Here at Moorside Academy the EYFS is made up of our two year old setting ‘Little Sparklers’ along with our newly extended Nursery for three year olds.
We also have Reception class along with Year 1 and Year 2 which make up our Key Stage One.
All classes are separate but have close links to ensure that each child is provided with the education that is best suited to their individual needs. Each class from Nursery to Key Stage One have qualified teachers and teaching assistants.
Little Sparklers
Little Sparklers is our two year old nursery building which is run by Mrs Callaghan and is overseen by Miss Moss (Nursery Manager) and Miss Smithson (Early Years Co-ordinator and Assistant Head). Mrs Callaghan is joined by three teaching assistants Miss Gaskell, Miss Johnson and Mrs Kirby.
The Little Sparklers enjoy learning through child-led play, with a wide range of fun and exciting resources in both indoor and outdoor provision. The children have the opportunity to take part in short adult-led focused activities centered around phonics, counting and mark making etc.
Little Sparklers will learn through exciting and varied topics throughout the year, which centre around the children’s interests.
They are as follows:
- Colours and Autumn
- Traditional Tales/Christmas
- Winter and Weather
- New Life
- Growing and the Outdoors
- Holiday and Journeys
Nursery
Our Nursery, at Moorside, is for children who have had their 3rd birthday. This is an educational nursery which promotes the love of learning and the teacher is Miss Moss (Nursery Manager). Miss Moss is joined by one higher level teaching assistant, Miss Sharp, two teaching assistants, Miss Connor and Mr Shire, and an apprentice Mr Connor.
The nursery is an excellent way to prepare your child for school. Nursery enjoy taking part in a mixture of adult led focused activities and child led activities within the indoor and outdoor provision. The nursery setting has recently been extended and refurnished with a variety of wonderful new resources, meaning we are now able to accept more children than in previous years.
The Nursery staff use different topics to engage the children in their learning. This years topics are as follows:
- All About Me
- Celebrations
- Oinks, Barks and Roars
- People Who Help Us
- Growing Things
- Time For Change
All 3 and 4 year old children are entitled to 15 hours free childcare. We are now also offering the 30 hours provision for working parents.
Please ask a member of the nursery staff or in the main office to check if you are eligible.
Reception
Our Reception class teacher is Miss Smithson, she is Assistant Head in school and Early Years Leader. Along with Miss Smithson there are two teaching assistants, Mrs Moore and Mrs Hughes as well as Mr Mckenna the class apprentice.
In Reception learning is carried out through a wide range of fun practical activities. This includes a range of focused activities both indoors and outdoors along with child led play in continuous provision.
The children also take part in a daily phonics session and there is a great emphasis on talk, maths and early reading along with all areas of the EYFS curriculum.
Throughout the year learning is taught through a range of exciting and interesting topics following the children’s interests:
- All about me
- Festivals and Celebrations
- Fairytales
- Amazing animals
- Growing Things
- Around the World
The class has close links with the Nursery and mixed continuous provision is provided to meet all learning needs.
Year 1
In Year One we are always busy, we work hard at our literacy and numeracy and learn all about adding, subtracting as well as some simple times tables.
We love to learn through topics and some of our favourites are: Percy the Park Keeper, Dinosaurs and Mad about Minibeasts. We access science, history, geography and other core subjects through our topics which help to make learning very interesting and exciting.
We also make time to access our learning through continuous provision in the afternoons whenever possible. We love to learn collaboratively and use our small outdoor area as well as the school grounds to develop our skills.
Year 2
Year 2 will have the opportunity to develop their Literacy, Numeracy and foundation skills through 6 main topics throughout the year, ‘Sporting Heroes’, ‘I am a writer!’, ‘Scientists’, ‘Weird, Wacky and Wonderful’, ‘London’s Burning’ and ‘The World Around Us’.
Additionally, we will be continuing our learning outside the classroom. The children will be exploring the outdoor environment developing their reading, writing and number skills, pairing with other classes to develop their storytelling skills and working with Mrs Clarke in the kitchen, to help them understand the importance of health and safety.