Miss Horne & Miss Highton
8:30am - 11.30am
As always, we are very excited about the school year. Our Foundation One classroom is bright and spacious, an ideal environment for children to explore and learn through purposeful play. The children are supported to take part in a wide range of learning experiences by the teachers and teaching assistants throughout the week. The daily routine involves children choosing activities and directing their own learning with the addition of some structured lessons including phonics, mathematics and literacy. This enables us to offer a balance of academic and creative tasks, both indoors and outdoors.
It is very important that children look at books at home and we ask you to share a story with your child every night. Initially your child will bring home a school book filled with a sequence of illustrations. This is to encourage your child to create their own storyline. Your child’s book will be changed weekly if you have shared this at home. Each week your child will also choose a ‘Reading for Pleasure’ book that interests or excites them. This is a book for you to read and share with your child. As well as this, in class we have daily D.E.A.R sessions where we share a text as a class. Over the week we look at the words, illustrations, authors, and answer questions all about the book.Â
Research has found that children in early years, who share stories and nursery rhymes with adults find it easier to learn to read. Please comment in the blue home-school diary about the stories you have read, as well as any other fun activities your child may have experienced outside of school. You can purchase a book bag from the school office.
In Foundation One we learn about representing number through displaying our fingers and making marks. We sing songs to help us remember shapes, and we count the shapes’ sides. We need to know all about numbers and shapes as we work our way up in school. Please support your child by looking for numbers and shapes in the environment. In Foundation One we often go on a hunt for numbers and shapes, but we want to hear all about what numbers and shapes your child has found out-of-school too!
Talk with your child at home. Ask questions about their time in Foundation One; ask about your child’s friends at school and how they make them feel; ask about the story of the week and what happens to the characters or the events in the story. In Foundation One we focus our literacy time around speech and language. Your child will be supported to give meaning to the marks they draw, to share their opinion on a story or event, and to use key words to recall what they have completed over the weekend.
We remind parents to label all items of their child’s clothing, especially jumpers and cardigans so that we can avoid lost clothing across morning and afternoon sessions. We are always grateful for clothing donations in Foundation One for times when children need changing. With this being said, if you can remember, please bring in spare clothes for your child in case of any little accidents.
Places are available in Foundation One from the term after a child turns three and we can add children’s names to our waiting list after their second birthday. Please note, Foundation One is open during the school term only and attending F1 does not guarantee a child’s place at school.
If you would like to add your child to our waiting list, please e-mail your child’s full name and date of birth and your name, address and contact telephone number to v.phillips@westparkacademy.co.uk. If you would like to arrange a visit, please e-mail with a date/time that would suit you.
Thank you for your interest in Foundation One – we hope to see you in school soon!
All Nursery age children qualify for 15 hours of free childcare, but you may be aware that the Government has extended the offer of free childcare to 30 hours for the children of working parents. At The West Park Academy, we have also decided to offer 30 hours to families who are not eligible but would like to pay for the sessions.
For a child to qualify for the extended entitlement free of charge they must fulfil the following criteria.
Follow this link to check eligibility:
We are also happy to discuss ‘flexible hours’ too.
For families who don’t qualify, children can attend F1 for the 30 hours by paying a fee of £10.50 per extra session. This must be paid at the start of each term. More details will follow if you chose this option.
Alternatively, we offer 30 hours full-time government funded places.
Parents may also be interested in our lunchtime club which can be added to your child’s daily session for £2.00 per day.
