This week we have been looking at 'real life superheroes'. We have been able to explore and learn about lots of different jobs including ones where people help us. We started our learning with a WOW moment of having the firefighters come to visit us with their fire engine. We learned lots about their important job and what is on their fire engine. The children's favourite part was either sitting in the fire engine or holding the hose!

We then had a visit from the Guide Dogs. We got to meet the most gorgeous puppy called Otter who was in training to be a guide dog. We talked lots about how guide dogs help people with visual impairments and even got to experience what it feels like to see with different impairments using special glasses. The children loved giving Otter a pat at the end!

We have also learned about oral hygiene this week and how important is it to visit a dentist. The children enjoyed practicing brushing their own teeth making sure they brushed them for a whole 2 minutes. We also talked about what dentists do and what foods are bad for our teeth.

Thank you to all our wonderful visitors!

World Book Day 2026

This week we have been looking at 'Superheroes'. We read a great story about 'Super Milly' who did not have super powers like flying or super speed but she did have other powers like being kind, funny and a good friend. The children used paint to create their own superhero and then wrote about them. We also had a great time making our own superhero masks.

This half term in PE will have been practicing our gymnastics skills. The children have been looking at skills like jumping, rolling, balancing and creating their own sequences which they show to the rest of the class.

Lunar New Year 2026

This week's Traditional Tale was The Gingerbread Man. We enjoyed baking again this week by making our own gingerbread men. We then got to enjoy eating them but we had to do it in a certain way like the fox did. "Snap, the fox ate his feet. Snap, the fox ate his head". The reception children then did some writing about how they ate their gingerbread man. The children then did their own science investigation about how to get the gingerbread man over the river. The children used different resources around the classroom including lego, cardboard and plastic to test out what would make the best boat for the gingerbread man.

Our next Traditional Tale is The Three Billy Goats Gruff. The children enjoyed creating their own troll using oil pastels, we looked at different photos of trolls to help us create our own. We used our design skills to create our own bridges in the classroom using different construction materials. We worked in little teams and had to listen to each others ideas and work together to build a bridge together. We then went around and looked at every groups model saying what we liked and what could make it even better. Our favourite activity of the week was making our own jelly trolls using different sweets for eyes, hair and mouth.

This week we moved onto Traditional Tales. The first story we looked at was The Little Red Hen. The children enjoyed making their own bread which we hope they shared with their families when they brought them home. We also learned about windmills and how they make flour for bread. The children made their own windmills using a toilet roll and decorated the sails on the front. We talked about how the animals felt throughout the story and we realised that both the little red hen and the other animals did not make the right choices as the animals should have helped her and then she would have been able to share the bread with them instead of eating it all for herself.

This week we looked at animals who like cold places. We started our week by doing an ice investigation where we planned how we were going to help get the animals out of the ice who had been frozen. The children came up with some great ideas of how we could get them out including using hot water and salt to melt away the ice. The children showed great determination and did not give up even when it looked like we were never going to get them out. They persevered and as a team got every animal out of the ice! We then started to look at Polar Bears. We found out lots of facts about polar bears including that they live in the Arctic which is near the North Pole. We did some great art work to make our own Polar Bears and the Reception children had a go at writing some of the facts we have learned.

We have enjoyed learning about the season of Winter to start our new term and a new year! We were very lucky to get some actual snow when we came back to school, we decided to make some marks in the snow using different resources. The reception children talked about what sort of clothes we need to wear in Winter and why, they then had a go at labelling some of the different items. We have also had lots of fun doing different winter themed creative activities including painting, small world and role playing.

Spring 1

Christmas 2025

This half term the children have enjoyed practicing fundamental physical skills in their PE lessons. They have done lots of moving in different ways including balancing, hopping, skipping and jumping.

This week we have been learning about Road Safety and how to be a good pedestrian. We talked about what things we have to do before crossing the road and learned the stop, look, listen and think sequence so we can cross the road safely. We did lots of roleplay in the classroom using chalk roads and small word areas putting the sequence into practice and then had a go at doing it properly by crossing a road near school with their friends and Mrs Slaney.

