‘In the early years, children
enjoy exciting days of learning and discovery.’
‘They benefit from high expectations and
well-established routines.’
‘Children in the early years become confident, curious learners. They enjoy excellent
relationships with the adults.’‘A sharp focus on communication and language skills means
that children learn from every activity. [‘Adults set up the engaging indoor and outdoor
environments to promote learning and independence.’OFSTED 2024
Welcome to the Early Years Foundation Stage
Early Year Practitioners
Mrs Knowles – Foundation Stage Coordinator, Lower Foundation Teacher, EYFS DSL
Miss Balmond – Lower Foundation Teacher (Wednesday-Friday)
Mrs Wheeler – Lower Foundation, Nursery Nurse
Mrs Marshall – Upper Foundation Class 1, Teacher
Mrs O’Neill- Upper Foundation Class 2, Teacher
Mrs Stewart – Upper Foundation Class 1, Teaching Assistant
Miss Turner – Upper Foundation Class 2, Teaching Assistant
Miss Chambers- Special Needs Assistant
LION CUBS (Nursery)
Curriculum Overview For Nursery
Welcome to Nursery!
Throughout the year your children will learn through the following half termly units of work;
• Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?
• Can you have a lion for a pet?
• What makes me unique?
• Why is our world wonderful?
• How does Jasper’s garden grow?
• How can we look after the great outdoors?
This Half Term’s unit of work in Nursery
This half term your child’s topic is –Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?
Please click on the link below for more information.
Autumn 1 Curriculum plan Brown bear
Each week we will learn a new nursery rhyme in school, please support us by practising this at home with your child.
Please continue to use activities from the ’50 things to do before you are 5′ app. We would love to see what you have been getting up to if you would like to add your pictures on to Tapestry.
What is going on this Half Term In Nursery
Topic Launch: Rainbow pictures
Aspire session/Parent Partnerships: Stay and Play
Topic Finale: Autumn walk
Things to Remember in Nursery
Water bottle – Everyday
Spare clothes -Everyday
Please wear clothes suitable for sport (PE) – Fridays
Buddy the Bear goes home for a ’50 things adventure’ – Fridays
Lion Class (Reception)
Curriculum Overview for Reception
Throughout the year your children will learn through the units of work;
• What makes me Marvellous?
• What festivals are celebrated around our diverse planet?
• What is it like in Space?
• Where is Kenya and what is it like?
• How can I help Planet Earth?
•Who helps us in our community?
You can also speak to your class teacher for additional information.
Our unit of work this Half Term
This half term you child’s topic is – What festivals are celebrated around our diverse planet?
Please click on the link below for more information.
AUT 2- Diverse Planet Parent Curriculum Planning UF
Please find below our overview for PSHE Jigsaw:
Jigsaw Parent overview – Autumn 2
What is going on this Half Term
Topic Launch: Diwali Party
Aspire Afternoon/Parent Partnerships: Wakefield One Library and Museum
Topic Finale: Christmas Concert
Friday Afternoon: You will be able to pick up your child from 3pm to access our library. You can check out a book and swap it the following week.
Things to Remember
Please send you child with the correct equipment on the following days:
Every half term – £1 baking contribution
EVERYDAY – book bag
Wednesday – Homework is to be handed in
Friday – Library afternoon where parents attend. Homework handed out. Leo the Lion and Marvellous Me box go home.
PE kit- to be sent on Monday and to take home Friday
If you need any support or have any questions regarding how you can support your child’s learning at home or require further resources please speak to you child’s class teacher.
All about our EYFS at Hendal
The Early Years Curriculum
Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum (EYFS) Is made up of 7 areas of learning.
3 Primary areas of learning:
Personal, social and emotional development (PSED)
Communication and Language (C&L)
Physical development (PD)
4 specific areas of learning:
Literacy (Comprehension, Word Reading and Writing)
Mathematics (Number and Numerical Patterns)
Understanding the world (UTW)
Expressive Arts and Design (EAD)
Transition to Nursery
If you would like a place at our Nursery then please register your interest at the school office. We offer Morning and Afternoon sessions as well as sixteen 30 hour places. We are a 39 place nursery and pride ourselves on a successful transition for all children who attend our nursery.
The term before your child is due to start Nursery, Mrs Wheeler will contact parents to discuss an initial home visit and invite you and your child to our well attended FEET (Families, Enjoying, Everything, Together) sessions. The purpose of the home visit is for key staff to meet your child and family in their own environment. This early interaction is an opportunity to share your child’s areas of strengths and also any areas of difficulty or any concerns you may have. Following the home visit will be invited to attend our FEET stay and play session that take place in the Nursery so that both child and parent can familiarise themselves with the environment and the routines of Nursery whilst allowing your child to develop their confidence and establish trusted relationships with key staff.
During FEET sessions there will be visitors such as oral health to share key messages and also an exciting session where Karen Wilkin’s from Wakefield Library will share stories and encourage a love of reading right from the start! Staff will discuss with you the importance of attendance, support with any early identified need such as Speech and Language, toileting and self care skills.
Parent Partnerships
Parents are key to supporting all areas of learning by reinforcing what children have been taught in school. This information is available for parents on the weekly learning flower and the half termly parent plan.
