Welcome to Ash Class!

Hi, I'm Mrs Dursley, the teacher in Ash Class!

We are very lucky to be supported each day by Miss Griffiths, Mrs Bowler,

Mrs Chamberlain and Miss Black.

A few reminders...

• Every Friday we have PE in the afternoon.  Children need to come to school every Friday wearing their correct PE kit.  This includes black or navy joggers/shorts/leggings, a white t-shirt and a black or navy hoody or jumper and trainers.
• Every Tuesday the children in Ash Class have Forest Schools in the morning.  Children need to come to school wearing warm clothes and shoes which are suitable for outdoor play  Please bring wellies and waterproofs in a separate bag to change into for Forest Schools.  
• Children need their book bags in school every day.  We read with your children throughout the week and it is very important that this is recorded in their reading diaries.  Please remember to support your child with reading their reading book at home.  We ask that children read with an adult 5 times per week at home and that this is recorded in their Reading Diary.  Reading books are changed once a week however you can read anything additional with your child - magazines, recipes, picture books etc!

Summer 1 2024 - Who Will I Be?

This half term we will be thinking about the different jobs that grown ups have and what how people with these jobs can help us.  We will be learning about vets, dentists, postal workers, doctors, police officers and more!  I you have a job please speak to your child about what you do when you go to work and why this is important!  Have a look below for more information about our learning for this half term!

Spring 2 2024 - Let's Explore!

This term our learning is centred around minibeasts, lifecycles and spring!  We will be studying how our local environment is changing with the new season and looking for signs of Spring at Forest Schools.  We will also be exploring minibeasts and learning about the lifecycle of a butterfly and a from.  Please have a look below for more information...

We've had another great half term in Ash Class.  The highlight was definitely our trip to the Tropical Butterfly House.  We've loved exploring and searching for signs of spring and seeing our caterpillars and sunflower seeds grow.  Have a look at the photos below!

Spring 1 2024 - Curious Characters!

This term we are thinking all about the fairytale characters in traditional tales.  As well as studying the characters we will be exploring the morals of each story.  We will be linking these to our school's Rainbow Rules and reinforcing why it is important that everyone in school follows them!  Please have a look an a more in depth overview below...

This half term has flown by!  The children in Ash Class have worked their socks off this half term making brilliant progress in all areas of learning.  We have thought very hard about the Rainbow Rules and loved linking these to fairytale characters, some naughty and some nice!  We finished the half term learning about China and how Chinese New Year was celebrated!  Have a look below at some of our learning from Spring 1...

Autumn 2 2023 - I wonder...

This half term is all about celebrations!  We will be finding out about the meanings behind Bonfire Night, Diwali, Remembrance Day, Birthdays and Christmas!  We will be doing a Geography study on India, looking at the similarities and differences with the country and celebrations and comparing them to our own.  Please see the overview below for more information...

We've had a really busy term learning all about different celebrations and getting ready for Christmas!  Have a look below at some of our learning from Autumn 2...

Autumn 1 2023 - What Makes Me Unique?

This half term we will be settling into our new classroom, making new friends and learning the rules and routines of school life!  We will be asking the question, 'what makes me unique?' by exploring our similarities and differences, our likes and dislikes and thinking about what we know about our local community.  Below is an overview of this terms learning.

We've had a great first half term in Ash class.  Have a look through our photos to see some of our amazing learning...

Parents notice - 18.9.2023

The Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA) has been a statutory assessment from September 2021 onwards. It provides a snapshot of where pupils are when they arrive at school. It will provide a starting point to measure the progress schools make with their pupils between reception and the end of primary school.  Over the next few weeks the children in our class will be completing a baseline assessment with an adult.  You can read more about this via the links below.  Please let us know if you have any questions.

My First Day at School photos!

There's still time to purchase photos - 4 for £3

Have a look below at our learning from previous years...

Summer 1 - Who Will I Be?

