Welcome to the Foundation Unit web page 

Here you will find copies of our unit newsletters and dates for your diaries! We also hope you enjoy looking at what the children have been learning about each term.

Unit Leader - Mrs Helen Davis

Class Teachers

Mrs Davis - Warren

Mrs Harvey - Warren

Miss Marshall - Haldon

Mrs Way - Haldon

Contact us via Seesaw, School Gateway or

📧 admin@westcliff.org.uk

Summer Term 2

The year has really flown by, I can't believe our children are already preparing for their year one classes.

The last half term has been a busy one for our children. We have been learning about under the sea creatures alongside improving our knowledge of how to care for the environment and particularly our beaches.

We read pirate themed stories and all took part in a drama lesson on Pirate Patch's boat with out friends from Little Swans Pre-school. We were so impressed with the children, as many of them applied their phonic skills to writing letters to Pirate Patch.

Warren and Haldon class enjoyed being part of 'Proud To Be Me ' week, they were great at thinking of things they were proud of about themselves and we were certainly proud of them for how they talked about different families, showing great interest in the lives of others.

Along with the rest of the school, we enjoyed thinking about future careers, for us that meant lots of role play and discussions. Lots of the children wanted to be fire fighters after our trip to the fire station.

Finally we had a lovely trip to the Manor Park as a reward for all our hard work this year. We wish the children and all their families a lovely summer break and we are excited to hear of their achievements as they move in to year one.

Summer ☀️ Term 1

Wow what a busy half term we have had. The children have been learning about life cycles and have cared for and observed our class caterpillars as they made the change in to butterflies. We finally released them this week . We have enjoyed finding out about other minibeasts too. One of our curricular goals this year is to be a 'super citizen' to prove we are super at taking turns, sharing resources and listening to each other's ideas we have created mini beasts in our 'working together' groupings, the children designed and created together. The finished products look fabulous.

As the weather has improved we have been able to fit in lots of outdoor learning. This has included trips to the school garden and our coach trip to Powderham castle. At the castle we hunted for clues, took part in a scavenger hunt, visited the play park and the animals, ate our lunch inside the castle and some of us even thought we had spotted King Charles!

Last week we were fortunate to join in with an eco workshop, the children were taught about the danger plastic poses to sea life. We will be continuing this learning next term when we hope to visit Coryton Cove to do a beach clean.

Alongside all of this the children are managing to impress us every day with their progress in phonics and maths. This week you will have seen the common word challenge for them to have a go at over the holiday.

Spring 💐 Term 2

We have had a lovely half term in Foundation reading, retelling and performing traditional tales. We have used puppets, story maps and drama to create our own versions of Sleeping Beauty, Little Red Riding Hood and other well known stories. We have also been busy preparing for our Easter show, this will include action songs, instruments and country dancing as well as our Easter Parade.

It was lovely seeing all the fantastic costumes on World Book day, we enjoyed book themed activities in class including a story quiz.

Foundation have ended the half term with bikeability, all the children have taken part in a four day course to improve their balance and coordination using balance bikes to negotiate obstacles in the playground. The children all followed instructions really well, we were proud of them for their enthusiasm and determination.

Spring 💐 Term 1

The children have been historians this half term, finding out about dinosaurs and learning how the world has changed since dinosaurs walked the earth. We have also spent time thinking about how Dawlish has changed over time, by looking at old photographs and comparing them to Dawlish in the present.

We have enjoyed a dinosaur safari with Davis the explorer and became science investigators when we solved the mystery of the dinosaur poo in the school playground! The children all took part in a play project afternoon, which allowed them to choose their own theme, including robots, unicorns, animals and princesses as well as dinosaurs.

We loved welcoming parents and carers in to school for our maths mornings. It was a great opportunity for us to share our learning with you and to demonstrate how we teach maths in school. If you did miss out this time please contact Mrs Davis to arrange another time to drop in to a maths session.

The children are all taking part in weekly PE sessions, after half term they will need a PE kit including PE shoes. Please label all items. We will send a note on seesaw to confirm PE days. On this day we will ask children to come to school dressed in their kit.

On the 30th March we will be performing our Easter show for parents. Part of the show includes and Easter parade, please make a bonnet with your child at home to wear for the event. If you need any help with ideas or resources please let class teachers know.

Autumn 🍂 Term 2 

We have had a busy and fun filled half term. We found out about our solar system, created some lovely space craft and thought of questions for our visiting astronaut. Highlights of the half term were our space themed play project where the children demonstrated creativity, collaboration and problem-solving skills. We loved having our parents coming in to school to join in with story time and hear our space singing.

In the run up to Christmas we have been preparing for our Nativity, retelling the Christmas story with puppets and enjoying 'The Snowman' story and music from the film, we prepared snowman dances and crafts.

Autumn 🍂 Term 1

It has been a pleasure getting to know the children this half term, they have settled into school brilliantly, making new friendships and adapting well to new routines. They have already begun their journey to become readers and writers, impressing us with the start they have made in our phonics lessons. A huge thank you to the parents who joined us for the session on 'how we teach reading', please see below for further information on how you can get involved with your child's phonics learning.

Highlights this half term

The children have enjoyed stories by Julia Donaldson and been fully immersed in role play, creative tasks and problem solving related to the texts. We went on a 'Stickman' hunt, made houses for the 'Squash and a Squeeze' characters, took part in a 'Superworm' play project and performed the story of 'Room on the Broom'.

Our phonics scheme is Soundswrite, parents can enrol on a free course to support their child's learning following this link https://www.udemy.com/help-your-child-to-read-and-write . After half term we would like to invite you into the classroom to observe a phonics lesson, these will be during the week beginning 7th and 14th November. Please see your childs teacher to sign up for a session.

Don’t forget to check your Family Seesaw account for class activities and announcements. If you need a new family/home learning QR code or would like to add another family member please contact the school office.

📧 admin@westcliff.org.uk