Nursery
Scheffler
Summer term 1
- Important Dates
Bank holiday – May 5th
TLC day – May 6th or (May 8th for our late evening offer)
Visit your child in class morning – June 11th
Class photos – June 19th
SSQ festival – June 25th
Children’s reports– July 21st
- Project
We’re excited to let you know about our current project: Transport and Vehicles! The children have been having a fantastic time exploring the many ways we move from place to place, whether by land, air, or sea.
Through a variety of fun and engaging activities, we’re learning about different types of vehicles—from bicycles and buses to airplanes and boats. The children will be discovering new things through stories, songs, role play, and creative tasks like building their own vehicles using recycled materials.
This project supports key areas of learning, including:
– Language development as we name and describe different vehicles,
– Understanding the world by discussing how and why people travel,
– Mathematics through counting wheels and measuring distances,
– Creative expression as we draw, paint, and build vehicles together.
- Personal, Social & Emotional Development
Our focus this term is around toileting and the transition from nappies to underwear. As part of your child’s growth and development, potty training is an important milestone, and we understand that each child progresses at their own pace. We want to partner with you to help make this transition as smooth and positive as possible for both you and your child. Here are a few helpful tips to support you and your child.
Positive Praise: Celebrate your child’s efforts and progress, even the small wins. Praise and encouragement go a long way in building motivation
Dress for Success: Choose clothing that is easy for your child to pull up and down independently. This promotes self-confidence and helps avoid accidents.
Be Patient and Encouraging: Accidents will happen—it’s all part of the learning process. Gentle reminders and a calm approach help create a safe and supportive environment.
- Physical Development
Recently, we’ve been focusing on helping the children strengthen both their fine and gross motor skills through everyday tasks—particularly zipping up their coats and
putting on their shoes.
These simple routines offer fantastic opportunities for your child to practice key physical skills. Gross motor skills involve the larger muscle groups and are used when your child balances on one foot to step into a shoe, or lifts their arms to put on a coat. Fine motor skills, on the other hand, involve the smaller muscles in the hands and
fingers—perfectly exercised when gripping zips, fastening Velcro, or guiding laces through eyelets.
We are so proud to see the determination, focus, and pride the children show as they master these tasks. These moments not only support their physical development but
also build their confidence, independence, and problem-solving abilities.
At home, with your child you could make play dough to help strengthen their muscles. Also on Youtube Early Years Emily does a fine motor exercise using play dough to the song If You Happy and You Know It.
Simmonds
Summer term 1
- Important Dates
Bank holiday – May 5th
TLC day – May 6th or (May 8th for our late evening offer)
Visit your child in class morning – June 11th
Class photos – June 19th
SSQ festival – June 25th
Children’s reports– July 21st
- Project
This half term, our topic is Lifecycles. We will be looking at the transformation that takes place as a creature starts out as one thing and eventually emerges as something looking completely different.
How frogspawn transform to ‘ribbiting’ ‘croaking’ frogs!
How a wriggly caterpillar transforms into a beautiful, colourful butterfly.
We currently have snails eggs so watch out!!
- Maths focus
We have done a lot of work on number. We will continue to consolidate this work with numbers up to 10 – recognition, amounts and writing.
We will be taking an in-depth look at the 2D shapes and introducing aspects of 3D shapes, including learning to recognise them in our everyday lives.
- Writing & Reading focus
Our main stories will be The Very Hungry Caterpillar and The Perfect Ribbit. We will be encouraging children to join in the story and even retell the stories in their own words.
The children will continue to develop their writing and mark making skills. This includes the way they hold their pencils as well as practicing to correctly form the letters of their name.
Reception
Summer term 1
- Important Dates
Bank holiday – May 5th
TLC day – May 6th or (May 8th for our late evening offer)
Visit your child in class morning – June 11th
Class photos – June 19th
SSQ festival – June 25th
Children’s reports– July 21st
National Gallery visits:
Hayden-Smith – 29th April
Peacock – 1st May
Spitalfields Farm trip:
Hayden-Smith – 13th May
Peacock – 20th May
- Project
This term, our topic will be called ‘Growing- in our garden and beyond’.
There will be a big focus on nature and different things we can find in a garden. We will also be looking at life cycles as we get ready to welcome some exciting visitors to look after. Please see below to find out who they are!
