Pre-School 2021 - 2022
Mrs Ellis
Pre- School 2020 - 2021
Mrs Ellis
Welcome to Pre-School 2020-2021
Teacher & Team
Mrs Ellis EYFS Lead & Early Years Consultant. Owls Group Lead
Mrs Clarke (Early Years Practitioner) – Frogs Group Lead
Mrs Roberts (Early Years Practitioner) – Hedgehogs Group Lead
Hello everyone,
We have had lots of royal visitors to our Offley castle this week, it is all looking very regal indeed as we start our Queen’s platinum Jubilee celebrations. Our children have drawn the Queen’s portrait for our gallery and as you can see they have produced some very detailed portraits, amazing pre-school!
Have a go yourself and create your very own self portrait.
In phonics this week ….. Letters and Sounds – Phase 1 –Aspect 7 Oral blending and segmenting Tuning into Sounds
Main purpose: To develop oral blending and segmenting of sounds in words
This is part of Phase 1 and is a skill that will really help your child when they start to read and write. There are two parts to this aspect. The first is the skill of blending sounds together when an adult says e.g. c-a-t. = cat. The second is segmenting i.e. being able to identify each sound in the word. e.g. c-a-t = cat. They need lots of practice at it. You can support your child by trying some of the ideas below. The activities should be fun, so give your child plenty of encouragement when you play with them. Smiles and praise will help them develop a sense of achievement and build confidence.
Ways you can support your child at home
- I spy - Go for a walk and say, ‘I spy a h-ou-se’. See if your child can blend the sounds together to make the word. Make sure you use the letter sounds and not letter names.
- Can you do it? - Play a game using parts of the body - ask your child to h-o-p, stand on one l-e-g, touch their h-ea-d, n-o-se etc.
- Have a pretend picnic - Use a soft toy. Explain he/she can only speak in ‘sound talk’. Pretend the toy would like some ch-ee-se, f-i-sh, c-a-ke, p-ie, s-ou-p etc. Encourage your child to talk like the toy in ‘sound talk’.
- Draw it - Tell your child that you are going to draw a c-a-t. Ask them to add a n-o-se, and a l-e-g. Try pictures of other things. e.g. cup, pig, dog, chip, map, bus, fox, feet, ship, goat.
In our water world area we have been busy organising and further developing our imaginative skills as we make and pour out drinks at our celebration tea party.
We have designed and created our very own invitations to the Queens tea party and made red, white and blue pasta pattern bracelets, not forgetting the crown jewels.
We began our week by listening to the story entitled The Queen’s handbag and then through discussion we generated our collective thoughts and ideas in order to create a wonderful new handbag for the Queen. Our children were full of amazing ideas for the look of the bag by suggesting we add flowers, rainbows, hearts and of course it had to be made of gold. WOW !
A big thank you to Finley’s daddy who was our mystery reader and shared lots of wonderful stories. Finley was so surprised to see his daddy sitting in Mrs Ellis’s chair.
Another fabulous week, well done pre-school!
After the half term holiday we will be continuing our Queen’s platinum celebrations and then move onto reading the story of Paddington Bear at the Seaside as we think about our summer holidays to come.
I will leave you with a few more photographs of our week here at pre-school, ENJOY!
We wish Mrs Clarke all the very best as this weekend she is getting married, we hope that they enjoy their very special day!
Love from Mrs Ellis, Mrs Clarke and Mrs Roberts. xxx
Would you like to be a mystery reader? If so please have a word with me and I will look forward to adding your name to my diary.
Please do take a look at the Reading Eggs log in as this is a great resource that will support our phonics and readiness for reading and writing.
Do take a look at the videos and resources below.
Starting Primary School - The BBC have put together some articles, videos and resources to support you and your child with starting primary school.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/collections/starting-primary-school/1
Hungry Little Minds - Ideas for activities to support children from birth to five.
https://hungrylittleminds.campaign.gov.uk/
Tiny Happy People - Activities and rhymes to support child development from birth to five
https://www.bbc.co.uk/tiny-happy-people/activities/zjh8hbk
Do take a look at our Offley Primary virtual Library ( refer to files to download) Enjoy the many story books to share.
