Welcome to Ash Class!

Ash Class are our Reception and Year 1 children.  We follow the National Curriculum for Key Stage 1 in Year 1 and the Statutory framework for the early years foundation stage (EYFS) in Reception. 

Child initiated play alongside adult directed activities are central to our learning. They allow us to develop new knowledge, understanding and skills, whilst providing rich opportunities to consolidate and practise what we know and can do.

Staff

Reception children are taught by Mrs Williams and Year 1 children are taught by both Mrs Williams, Mrs Goatley and Mrs Stuart.

Other adults who work regularly in the classroom are Mrs Goatley and Mrs Thornhill.

If you have a message or query about your child, you are welcome to speak to the staff member at the door in the morning, Mrs Williams at the end of the school day (once she has seen the children out) or by contacting the school office to arrange a meeting or phone call.

Discovery Time in Ash Class 

What is Discovery Time?

Discovery time is when the children are able to access continuous provision. Continuous provision describes all of the different provision areas which are available for your children to use every day. Within each of these areas of provision there is a range of resources that children can use all of the time, throughout the whole year offering a breadth of learning possibilities.

This will enable children to learn skills, will challenge their thinking and help them to embed concepts. It also provides the context for a variety of learning conversations between children and adults with rich opportunities for modelling and extending speech and vocabulary. It is within this learning environment that the children will also develop key learning attributes. We stride to offer activities to enhance children’s engagement, independence, collaboration, self-confidence, resilience, curiosity and creativity.

In Ash class we have created clearly defined spaces. Creating provision areas in this way tends to lead to fewer distractions and also provides the context for children to collaborate, form relationships and communicate as well as promote mathematical thinking and meaningful writing opportunities.

Discovery Time Areas and Activities 

Reminders - Spring 1 2025 

PE - Monday & Wednesday

Please ensure that children wear clothes that they can manage to take off, turn the correct way out and dress themselves easily on these days.

Reading books & Reading records  - Year 1 Monday 

                                                           Year R Thursday  

Please note that yellow reading records will not be returned until Tuesday for Year 1 & Friday for Year R to give Mrs Williams & Mrs Goatley time to write in them. To support consolidation and fluency, children will be bringing home two reading books each week. Fluent readers can read quickly, accurately, and with appropriate stress and intonation.  This means reading the same text over and over again until they no longer need to sound out the words.  Most books can be read in one session but as the children progress the books may begin to get longer so may need to be read over two sessions.  

Library books - Friday 

Children visit the school library each week to independently select a book that looks interesting to them and bring it home for an adult to read to them.  You can never read too many books to your child and this is a very important step in developing reading for pleasure, especially when children can not yet read for themselves or the level of text they can decode is less exciting than what they can comprehend.

Coats

Both Reception and Year 1 children have access to the outdoors for both play and learning every day, come rain or shine!  Please ensure that your child has a named coat available in school every day.

Drinks and snacks

All children in both year groups are provided with a piece of fruit or vegetable each day.  Fresh drinking water is available throughout the day.  Reception children are provided with cups and drinking water however, all Children are welcome to bring a water bottle to school each day, please ensure it is no larger than 500ml, clear and with a suitable sip lid that does not allow water to leak out when knocked over.

Useful Information

Learning Links

Below are some links and websites that the children might enjoy at home, click on the pictures to go to the linked page.  Please note that some of the links are Youtube sites so please supervise your child when they use the internet at home.