Welcome to the Early Years Foundation Stage!

Welcome to Great Berry EYFS!

Welcome to Great Berry!

We are so excited to see your lovely, smiling faces on Wednesday 3^rd September at 8:30am. Miss Hall and Mrs Grenier will be waiting at the Early Years Playground gates for the children to come into school. This is where you will say goodbye to your children and from here, we will guide the children into their classrooms where they have many interesting and fun activities to do. 

During the first two weeks at school, the children will need to bring a named water bottle with them. On the first day, the children will also need to bring a named spare bag of clothes which will be kept in school for the remainder of the year and hung on their peg. Please do not bring PE kits to school until you receive a SchoolsBuddy notice instructing you to do so. The children will not need a rucksack or any pens or pencils as we have these resources in school. So please just send your child with a water bottle and a spare bag of clothes.

If you have received a Great Berry Book Bag over the Summer Holidays, please could you bring this to the parent- teacher meeting which will be taking place in the afternoons. If you are unsure of your meeting time/day, please see the office.

REMINDER

Once you have said goodbye to your children, you can go to the Demountable and join other parents for the PTA Coffee Morning if you wish to. Please ask if you need directions as to where the demountables are.

COLLECTION

When collecting your child, please wait outside the blue double doors which are just inside the entrance of the school. This is the same place where you waited for your children after their taster sessions. The children will be brought to you by their class teacher. Please wait away from the doors and on the slope just opposite the blue double doors. We will release one child at a time and please only wave when your child is at the front of the line with the class teacher as it can be a little confusing for us to see where each child’s parent/guardian is.

As you can appreciate, we want to ensure the children are released safely and calmly so please bear with us as this may take some time during the first couple of days.

We will try our best to release both classes at the same time so we would ask parents in both classes to be ready and waiting at 11:45am just outside the blue double doors. If you have any questions about this please don’t hesitate to ask us or contact the school office.

Many thanks and we look forward to seeing you soon,

 The Early Years Team

Important Dates for your Diary this term:

Wednesday 3rd September  - First day of school.

(Part-time days up until Tuesday 16th September) The day finishes at 11:45am.

Tuesday 16th September- Parent-Child First lunch. 

Tuesday 16th September- Lunchtime Zoom Meeting for Parents (PM).

Wednesday 17th September- First full time day.

Reminders:

Please note that the drop off time for the children in the mornings is 8:30am. When the children are attending on a part-time basis they will be collected by the blue double doors at 11:45am. When the children start coming to school full time, the collection time is 3:10pm and we ask that you wait in the main playground. We will line the children up in front of the climbing frames and send them to you one at a time as we see you. 

If there is any important information that you need to let us know quickly please contact the school office so that they can pass this onto the class teachers. 

Please note that jewellery is not allowed to be worn in school. This includes hoop earrings, bracelets, anklets and necklaces. Only small studs are allowed, although these have to be removed on PE days. 

We will start PE after the first half term. The Robins Class PE day is Tuesdays and the Wrens Class is on a Friday.

Reading Record and Book Change Day 

Once the children are in school full time, they will be given their first reading books to bring home. In school, your child will read to an adult on a set day each week. The day your child will read on is outlined below. 

Monday – Oranges

Tuesday – Grapes

Wednesday – Lemons

Thursday – Apples

Friday – Bananas

The day your child reads on may change dependant on the activities taking place throughout the week, therefore please leave your child’s reading books and reading records in their book bags at all times, this will then mean that we can read with them on a different day if necessary. It is important to note that the above timetable will more than often be the structure we follow throughout the week.

Your child will read with an adult and will also change their books on this day each week.

When we read with your child at school, we will record this in their reading record, along with noting their new books for the week. Please record when you read the school reading books at home and make a short comment on their reading. Please continue to read a range of books at home, however, you do not need to record any other reading in their book. This book will be checked by us once a week so please do not put any important messages in them and continue to contact us in the usual way.

Show and Tell

Show and Tell will begin after the first half term in Autumn 2. Each colour team will have an Show and Tell date once, each half term. There will be a focus topic for each Show and Tell throughout the year. Below is an outline of the topics, in case you wish to prepare in advance. Your child can bring in photographs, books, props or work they have done at home or simply just speak to the class. The focus for your child's show and tell should be as follows:

Autumn 2 - Your favourite toy or game (they are welcome to bring in their toy to show)

Spring 1 - Your favourite place (this could be somewhere you have visited or would like to visit)

Spring 2 - A hobby or sport that you enjoy doing

Summer 1 - Your favourite animal

Summer 2 - Your favourite book

Before your child's Show and Tell day, it may be helpful to talk to them in preparation for what they could tell their friends. Please feel free to send in a covering note so that we can support them with this. There will be a chance for your child to answer questions from their peers about what they have shared.

The colour group dates for this half term are as follows:

Friday 7th November - Ruby (red) Group

Friday 14th November - Amber (yellow) Group

Friday 21th November - Emerald (green) Group

Friday 28th November - Sapphire (blue) Group

Homework

Homework/Write and Tell books will be given out on a Friday. They will need to be returned by the following Tuesday. Ideas for the homework will be available on the Weekly Overviews. Each week please give feedback on how your child found the activities, by leaving a short comment with their homework.

Keep checking back on this page for more updates and to see some of our brilliant work.