Looking After Ourselves.
It has never been so important to recognise and look after our families’ mental health and well-being in these very uncertain times.
When we express ourselves we do not have to be a great artist or a wonderful dancer. It’s not about being the very best at something or putting on a performance. Let’s encourage each other to find lots of different ways to get express ourselves.
You will find lots of links and activities below suggested by Place2Be that can be used with children at home including activity ideas, stories and much more.
If children are worried about returning to school, then Ruby's Worry by Tom Percival and The Huge Bag of Worries by Virginia Ironside can help spark some conversations, as can any books around identifying feelings (there are lots out there)
This book is aimed at 4-8 year olds and is about anxiety and worry. It is beautifully illustrated and is available from libraries or Amazon (£5.39 new).
This book is aimed at 4-8 year olds and can be used to explore young children’s feelings. A pop-up version and a colour monster activity book are also Available from libraries or Amazon (£5.35 new).
Family outdoor Activities . https://famly.co/blog/the-environment/eyfs-outdoors-38-activities/

- Cosmic Kids Yoga & Meditation
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4CaR0syf1g
You will find a guide for parents from Learning book on http://content.learningbook.co.uk/how-to-support-and-engage-with-your-childs-learning-journey-a-guide-for-parents .
Here is the link to the Toy theatre ICT website https://toytheater.com/category/math-games/ Have FUN !
You will find the files and more to download at the bottom of this page.
PS. Just a reminder to please label everything and ensure that your child has a warm coat and please bring in your wellies.
Useful Websites
.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EecFubqxvoE&feature=youtu.be Can You Do That? (Take a look)
readingeggs.co.uk/login1 (use your given login )
http://www.phonics play.co.uk/
http://www.letters-and-sounds.com/
http://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/reading-owl/expert-help/phonics-made-easy
http://jollylearning.co.uk/overview-about-jolly-phonics/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/alphablocks/
http://us.educationcity.com/us/content/letters-and-sounds-september-2007
http://www.ictgames.com/phonemeFlop_v4.html
http://www.teachyourmontertoread.com/
Youtube Mr Thorne does phonics.
www.topmarks.co.uk (mathematics)
www.crickweb.co.uk
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/numberblocks/
youtube Get squiggling letters (to help with pencil control and letter formation).
https://www.twinkl.co.uk/resources/covid19-school-closures (free resources)
https://www.aldi.co.uk/activities-for-kids (Lots of fun making and baking activities)
https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/ (mathematics)
https://earthcubs.com/resources (Science / Understanding The World)
Out of the Ark www.outoftheark.co.uk/ootam-at-home (music)
Sticky Kids Youtube: Sticky Kids (Fun and fitness songs)
BBC Bring the Noise https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/bring-the-noise (Online music activities for age 4-7).
https://literacytrust.org.uk/family-zone/birth-4/
https://www.pacey.org.uk/working-in-childcare/spotlight-on/being-school-ready/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/collections/starting-primary-school/1htps://jollylearning.co.uk/overview-about-jolly-phonicshttps://www.stokespeaks.org/
Independence You Can Do It !
Children need to be able to develop Self-care skills for pre-school and their own self esteem. Help your child to have a ‘can do’ independent attitude to the following….
- Toilet
- Hand washing
- Tissues
- Food
- Dressing
- Putting on coat
- Walking rather than pram
- Giving up dummies/comforters
Independence and a ‘can do’ attitude will help your child develop and feel confident about themselves and what they can do, which has a positive impact on all of their learning.
Giving children the opportunity to do little jobs at home, such as laying the table, feeding a pet, helping with the shopping, pairing the socks or putting their own laundry away will help their self-confidence and independence. Tidying up own toys will help prepare them for life in pre-school where they will be expected to help to tidy up their own and others toys or activities indoors and outdoors.
The Revised Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)
A parent’s guide to the EYFS.
What is the EYFS?