This half term we will be learning all about the different jobs that people do.  We will have a focus on farming and where our lovely healthy food comes from!  Have a look at the picture below for more information on this half term's learning:

4.5.22 - Fruit Kebabs!

This week we are thinking about different types of farmers!  We talked about farmers who have animals and those who grow fruit and vegetables.  Today we thought about our favourite fruits and made yummy fruit kebabs...

Spring 2 2022 - Let's Explore!

Spring is just around the corner and this half term we will be finding out all about minibeasts, lifecycles and exploring the environment to find out the changes that occur in springtime.  We can't wait for our trip to Brackenhurst Education Centre in March!

Butterflies 

Our caterpillars have finally become butterflies and aren't they beautiful!! I took them home over the holiday and let them free in my garden.  I think Ash and Beech did a super job looking after the caterpillars and loved watching them grow.

Caterpillars

Over the course of the half term we have loved watching our class caterpillars change and grow.  We couldn't believe how big they got!  The caterpillars are currently in cocoons at Mrs Dursley's house for the holiday!  Please check back to see what happens when we finally have butterflies!

18.3.22 - Red Nose Day

Ash class looked fabulous dressed in red or with crazy hair for Red Nose Day this year!

WC 14.3.22 - Planting Beans

This week we have planted beans in plastic cups.  We talked about doing it this way to see how the beans germinate before planting them in the ground.  The children understood that the beans need water and sunlight to grow so we have placed them in the windowsill in our classroom.  We can't wait to see what happens to our beans!

15.3.22 - Our trip to Brackenhurst

Today we went out our school trip to Brackenhurst Education Centre.  We had a super day, made even better by the sunshine!  We made art using things we could find in the environment and searched for minibeasts.  We loved having a picnic outside on the log circle and some of us even had a nap on the bus ride home.  What a lovely busy day!

WC 28.2.22 - Waterlily Pond

The children were fascinated this week to find out all about the lifecycle of the frog!  We looked at the art work 'Waterlily Pond' by Monet and talked about how there may have been frogs living in the pond!  We looked closely at the picture and used watercolours to create our own takes on the artwork.  I think you will agree that the art work our children produced is amazing!

WC 21.2.22 - Minibeasts

This week we have enjoyed starting our topic off by thinking about different minibeasts.  We loved reading the rhymes in 'Mad About Minibeasts'.  During forest schools this week we loved searching for minibeasts and having a go at identifying what we found.

Spring 1 2022 - Curious Characters

This half term our learning is all about 'Curious Characters'.  We will be reading lots of our favourite traditional tales such as The Three Little Pigs, The Gingerbread Man, Goldilocks and The Three Bears and many many more!  We will be thinking about the characters in the stories and relating their behaviours to our schools Rainbow Rules!

WC 31.1.22 - Chinese New Year

We have had such an exciting week this week learning all about Chinese New Year.  We have learnt about the story of the Great Race, found out about lots of Chinese New Year traditions, tasted Chinese food, watched dragon dances and, listened to Chinese music, practiced using chop sticks and much more! 

WC 4.1.22 - The Gingerbread Man

This week we have really enjoyed learning about the story of the Gingerbread Man.  The children love talking about the different characters and how the fox lied to the Gingerbread man, breaking our Rainbow Rule 'we are honest'!  The children tasted gingerbread biscuits and some children talked about them being 'spicy' on their tongues!  We made gingerbread men in the dough and loved using the ipads to to design our own Gingerbread Men!

WC 10.1.22 - Fairy Tale Houses!

This week in Forest Schools the children loved using the natural materials to create their very own homes for the fairy tale characters that we have been learning about in class.  I think you will agree that our children have shown super creativity skills this week!

Autumn 2 2021 - I Wonder...

This half term is always a super busy one in Reception!  We will be exploring the different celebrations that happen at this time of the year as well as learning about celebrations in other cultures.  We have a visit from the local Fire Station planned to help us learn about fire safety.  We will also continue to look at the way that the season changes at this time of the year and looking for signs of change in our Forest Adventures sessions. In the final couple of weeks we will be getting very excited about the count down to Christmas!