This week we moved onto the story of 'The Gruffalo's Child'. The nursery children enjoyed making their own footprints like the prints in the snow in the story, pity we did not have some snow of our own! The reception children did a great job of drawing and labelling the big bad mouse and exploring light, dark and shadows. They made their own puppet show retelling the story of the Gruffalo and The Gruffalo's Child.

Our story for this week was 'The Gruffalo'. The children enjoyed doing lots of different activities including exploring the woodland cafe, making Gruffalo crumble, making Gruffalo headbands and painting the Gruffalo. The reception children did a fantastic job of drawing the Gruffalo and labelling some of the things the Gruffalo has like purple prickles, orange eyes, a poisonous wart and a black tongue.

Remembrance Day 2025

With Bonfire Night coming up, we did some learning around fireworks and the history of Bonfire Night. We looked at Guy Fawkes and what he plotted to do to the Houses of Parliament which is why we celebrate Bonfire Night now. The children enjoyed making their own firework rockets using junk modelling and we learned all about firework safety and how we can keep ourselves safe around them.

Fireworks and Bonfire Night

Diwali 2025

We celebrated Diwali this week and learned all about the Hindu Festival of Lights. We roleplayed the story of Rama and Sita and how good conquered evil. The children enjoyed learning how they prepared for and celebrated the festival. We found that it was similar to some of the festivals that we celebrate like Bonfire Night. The children made their own Diya lamps and Rangoli patterns like the Hindu people do when they celebrate Diwali.

Autumn

We started exploring the season of Autumn this week. We talked lots about the different changes we have been noticing around us especially outdoors. We went on an Autumn walk around school looking for signs that Autumn has started. We saw lots of signs from acorns, colourful leaves and conkers. The children used the leaves they had found to create observational painting. They looked closely at all the little details and included these in their paintings. We also used our modelling skills to create hedgehogs using clay. The children then added features like their spikes using match sticks.

First half term of PE - Introduction to PE and key fundamental skills

Colour Week

FSU have had a wonderful week celebrating all things colourful. We linked our learning to the zones of regulation where we learned about different feelings and emotions and what we can do if we feel a certain way. The children enjoyed haring their most happiest memories for green day and retold the story of Ruby's Worry for yellow day. We rounded the week off by having a colour day and doing a colour experiment using skittles!

Our topic has been all about 'Senses'. We learned what are 5 senses are, what body part we use for it and what it helps us do. The children enjoyed a range of activities all planned to explore and test out each sense. The children used great vocabulary to describe things they could hear, see, taste, touch and smell. We also learned about guide dogs and how important they are to blind people who cannot see. In our blindfold walks we pretended to be the guide dogs leading the children who were blindfolded around the outdoor area safely.

We looked closely at what body parts we have and had a go at labelling all the ones we knew. We sang songs like head, shoulders, knees and toes and played 'Simon Says' to get us thinking about all the different body parts we have!

All about Me

We have been finding out lots about ourselves and getting to know one another as we settle into the new school year. We have looked closely at what we look like and described our appearance. We have even found out how tall we all are! We then moved onto our families. The children enjoyed drawing pictures and talking about the different people in their families. We have also enjoyed sharing the 'all about me' books which the children completed over the holidays.

Class 1 - 2025-26

Before and After The Colour Run 2025

FSU Has Talent 2025

Our garden centre was a huge success this year. We wrote invitations to our families so they were able to come and join us. The children did a fantastic job of being shop keepers selling all the items that we have either made or grown. Thank you to all the parents who helped support our fundraiser, we have raised £52.76! This will be donated to the Blue Cross Rehoming Centre in Thirsk which was the children's chosen charity.

It was strawberry harvest time in FSU this week. We were able to help pick the strawberries that were ready to eat, we washed them and then enjoyed them during our snack time. They were yummy!

We had a fantastic time at our Teddy Bears Picnic! Luckily the ran managed to stay away for long enough for us to enjoy some time at the park before returning and having our picnic with her favourite teddy bears. It was very interesting to find out about the all the children's favourite bears and why they are their favourites.