- Maths focus
We will be looking at number bonds this half term including addition and subtraction and how we can build simple number sentences.
Our shape focus will look at introducing 3D shapes this term and recognising their different features.
- Writing & Reading focus
This half term, we are continuing to build on our sentence writing skills using our phonics knowledge to sound out words to write.
We will be writing about things we see in Spring as well as focusing on drawing and writing story maps linked to our key texts which will be: The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Handa’s Hen.
Reading for Pleasure
We aim to nurture a lifelong love for books and reading in children, helping them see it as an enjoyable experience rather than a chore. To support this, we encourage you to spend 10-15 minutes each day sharing a reading book with your child. This could involve your child reading to you or, just as importantly, you reading to them. To enhance their comprehension, please use the ‘Parent Questions’ which you will be given on TLC day to engage your child in meaningful discussions about the book. At this stage, reading plays a vital role in their development and has a significant impact on their progress across the entire curriculum.
Reading should always be enjoyable! Thank you for your support in fostering a love for reading!
- This term, we'll be visiting...
The National Gallery for a workshop on Talking Paintings.
Hayden-Smith: Tuesday 29th April and
Peacock Class: Thursday 1st May.
We are also visiting Spitalfields farm this half term on the following dates:
Hayden-Smith: Tuesday 13th May
Peacock: Tuesday 20th May
Year 1
Year 2
Year 3
Year 4
Spring term 1
- Important Dates
TLC day – January 28th when the school will be closed or (January 29th if you require an evening appointment at a later time than offered on January 28th)
Trip to Canterbury – Weds 4th February – All Day
Community evening Iftar/Lent – March 3rd at 5.00pm
Shakespeare Festival – Weds 4th March (Children involved will be notified)
World Book Day – Thursday 5th March
Visit your child in class morning including lunch – Wednesday 11th March
Night at the Museum – Tuesday 24th March
End of this half term – Friday 13th February
- Project
This term through our History learning, we will be looking at Invaders and Settlers and asking the essential question ‘How did Invaders and Settlers attack and defend in the past?’
We will be covering Anglo-saxons, Celts, Romans and Vikings and look forward to planning and making a wonderful product to exhibit at the Night At The Museum on Tuesday 24th March.
The children will also be looking at the Shakespeare play Julius Caesar with some performing it on stage either here at school or at The Albany Theatre in Deptford in March.
- Maths focus
As well as recapping division, this term’s focus will be on FRACTIONS. This will also be linked to DECIMALS. Please use any opportunity at home to talk about how these are used in real life – e.g adding shopping amounts etc.
In year 4 we are working towards the statutory Multiplication Tables Check (MTC). The children are expected to recall and use multiplication and division facts for all times tables up to 12. Please encourage your child with this at home by setting up a schedule for them to access Times Table Rock Stars as well as an online, interactive game called ‘Hit the Button!’
We will use Times Table Rockstars more this term to see where the children might need some support with their times tables.
- Writing & Reading focus
Writing
This term we will be looking at checking and rechecking our basic spellings, punctuation and grammar in all our writing. As part of our Talk4Writing we will be doing a Portal story focusing on dialogue, a newspaper article and an explanation text linked to our project.
Spelling
This term, we are focusing on the Year 4 Spelling Rules using the Oxford Owl programme. You can read more about that. Practising these rules together can make a big difference in your child’s confidence and progress. Thank you for your continued support!
Reading
We aim to nurture a lifelong love for books and reading in children, helping them see it as an enjoyable experience rather than a chore. To support this, we encourage you to spend 10-15 minutes each day sharing a reading book with your child. This could involve your child reading to you or, just as importantly, you reading to them. To enhance their comprehension, please use the ‘Parent Questions’ which you will be given on TLC day to engage your child in meaningful discussions about the book. At this stage, reading plays a vital role in their development and has a significant impact on their progress across the entire curriculum. Reading should always be enjoyable!
Thank you for your support in fostering a love for reading!
- This term, we'll be visiting...
This term we will be visiting Canterbury in Kent as part of our History and Geography learning. As well as looking at Roman remains, the children will be looking at a town outside of London to compare and contrast during Foundation Week.
In February, the children will also be starting Ukulele on Fridays in preparation for a Ukulele Festival at some point in the Spring Term – more information about this to follow.