Christmas 2021

Wow!  We've had the most amazing fun-packed week!  Firstly we all enjoyed the Christmas panto coming in to school to perform Aladdin on Tuesday morning followed by a very snowy visit from Santa on his Tuc Tuc in the afternoon! On Wednesday it was Christmas dinner day and the children all looked amazing in their Christmassy outfits!  Thursday was party day and Friday we had a super fun day in class.  Phew what a week!  We are definitely ready for a lovely long rest with our families ready for yet another busy term next year!

Monday 13th December - Christingle

Today we learnt all about the celebration of Christingle and why this is important to Christians.  We created our own Christingles and talked about what each of the parts represented.  We then joined in with a zoom assembly with Reverend Peter from the Methodist Church and we lit our Christingles to help us understand why it is so important.

WC 22nd November 2021 - Birthdays

This week we have been thinking about Birthdays and learning why we celebrate!  We have been talking about our own family birthday traditions and decorated cupcakes to eat during Feel Good Friday!

12th November 2021 - Children in Need

Ash class loved wearing their pyjama's to school today to raise money for Children in Need!

11th November - Remembrance Day

This week we have been talking about the significance of the Poppy and Remembrance Day.  Have a look below at the children's transient at poppies, they look fabulous!

5th November 2021 - Bonfire Night!

Today we had a visit from the Fire Fighters from Ashfield Fire Service who brought their fire engine to school to help us learn all about fire safety and how to keep safe on Bonfire Night...

WC 1st November 2021 - Diwali

This week we have loved learning all about the Hindu celebration Diwali!  The children learnt lots about the way that Diwali is celebrated; we read the story of Rama & Sita, created our own Rangoli patterns, made our own Diwali cards and created Diva lamps out of clay!

Autumn 1 2021 - What makes me unique?

We are very excited to welcome so many new families to Healdswood this term.  To begin with we will be spending time settling into our new classroom, learning the routines and making new friends!  We will be thinking about ourselves and  answering the question 'what makes me unique?'  This will be through exploring what we look like, our senses, our likes & dislikes and our families and special people.  We will also be thinking about where we live and the local environment.  Towards the end of the term we will be searching for signs of autumn!

WC 4.10.21 - Harvest Time!

This week we have been thinking about Harvest and where some of out fruit and vegetables come from.  We thought about the farmers at this time of year who harvest food for us to eat.  We then sorted fruits and vegetables according to whether they grow under ground or over ground!  A big thank you to the parents and carers who donated food to our local food bank!

15.9.21 - Forest Schools

Today in Forest Schools we used our inspirations from the self portrait by Frida Kahlo to create clay faces...

14.9.21 - A huge "well done" to Henry who has been elected as our class school councillor!

Parents notice - 9.9.21

The Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA) is a statutory assessment from September 2021 onwards. It provides a snapshot of where pupils are when they arrive at school. It will provide a starting point to measure the progress schools make with their pupils between reception and the end of primary school.  Over the next few weeks the children in our class will be completing a baseline assessment with an adult.  You can read more about this via the links below.  Please let me know if you have any questions.

WC: 6th September 2021 - Take One Picture

This week across school is 'Take One Picture' week and this year we are looking at a self-portrait by the Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. We have shared the painting with the children who have had a lovely discussion about what they could see. The children were particularly interested in the necklace and leaves which they called 'light up leaves'.  We collected natural items at Forest Schools and the children used these to create transient art pictures inspired by the painting by Frida Kahlo.  Have a look below at our fabulous art work...

Have a look below to see our amazing learning from last year's Ash Class (2020-2021).

Summer 2

For our final half term in Reception, our topic will be 'Unexpected Oceans'.  We are really looking forward to this topic as hopefully some sunny weather will really support our learning about the seasides!  We will also be thinking about the ocean as a habitat and thinking about who lives there and how we can support animals to continue to live through protecting the oceans from pollution.  Please see the overview below for more information on our Unexpected Oceans topic...

