It has been a very busy week in Ash Class with a very strong focus on Stick Man...
We've been retelling the story of stick man, building houses for stick man, making decorations for stick man's birthday party and generally revelling in Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler's brilliant story. Get yourselves a copy if you don't already have several in your house.
The children are making SUCH great progress in their phonics, they can confidently recognise larger sets of sounds and are starting to blend and recognise the words they come up with. Monty was one of my stars of the week when he showed me not just his achievement but also his great pride as he read through his RWI bookbag book. Well done Monty!
We have been busy builders in the outdoor area, painters in our creative area, writers, thinkers and singers. It's a busy life in EYFS!
Next week we will be finishing off our work with Stick Man by building him a tree house then moving on to another new text.
Well done to the children for another great week of fun and learning.

Do take a look on Tapestry to see all the wonderful photos of what your child has been up to this week. If you haven't managed to get onto Tapestry yet please tell Elaine in the office - she can help you get on board.

This week ahs been all about 'The Day The Crayons Quit' - if you haven't ever read this brilliant book, by Oliver Jeffers, you should see if you can get it from the library or bite the bullet and get a copy from the bookshop. It's one of Mr Finch's all time favourites. The book gave us lots of jumping off spots for talking, drawing and writing. You should have found a crayon puppet in your child's book bag tonight if it didn't quit and run off to make its way in the world.

Next week the children's learning will be based around Stick Man by Julia Donaldson and Axel Sheffler. The children will be venturing into the forest school area to make their own 'Stick Man' and making clothes for him. Sounds like a lot of fun.
The children's phonics work is just phenomenal at the moment - I see all the children accurately recognising and writing sounds. I see the majority of children sounding out simple words which gives them enormous satisfaction. I'm very proud to see some children starting to write consonant - vowel - consonant words by working them out themselves. This is a brilliant foundational skill and the fact that some of our children are choosing to do this independently as part of their continuous provision makes me very proud indeed.

We have been having a good old clear out in the Reception Classroom and trying to make the place seem more orderly and purposeful. To me it's feeling miles fresher and calmer already - huge thanks to Tina, Miss Pindard, Chloe Bennet and the others who have pulled a big extra shift to do this work - what a brilliant team. If all goes well there's goig to be something new and exciting in the EYFS area on Monday - I wonder who will be the first to spot it.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone - see you on Monday.
​Mr Finch, Miss Pindard and all the team.

 "Who will help me sow the corn?" asked the Little Red Hen. "Not I" said the Cat...
This week in Ash Class has been all about The Little Red Hen.

We have been making, drawing, colouring and writing all about where food comes from and how we prepare it and, on Friday, with huge excitement, we baked our own bread. I'm not sure who got more covered in flour - the children or Miss Pindard. Never mind - a huge amount of fun was had by all.

Let us know if you are seeing the content that we are adding to Tapestry - Miss Pindard is keeping that updated and we want to know that it's getting through to you.

​here are some photos from our week in Ash Class.

I have my fingers crossed that everything has worked out and that parents have noticed a flood of notifications coming into their in boxes as I know Ms Pindard has been working very hard to get pictures of all the wonderful work the children have been doing this week onto Tapestry.

Please let us know if you aren't sure how to access Tapestry or if you think it's not quite working.

Shauna Pindard joined us on Monday this week and has already shown what a hardworking and thoughtful teacher she is. We are very lucky to have her with us until our new early years coordinator can join us after Christmas.

The children have been engaged in great learning throughout the week - they are rocketing along with their phonics and looking through the comments in childrens reading records today I could see how proud so many parents of children in Ash Class are. The reading is really coming along at a pace.

Children have been thinking about Divali about about the Gun Powder Plot with the topic of Fireworks making a bridge between the two. Children enjoyed decorating biscuits to celebrate Divali - some of the creations looked fairly toothache inducing to me but maybe four year olds see things differently. It was a great way to focus on children's fine motor skills and, as they were busy with rolling pins to flatten out the fondant icing, it was great for their developing hands and wrists too.

There has been a great deal of very colourful painting going on this week too - my best white shirt may never be the same.

It has been such a pleasure for me, as principal to see Miss Pindard taking over the class with great creativity and confidence. Well done Shauna.

We have also welcomed Henrietta Johnston to the class this week. Henrietta has come into the setting with great aplomb and I know she is going to be a great asset to the school. Welcome Henrietta and Shauna.