We also welcome any opportunities for parents to share their skills and knowledge in our EYFS. We have enjoyed visits from parents for special religious celebrations that are important to their families. This is a key way to educate and develop children’s understanding of others religions, cultures and beliefs in a first hand experience. Please speak to your class teacher if you feel you are able to support.
We also value parent support for our half termly sessions where parents are invited into school, this can be for a variety of reasons such as an art gallery, dinosaur museum, craft mornings and our annual garden party.
Reading at Hendal Primary School
Phonics: Your child will learn to read following the ‘Floppy Phonics Sounds and Letters’ Programme. This programme is designed to support the rigorous and systematic approach to teaching synthetic phonics. The programme offers opportunities for multi-sensory learning. Our caring teaching staff plan exciting lessons to meet the needs of all individual children.
Keyrings: To begin with your child will have a letter sound key ring, this allows them to practise the letters they have been focusing on in class and to then develop their segmenting and blending skills so that they have a bank of skills ready to access a reading book.
Reading: Our phonics resources are fully integrated with our ‘Oxford Reading Tree’ scheme of books. These books include the well-known characters, storylines and illustrations of Mum, Dad, Biff, Chip, Kipper and Floppy the dog! Our reading books are organised into coloured bands based on the level of challenge and length of text. We have a wide selection of other books within the coloured bands to ensure children are exposed to a variety of texts with the intention of all children developing a love for reading that will ensure success in adult life.
Drawing Club
At Hendal Primary School we aim to inspire pupils to become skilled writers who are able to articulate their ideas through the written word. Through the teaching of Drawing Club, we will develop the early Literacy skills of EYFS children, specifically their ability to write recognisable letters, spell words by identifying sounds in them and write simple phrases and sentences that can be read by others. We aim to bring the child’s imagination to life and impact their confidence by providing the tools that can naturally lead children into the joy of not only writing but also reading and mathematics. Our main ambitions of introducing Drawing Club to our EYFS children is to open up the magic of story all whilst extending their vocabulary and developing their fine motor.
Mathematics
Communication and Language
We know that Speech, language and communication plays a crucial role in a child’s ability to access the world around them. Therefore we endeavour to provide opportunities and support for all children to develop their Early Oracy Skills.
All staff in school have had training led by ‘Word Aware’. This is a document that is used within the EYFS to ensure we plan and teach vocabulary and language at the right level to meet the needs of all children. Specific Word Aware training has been completed and staff have produced careful plans on where, when and how language skills are taught or what Vocabulary is used.
Our vigorous plans include opportunities to learn specific language in our Word Aware Lessons. Reception children also have a ‘Concept Cat’ lesson each week. These words are linked to our units of work and are sent home to parents on our weekly learning flower letter and also our ‘Fridge Words’ overview. We encourage parents to share this language with their child and expand by using in sentences, exploring the meaning in different contexts etc.
In EYFS we also plan Ambitious Vocabulary that links with the Pie Corbett texts available and shared in the class stories/texts linked to the unit of work. Again, these are shared on the weekly Learning Flower.
Staff have had training in Launchpad for Literacy and are aware of the keys milestones and skills children acquire when developing their communication skills.
On Entry to Nursery/Reception and at each term and at exit points all children are assessed using a speech and language programme called Wellcomm. Wellcomm is a speech and language toolkit that is designed to assess children’s speech and language skills. Not how they talk but the language they use and the language and grammar they understand. This assessment allows us to assess, plan and track to ensure we meet the Language skills of all children in our EYFS.
For some children Speech and Language Therapist referrals are made and we support parents/carers with this process.
Children are given the opportunity to develop their Oracy skills through Buddy the Bear, Leo the Lion and also the sharing of the Marvellous Me box.
Learning Environment
We are very fortunate to have a large EYFS setting both indoors and outdoors. We have a large Nursery environment, two Reception classes, a well resourced library area, a calming area for children to access, three outdoor classrooms and then a large outdoor environment that opens onto a trim trail area.
The areas are all well resourced and carefully planned for to ensure children are learning and making progress wherever they choose to discover.
Stories and books are promoted throughout the environment and children develop a love of stories through our exciting approach through ‘Book Club’ on Mondays, ‘The Magic of Story’ led the the English HUB and also our carefully planned texts that link to our curriculum. Books are everywhere and we encourage children to borrow from our library so this can continue at home too!
Please take a look at our bright, stimulating and language rich environment…
Links to the School Drivers
At Hendal EYFS your child will…
Watch a chick hatch from it’s egg and watch it grow for 2 weeks! The children will care for the chick’s needs and learn responsibility.
Develop entrepreneurial skills and understand the value of money by making crafts and selling them at our Annual Garden Fair.
Take part in exciting, stimulating school trips linked to our topics that include places such as Wakefield One library and Museum and Kirklees Light Railway.
Have amazing experiences such as a farm visiting school for the day and walking an alpaca around the playground!
Become a confident reader through our Floppy’s Phonics Scheme and develop their love of reading in our brand new library!
Enjoy a visit from a real life scientist during British Science Week!
Take part in Odd Socks Day where we celebrate our individuality and what makes us unique!
Enjoy our outstanding outdoor provision, playing together whatever the weather!
