Spring Term Highlights from Early Years

PRE-RECEPTION

It is hard to believe that the Spring Term is over, and we will soon be commencing the Summer Term. During the past few weeks, the children have enjoyed our growing and planting topic.  

This week, has been an extremely busy week for Pre-Reception and the rest of the Prep School. We are sure that you were as impressed as us by the children’s singing at the Easter Service. We would like to thank you for your support.  

Looking ahead to next term, we will commence a new overarching topic of animals. As you know, we run a two-year rolling curriculum in Pre-Reception. This year we will learn all about historic animals – dinosaurs! We have chosen some wonderful dinosaur story books but will also find out facts from non-fiction texts. Throughout the term, we will learn about herbivores, carnivores and omnivores; volcanoes and climate changes. Additionally, we will explore how these factors may have caused extinction, hold a dinosaur dig and learn some dinosaur poems.

PHONICS

In Phonics, we will learn the following phonemes (sounds): v, w, x, y, z and qu. 

MATHS

Meanwhile in Maths, we will continue to work on subitsing (saying how many without counting), 1 to 1 correspondence (counting a group of objects by assigning the numbers in order) and numeral recognition. In addition to these core skills, we will introduce the following: 

• Sequencing (Incy Wincy Spider, The Grand Old Duke of York, morning and bedtime routines and The Hungry Caterpillar)

• Positional language

• More than/fewer than

• 2D shape

• 3D shape

PSHE

Our Jigsaw PSHE puzzle is relationships. Specifically, we will discuss families, how to make friends and what to do if friendships are not working out.  

Finally, at Farringtons, we aim to foster a love of reading. The Pre-Reception pupils take great pleasure in listening to stories; as a result, next term we will be re-introducing ‘Secret Reader’ on Wednesday afternoons at 3:15 pm. The aim of this initiative is to show pupils that adults love reading too. To achieve this, we would like to invite parents, grandparents, or other family members to read a children’s story.

RECEPTION

We have had a wonderfully busy few days in Reception. 

Understanding the World 

This week we have been learning all about Easter. The children explored the Christian celebration and discovered the different ways people mark this special time of year. 

On Tuesday morning, the children took part in our much loved Farringtons tradition, the Egg Rolling competition. There was lots of excitement and cheering, and the children had great fun joining in. 

Following this, a big thank you to all the parents who were able to attend our Easter Service on Tuesday afternoon. We’re sure you’ll agree that the children looked wonderful and sang beautifully.  On a similar note, thank you for returning the bean diaries; the pupils enjoyed sharing their work and discussing how their plants have grown.

Phonics 

This week, we completed our phonics assessments with all the children. You will find a copy of your child’s assessment in their homework book. We are extremely proud of the progress they are making. 

Next term, we will begin Phase 4 phonics. Although this phase introduces no new phonemes, it focuses instead on reading and spelling longer words and learning some new tricky words. Over the half‑term break, please continue practising writing short sentences and revisiting the tricky words learned so far. 

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