Welcome to Robins Class!

The Petham journey begins with the smallest members of our school in Robin’s class and what fun we have! Throughout the year we delve into 6 learning journeys including:

• All About Me!
• Terrific Tales
• Ticket to ride
• Amazing Animals
• Outside We Go
• Fun at the Seaside

We aim to create an exciting and engaging curriculum which  fosters young children’s natural curiosity and love of learning. We  are very lucky to have such beautiful grounds at Petham and we  have daily opportunities to learn outdoors.

In Robins Class we learn through play with the support of our caring and experienced staff who help to develop and encourage the children’s ideas, explorations and new friendships. Our children are encouraged to be problem solvers, independent thinkers and confident learners. We work closely with our parents so that we can develop your child’s education together. Our main aim is to ensure your child is happy and has a positive and exciting learning experience at our school.

The Early Years Foundation Stage

The learning in Robins Class follows the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). If you would like to view the Development Matters curriculum, please click here. 

There are seven areas of development which the children will be assessed against throughout the year. Children are expected to achieve a 'Good Level of Development' (GLD) by the end of  the school year.

This is achieved by meeting the Early Learning Goals (ELG's) which can be seen below. 

A link to the full Early Years Profile can be found below. 

If you would like to read our Intent, Implementation, Impact statement then please click here. 

Our Learning

Term 5

This term we will be exploring the great outdoors, the creatures that live there and all the wonderful plants and flowers which grow. We will begin the term by reading non-fiction texts to find out information about minibeasts and discover why they are so marvellous! We will also have some little caterpillars of our own to care for. The Robins will also be planting seeds throughout to learn how to care for them independently and we will be learning some basic parts of plants and what they are used for.

Term 4

This term we will be exploring amazing animals near and far. We are going to learn about common British Wildlife, and our own pets, and compare these to animals that call the jungle their home and animals that are found in Australia. We will learn what habitats are, how they are different and how animals have amazingly adapted to their environments. We will also explore nocturnal animals, conservation and the work of Sir David Attenborough.  

Term 3

This term we will be exploring transport, travel and space. We will be learning about different types of transport such as buses, cars, planes and trains and comparing modern transport to that of the past. We will also be learning about a two countries that are different to our own, France and China, and comparing their traditions to our own. To begin the term, we will adventure into space where we will explore the planets, aliens and famous astronauts.

Term 2

This term our learning journey is 'Terrific Tales' where we will be reading lots of lovely traditional tales before the build up to Christmas. We will learn about favourite book characters, settings and creating our own too! We will spend some time rehearsing for our Nativity performances too, we're really looking forward to inviting our parents and carers into school to show off all of our hard work. 

Term 1

This term our learning journey is 'All About Me' where we will be focusing on settling into our new classroom and school environment and we will be spending lots of time getting to know our new class friends in Robins and our new teachers. We will look at similarities and differences between ourselves, and our lives, compared to our friends and we will learn that it is wonderful to be unique and to have our own special qualities.

Please see our Topic Webs below. 

Phonics and Early Reading

 We will be teaching phonics and reading through Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised. It is a complete systematic synthetic phonics programme (SSP) developed for schools by schools. Based on the original Letters and Sounds, it has been extensively revised to provide a complete teaching programme.

Phase 1 is taught throughout Nursery and school through the use of listening games. This phase is aimed at developing children’s ability to distinguish between different sounds as well as being able to form sounds.

In Phase 2 and Phase 3, letters and their sounds are introduced one at a time. A set of grapheme is taught each week, in the following sequence:

Autumn Term 1: s a t p i n m d g o c k ck e u r h b f l

Autumn Term 2: ff ll ss j v w x y z zz qu ch sh th ng nk

Spring Term 1: ai ee igh oa oo oo ar or ur ow oi ear air  er

As soon as each set of graphemes is introduced, children will be encouraged to use their knowledge of the letter sounds to blend and sound out words. For example, they will learn to blend the sounds s-a-t to make the word sat. They will also start learning to segment words. For example, they might be asked to find the letter sounds that make the word tap from a small selection of magnetic letters. 

When teaching phonics we teach children the pure sounds. For example, instead of saying the letter name like ‘em’ for M or ‘muh’ we teach the sound /m/. This then supports the children when reading as they will be able to correctly sound out the word to blend the sounds together to read the word.

If you would like to hear the pronunciation of each sound for the first term please see the video links below.

During Term 1, we will be running a Phonics Parent's Workshop to introduce you to Little Wandle SSP.    

Phase 2 Autumn 1 Pronunciation 

Phase 2 Autumn 2 Pronunciation

Phase 3 Spring 1 Pronunciation

Mathematics

In Maths we explore numbers, shape, space and measures. Throughout the year we will be building strong mathematical foundations for number, starting on numbers to 5. 

Our teacher led Maths sessions will include sorting, matching and comparing activities. We will use rhymes and games to support our  understanding of numbers to 5, alongside learning how to compare, compose and represent these numbers. We will also explore positional language, measurements and shapes. 

Child initiated play

The EYFS curriculum places great emphasis on the impact of play and how this supports a child’s learning and development. We have child initiated sessions in both the morning and the afternoon for children to develop their knowledge and understanding of the world, technological skills, communication and language, speaking and listening, building and developing relationships, expressive arts and imagination. This time consolidates a child’s understanding and allows them to put their skills in to practice and develop them independently. Having the freedom to follow their own interests will develop critical thinking, decision making, narrative and extend relationships as children play together.

Tapestry

At Petham we use Tapestry to record your child's learning and development. Tapestry is a fantastic way for you to share your child's achievements from home with us too, we love seeing the activities you do at home and it makes the children so proud to share these with their  friends in the classroom. We frequently use Tapestry to post important updates about events happening in school too so please check your account regularly! If you ever need any support with Tapestry please get in touch.

Other information

In Robins Class our PE day is Monday. Please ensure the children wear their PE kits to school.

If you have any further questions or concerns please speak to a member of the EYFS team. We are always available at pick-up times. You can also phone or email the school office or contact us directly on Tapestry and we will get back to you as soon as we can. 

Best Wishes, 

Miss Grace, Miss Kent and Mrs Jenkins