This week in Year R

Dear Families,

It’s that time of the week again — and what a wonderful milestone to celebrate as we come to the end of our first half term here at KANP! We are so proud of how beautifully the children have settled into school life. They have already learnt and accomplished so much, showing such resilience, curiosity, and enthusiasm for learning. It has been a joy to see them thriving, making new friends, and building the kind of friendships we are sure will last a long time.

In Phonics, we have been reviewing all of our Phase 2 sounds that we have learnt so far, as well as meeting one last sneaky new digraph – ss! The children now understand that a digraph is two letters that make one sound, and they’ve noticed how /s/ is a short sound and /ss/ is a longer one. We use lots of oral blending in our everyday games, and it would be fantastic if you could continue this over the half term holidays too — blending sounds together as you play and talk is such a powerful way to build reading confidence!

In Maths, we have been busy comparing different quantities using the language of ‘more than’ and ‘fewer than’. Our cuddly friends joined us to help compare autumn objects they had been collecting! You could continue this learning at home by asking questions like “Who has more?” or using the STEM sentence “I have more than ____.” To stretch their understanding even further, you could add “I know this because 2 is more than 1.” The children love sharing their mathematical thinking and it’s wonderful to see how confident they are becoming.

It was such a pleasure to welcome you into school yesterday for our Curriculum Open Classroom event. Thank you so much for joining us to celebrate your children’s wonderful work and learning this half term. We hope you enjoyed looking through their learning journals and seeing the incredible progress they are already making.

Finally, we ended the half term today with a truly spooktacular day! 🎃 From potion making and biscuit decorating to pumpkin bashing and spooky games in our Spooky Studio, the children have had so much fun. What a magical way to finish such a successful first half term in Year R!

Have a wonderful half term break filled with rest, fun, and family time — and please don’t forget to share any photos on Tapestry! We love seeing and sharing in your special family memories together.

Lots of love,

Mrs Davey and the EYFS Team xx