May 2026

For those of you who are starting school this September, I have put together a short presentation about our Learning activities including the 'Rainbow Challenges' that are a key part of our learning in Class 1. These motivate the children in working as independently as possible on engaging, achievable yet challenging, often open-ended, activities that allow them to access the whole curriculum and apply their developing skills and knowledge.

I have signed up for a fantastic musical resource - Boogie Mites - which you will be able to enjoy with your child between now and September. Even if your child is able to have some sessions in nursery the video workshops and songs will give your child the experiences to develop their phonological awareness-also referred to as 'Phase One' of 'Letters and Sounds'-which will mean they will be raring to go when they come to school.

Here are the documents you will need and a link to the first introduction video workshop which explains all about the different aspects of the Phase One pre-reading skills.

The first 2 songs; - 'Do Ray Me' and 'Choo Choo'; both these songs support aspect 1; Tuning in to environmental sounds. You can do this every day at home (kettles boiling; phone's ringing) and out on walks (birdsong; machines at work). You could even make a Lotto type game with photos and recorded sounds. Have fun with your great listening ears! 

Come on everyone and play with initial sounds; these songs develop an ear for alliteration; to recognize, repeat and invent  several words with the same initial sound.  

The first sound of a word or the sound that a word starts with can either be a 'stretchy sound' or a 'bouncy sound'. Perhaps you could make up other verses of this song using 'stretchy sounds', like mmmmmmmmmmmmmm or zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz; and 'bouncy sounds' like  d-d-d-d-d-d  or  b-b-b-b-b-b ?