Sports Day 2025

We enjoyed a visit to St Wilfrid's Church this week. The children were able to look at all the features and objects that the church had and talk about why they are important in the Church. We made sure we were respectful in church, being quiet and walking around.

We had a great time on our Pirate Dress Up Day, celebrating the end of one of our favourite topics this year. The children enjoyed walking the plank and collecting treasures for their very own treasure chest.

This week we made pirate ship collages. The children used a range of creative techniques to complete the different stages of their collages. First we made a seascape picture using different shades of blue and a scraper to make the pattern of the waves. We looked closely at pictures of waves and watched some videos of gentle and stormy waves to help us create our paintings. The children came up with some great vocabulary to describe the waves! Once this was completed we ripped it up and layered it to make it look like the waves in the sea, then we added our very own pirate ship!

This week we used the story 'The Treasure of Pirate Frank' as our inspiration for creating our treasure maps. We used some different techniques to make the paper look old and then added the different features we wanted for our treasure map. The children did a great job of making a route to their treasure, some included a volcano, a cave and quicksand. Once the children had made their treasure map they then wrote some instructions so that people were able to find the treasure on the island.

We started our Pirate topic this week. We focused on the story 'Ten Little Pirates' and the children used this week to create their own Pirates. We looked at famous pirates like Blackbeard and Captain William Kidd to see what they looked like and what they wore. This helped us to then paint our own pirates thinking about the different features we need. The children did a fantastic job and then went on to write a description about their pirate.

Today we released the butterflies!

This week we have been looking at old toys from the past. We have talked lots about what the past means and how toys have changed over the years. We made our own toy museum using toys which parents had kindly brought into school. The children enjoyed exploring the different toys, they knew that they were delicate and fragile and they all took really good care of them. We also compared old and new toys and did some sorting activities.

This week we went on a Reception trip to Big Sheep Little Cow Farm in Bedale! We had a fantastic time and got to take part in lots of different activities from a barrel ride to feeding lambs milk. The children learned lots about different animals and what they need to live, including a snake called Cleopatra who the brave children enjoyed feeling. We fed goats, brushed ponies and even had a bet on which tortoise was going to be fastest and win the race! Thank you to Chloe and the team for a enjoyable and informative day!

The day was definitely memorable as the children did some fantastic recount writing about different activities we did throughout the day. They used time words like first, next, then and finally to put the day in the correct order.

We have had some special visitors join our classroom recently. After we read the story of 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' and learned about a caterpillar lifecycle we thought it might be nice for us to have some class caterpillars to watch as they grow and change. Keep your eyes peeled for updates on if we have some butterflies.

VE DAY CELEBRATIONS 2025

This week we have been looking at the Oliver stories - 'Oliver's Vegetables' and 'Oliver's Fruit Salad'. We did lots of sorting fruits and vegetables and talking about healthy foods. The reception children were able to use their knowledge to make a healthy lunchbox. We used the different fruits and vegetables to make some Giuseppe Arcimboldo inspired faces, the children enjoyed making lots of funny faces with different foods for different features on our faces. In writing, the reception children explored using time words to write a recount of what happened in the story 'Oliver's Vegetables'.

This week we have been looking at the traditional tale 'Jack and the Beanstalk'. The children had a go at planting their bean and we talked lots about what we need to do to take care of the bean so it grows. We then wrote some instructions of how we planted the bean for someone else to be able to follow. We looked at the story 'The Little Seed' where we learned that seeds can be planted without our help but lots of things can happen to them if they are not properly looked after. We also looked closely at castles, what features they have and what they look like. The children then had a go designing and making their own castles using different construction materials. The children evaluated each other's castles, talking about what they liked and what could be improved.

We have enjoyed looking at signs of Spring and new life this week. We talked about the changes in the world around us now that we are in the season of Spring and explored the school environment looking for these signs. We noticed there were lots of daffodils so we decided to look more closely that them. We labelled the different parts of the daffodils and did observational paintings of what they look like. The children did a great job of painting the different features carefully.

Easter 2025