Welcome to Foundation!
 

In Foundation we have 3 classes of 30 children. The Red and Green apples are based on our Balderton site and the Oranges are based on the Fernwood site.  Mrs Mitchell is foundation lead working across both sites. At Fernwood the children are taught by Miss Whiles along with Mrs Bentley. At the Balderton site Miss Woodcock is teaching the Green apples and Miss Pope has the Red apples,  both supported by Jess, Kate and Shannon.

Planning

Teaching and learning in the Early Years Foundation Stage at Chuter Ede begins with each and every child and what they already know and can do by themselves. We pay a great deal of attention to their interests and personalities, incorporating these in our planning.

Spring 2

This half term we are leaning all about the signs of Spring and Easter. We explore the Easter story, Chicken Licken and Guess How Much I Love You. Through our exploration of Spring the children learn about the life-cycle of chicks, how to look after animals, mothers and their babies in Spring and the plants and wildlife that the children might see during these coming months.  As part of our talk and walk scheme we will be enjoying the spring weather by walking in and around the school twice a week. Across all classes the children will also be talking about healthy living and eating. Later in the term we will be delighted to welcome some new arrivals to our class, the team from the Happy Chick company will be bringing in some eggs for all children to watch hatch and grow, whilst learning all about how to care for chicks.  

Curriculum and assessment

In Foundation we follow the Early Years Foundation Stage statutory framework as set out in the documents "Early Outcomes" and "The Foundation Stage Profile Handbook". This covers the 3 prime and 4 specific areas of learning: Personal Social and Emotional Development, Communication and Language, Physical Development, Literacy, Maths, Understanding the World and Expressive Arts and Design.

All children learn at different rates and in different ways. Much assessment of what children can do in the Early Years Foundation Stage is done through observation and as part of this attention is paid to each child's "Characteristics of learning", e.g.their creativity, persistence, etc.

A really useful parents guide called "what to expect, when?" outlines children's developmental milestones, i.e. what a typical child will be able to do before starting school and the sorts of things they will be doing before they move into year one.

Please follow this link if you would like to look at this document.