children sequenced the story and drew and labelled their own story maps as part of enhanced provision activities. 

They also wrote captions or words such as: the jug, a jug and a rug, the man or fat hen. 

In Phonics, we have learnt about plurals and chunking up to read words such as naps or hugs. We have also introduced a new grapheme/phoneme z and new digraphs ch and qu. Some words we can read and write now include: zip, buzz, quick, quack, chip or rich. 

Our tricky words this week were go, no, to and into. Please continue practising recalling tricky words at home. 

In Maths, we looked at composition, finding, recognising and subitising numbers 4 and 5. Some of the stem sentences the children used to describe their reasoning were: ‘I know that two is a part and three is a part. I know that 5 is a whole.’ or ‘I know that there are 4/5 dots on the dice. I know it because I can subitise. 

Update - Friday 14th November 2025

We had another busy week in Year R. On Tuesday, we celebrated Remembrance Day. We had a special assembly during which we observed a two-minute silence to show our respect to the brave soldiers who protect our country. The children helped to decorate the classroom by making individual poppies, and they also worked together to collage a whole class poppy, which we displayed in the window. On Friday, we celebrated and talked about Children in Need. We have learnt what charities are and how we can support them. Everyone enjoyed lots of special Pudsey-themed learning jobs.
Our book of the week was The Gruffalo. Together we sequenced the story and made story maps to indicate what happened first, next and last. The children had fun retelling the story using the puppets and scenes they made. We wrote words and captions, such as ‘the big nut’, ‘run’ or ‘the log’, to label and describe a picture from the Gruffalo book.
In Phonics, the children learnt 4 new GPCs (graphemes-phoneme correspondence): v, w, y and x, as well as 4 new tricky words: and, his, has and her. Now we can write and read words such as: fox, van, yes, box, win, yap or wax. We have also practised reading phrases, for example: ‘a sad cat on the bed’ or a ‘fat hen on a hill’.
The children read in their reading groups and then had a go at practising their fine motor skills during structured handwriting sessions. Please remember to log on to eCollins to access the books assigned to your child’s account.
In Maths, we talked about circles and triangles. We have learnt stem sentences, such as: ‘A triangle has 3 sides. Triangles have 3 corners.’ or ‘I know it is a circle, because it has one round side’. The children used positional language to describe the position of objects. We practised on, between, under, in, behind and next to.

Update - Friday 24th October 2025

We have started this week by talking about Diwali and exploring the story of Diwali, as well as different ways that it is being celebrated. The children had a go at making their own Diva lamps from paper plates decorated with sequins and glitter, and at creating Rangoli and Mehndi patterns. 

Our story of the week was Funny Bones. It informed our writing, which meant that the children had a go at writing labels such as dog/ the dog, dad / big dad, bed I the bed, hat /red hat. We have also talked about body parts and the fact that we all have bones under our skin. We looked at some X-ray photos and tried to point to the same part on their own body.

In phonics, we reviewed and consolidated all of the phonemes and graphemes we have learnt this term. The children were busy finding and writing tricky words, building CVC words and reading and matching words to the corresponding pictures.

In maths, we closely looked at the composition of numbers 1, 2, and 3. We explored subitising to 3, meaning the children were able to identify an amount without counting. We have also explored what one more and one less than a given number was.

Update - Friday 17th October 2025

This week, the children learnt the phonemes f, h, b and l. The tricky word this week was the. The children had a go at reading words like red, hat, lip and fin. Everyone completed activities to consolidate what they had learnt. This included matching, cutting and sorting.

Our Topic Time book was called "We Are Going to Find the Monster." The children had a go at forming sentences orally and practised writing CVC words connected to the book.

Our Maths focus was on exploring simple patterns, continuing them, and observing patterns in the world around us. The children made patterns using concrete materials, pictures and completed some worksheets.

In the creative area, we made monsters using junk modelling. The children also painted different jars half full, full and empty. In the tuff tray, we made play-dough monsters, bringing them to life by giving them names and role-playing with them.

Update - Friday 10th October 2025

This week, we have started to celebrate Black History Month. We started by reading the book ‘My Hair’  by Hannah Lee.

We used the book to help us with our reading and writing lessons. Some children were able to write CVC words, e.g cat, dad, dog and pan. Others were able to hear and write some of the phonemes in these words.  We practised our oral blending and used colour semantics to help us speak in fully formed sentences. Colourful semantics is a colour coded system that helps children construct sentences by visually breaking them down into their component parts, such as ‘who’, ‘what doing’, ‘what’ and ‘’where’. 