The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) was originally launched in 2008. It is the statutory framework for all early years providers in England but it is held in high regard worldwide.
The Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage sets the standards that all early years providers must meet. Early years providers in England who provide care and learning for children from birth to the end of reception class must comply with the EYFS Statutory Framework.
Ofsted regulate and inspect all early years providers against the safeguarding and welfare requirements and areas of learning to determine how well children are kept safe and healthy.
Changes from September 2021
From September 2021 a revised EYFS will come into force. The key messages about the reforms include:
- Reducing practitioner/teacher workload and needless paperwork to allow for more quality time and interactions with the children
- Improving the outcomes of all children and addressing/reducing the disadvantage gaps
- The importance of workforce knowledge and professional development to inform assessments. Reflect upon the need to assess every child’s development against ‘check lists’, saving formal steps of assessment for when they are necessary
- Making early learning goals in the reception year clearer and more aligned to Y1 curriculum.
What do the changes mean to me as a parent/carer?
The safety of your child and the quality of the education provided will not change. You may not see any changes in terms of the activities and opportunities on offer to your child. However, you may notice that we are not physically recording as many observations and assessments of progress. Please be reassured that we will still be supporting your child’s development and responding to their interests. We will be using our professional judgements to assess your child’s development during our daily interactions and activities.
Our curriculum
The 7 areas of learning and development within the EYFS have not changed, these are:
- Communication and language
- Physical development
- Personal, social and emotional development
- Literacy
- Mathematics
- Understanding the world
- Expressive arts and design
The prime areas of learning form the essential foundations for healthy development and future learning. Once a solid start has formed within the prime areas we continue to build upon these skills, opening to explore more learning opportunities within the specific areas of learning.
These 7 areas are the basis for our curriculum. Careful thought is given to inform our enabling environments (indoors and outdoors), to provide resources, activities and learning opportunities to meet each child’s unique requirements. Ofsted call this ‘curriculum’.
Our curriculum is very flexible and responsive to follow children’s interests. At Offley Primary Academy we support each child’s unique developmental journey and following their interests and fascinations.
Young children learn through play. The EYFS refers to the Characteristics of Effective Learning. These are:
- Playing and exploring
- Active learning
- Creating and thinking critically
The Characteristics of Effective Learning tell us about how each child learns not what they are learning. We look for things such as what engages or motivates a child, problem solving, resilience, changing strategy etc.
Play is essential for children’s development; it helps to build their confidence as they learn to explore, relate to others, set their own goals and solve problems. Children learn by leading their own play, and by taking part in play which is guided by adults.
The new curriculum gives us the opportunity to spend more time interacting and playing with the children. This means that we will not be completing as many written observations and putting them on Learning book. This does mean that we will know your children very well.
Examples of really significant learning will be shared on Learning Book, along with group observations and we will still use it to communicate important information.
Developing children’s language and vocabulary
There is a new focus on early language and extending vocabulary. We will do this by:
- Providing a rich language environment where we have quality learning conversations and interactions with the children.
- Reading a range of stories, poems, rhymes and non-fiction texts.
- Teaching new words and vocabulary.
- Having a selection of core books, that children become familiar with and grow to love.
- Modelling language that promotes thinking and challenges children, as well as adding language and new ideas.
- Offering open-ended questions to encourage more thinking and longer responses, e.g. “I wonder what would happen if…?”
What can you do to help your child?
- Chat, play and read to and with them.
- Encourage them to be independent, e.g. use a knife and fork, dress themselves, zip up their coat, put their shoes on.
- Play board games with them.
- Engage in action rhymes, e.g. The Wheels on the Bus, Row row row your boat..
- Expand on your child’s vocabulary by adding a word when in conversation, e.g. your child says “I’ve got a car” and you reply “yes, you have a red car.”
Oral health
Promoting oral health has been included in the EYFS. This is because good oral health habits need to be formed from the earliest age. Tooth decay is largely preventable, but it’s still a serious problem among young children. We will promote oral health by talking about healthy foods and drinks that help to grow strong teeth, and those that do not.