We practised writing some of the graphemes we have learnt on the art table and writing table. Also, to help us with writing, we have been doing ‘Write dance’, which is a music and movement programme that uses large-scale body movements, which helps build a strong foundation for writing.

In maths, we have been focusing on capacity,  mass and pattern. We worked with a partner weighing objects and identifying which was the heaviest and which was the lightest.

We continue to practise writing our names, please encourage your child write lower case letters after their initial capital letter if they are writing their name at home.

        

Update - Friday 3rd October 2025

This week, we have been celebrating our similarities and differences.  We read the book 'We are all different', where we looked at ways we can be different, e.g favourite foods, colours, things we like to do. We learnt that it is ok to be different, and just because our friends like something doesn't mean that we have to.  

We have also explored different celebrations. We have discussed the celebrations that we take part in and what this looks like.

In phonics we have learnt new phonemes for the letters d, g, o, c and k, we have also learnt the tricky word 'is'.  We learnt that it is tricky because the 's' wants us to make a 'z' sound. We continue to use what we have learnt in phonics to inform classroom activities on the writing table, cutting table and the tuff tray.

In maths, we have been practising sorting in different ways and explaining our sorting rules to others.  We have also been identifying sorting rules in daily maths sessions.  We have been making sure we speak in full sentences when responding, e.g. these are the same because they are all green, I have sorted by colour.

Please remember to send your child in with their reading diary and library book on Monday.

          

Update - Thursday 25th September 2025

This week in phonics, we looked at the new phonemes i, n, m and d. We also revisited s , a, t and p. The children then had a go at orally blending words such as: sat, pin and tip. We also had a go at reading words such as tap, sat and sit. The children segmented and then blended these words. 

Our Topic Time focus was around the book Have You Filled a Bucket Today? We talked about how we can be bucket fillers (being nice) and what it means to be a bucket dipper (being unkind). The children had a go at sorting pictures into the right place, whether it was showing someone being a bucket filler or a dipper. 

In maths, we had a look at matching and creating sets of different objects. The children explored through our enhanced provision around this theme. 

In the creative area, the children created their own buckets out of toilet roll tubes, mixed blue and yellow to make green buckets and cut out stars to fill their buckets. 

The children did some more name writing, making sure they were forming their letters correctly, whether this was by copying their name, going over highlighted letters or by memory. 

Update - Friday 19th September 2025

This week in phonics, we looked at the phonemes s, t, a and p. We also practised being able to orally blend words like sit and pat. 

In maths, we began counting objects, matching numerals to pictorial representations and singing various number songs. 

The children had a go at writing their names and practising their letter formation. 

Our Topic Time focus was the book Colour Monster. We looked at the different emotions that we may experience. We spoke about how we can share our emotions by using our feelings display or talking to a friend or adult. We completed various activities, including sorting, matching, cutting and sticking, around the theme of the colour monster. 

In our creative area, the children have been creating a collage of the different colour monsters, making colour monster headbands and creating their own drawings around this theme. 

Year R also had their first PE session this week. We were pleased to see so many children being independent in getting changed into their kits. Just as a reminder, please could we encourage children to learn to change themselves, so the transition in the morning can run as smoothly as possible. PE kits need to be left in school as the children have it every Wednesday. The children can keep this on their peg along with their outdoor learning kits. 

Well done for an amazing week. Feel free to share what you get up to at the weekend. We love to see it!

       

Update – Friday 12th September 2025

Our first week has been a combination of fun and learning new rules and routines.

We have learnt and have been following the ‘Rainbow Rules’, which are important rules that are followed throughout the infant and junior school. I wonder if your child can remember any of them.

We have been learning about each other, and the children have been making new friendships. We used plastic knives and forks, and play-dough to practise our cutting skills to help us at lunchtime.

We have shared lots of stories, and the children have demonstrated good sitting and good listening.  The children have been practising writing their names and their scissor skills. If you are going to help your child write their name at home, please remember to write only the first letter as a capital and the rest in lowercase.

We have been playing games together, practising sharing and our social skills. We introduced the feelings display, and everyone had a chance to tell and show us how they were feeling and why.

Have a lovely weekend. Please don’t forget to send in reading diaries on Monday.

Thank you for your patience this week.