Week commencing 21st June - Mister Seahorse

Our Talk 4 Writing this term is based around the story 'Mister Seahorse' by Eric Carle.  The children have loved reading the story so far especially learning that it is the male seahorses that carry the babies!  Have a look at the links below to see the story being read aloud and also a fascinating video of a male seahorse giving birth!

Monday 14th June 2021 - Seasides from the past!

Today we have had a special visitor in from Partake Theatre Company. We learnt about seasides form the past (100 years ago). We dressed up in old bathing costumes, boater hats and parasols. We learnt about old fashioned buckets and spades, hockey pokeys ( ice creams) and dances. The children had an amazing time and loved learning about how things were 100 years ago!

Summer 1

The sun is finally starting to shine and this will be mirrored in our topic 'Imagine...'  This half term we will be using our imaginations to think about dreams, colour and feelings.  We will be experimenting with creating different textures and colour mixing.  Have a look at our topic overview below for more information!

Thursday 20th May 2021 - Rockstar Day!

The children all looked amazing in their Rockstar outfits!  They took part in lots of musical activities following a beat and experimenting with the sounds of different instruments.  They also enjoyed listening to lots of different styles of music!

Wednesday 19th May 2021 - Weaving

This week we have reading the story 'Joseph and his Technicolour Dreamcoat'.  We learnt all about how his coat was made up of different colours.  In our Forest Adventures session we added different coloured fabric and items from the environment to weave into our own loom.  The children enjoyed chanting 'in and out...' as they weaved!

Week Commencing 10th May 2021 - Maths

This week in our maths work we have been thinking about sharing different amounts and working out whether it is 'fair' or 'not fair' by counting if each set has the same amount.  We have used the book 'The Doorbell Rang' by Pat Hutchins as a basis for this weeks maths learning.  You can watch the story here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-tqjCPnHLg

The children have loved doing this practically with cakes and have followed this up during their independent choosing time!

Week Commencing 19th April 2021

Welcome back to school after a lovely half term break!  This week in class we have been reading the story 'The Rainbow Fish'.  The children have absolutely loved this story and it has provoked lots of discussions about following our school Rainbow Rules.  In literacy we have been writing sentences about how we can follow the Rainbow Rules to make sure school is a happy place!  In our topic work we have been learning about St George's Day and why this is special to English people.  In Feel Good Friday we tasted scones and strawberries and enjoyed listening to the National Anthem!

Spring 2

Our new topic after half term will be all about 'Nurturing Nature'. We will be learning about farms, farm animals, lifecycles of chicks and mother and baby animals. We will be looking at what food we get from the farm and how it is produced. 

We will be having our own hatching chicks in class and watching how they grow! Watch this space...

24th March - Forest Adventures

Today in our Forest Adventures session we planted salad vegetable seeds.  We looked at the different types of seeds and thought about how different they would look once they were fully grown!  The children chose from spinach, radishes, beetroot or lettuce!  We can't wait to see our vegetables grow!

WC 22nd March 2021

Last week we began looking at the story 'The Little Red Hen' which is our Talk 4 Writing text for this half term.  Not only have we thought about how the animals did or didn't follow our school Rainbow Rules, we have also been learning about the process of making bread and the journey from seed to loaf!  Today the children helped to make bread rolls.  The classroom smelt divine and we enjoyed eating them before home time whilst the bread was still lovely and warm!  Everyone gave the bread a big thumbs up!

19th March 2021 - Goodbye Chicks!

Today we sadly said goodbye to the chicks who we have loved looking after over the past couple of weeks.  Our favourite part was holding the chicks and watching them cuddling together under their heat lamp.  The children loved sneaking a peak at lunchtime when the classroom was quiet and the chicks fell asleep!  We were sad to see the chicks go but know that they are going to loving new homes with some of our children in Foundation 2!

World Book Day - 11th March 2021

Today we celebrated World Book Day!  We came to school dressed as our favourite book characters and some of us created book character wooden spoons at home too.  Well done to Lola who won our wooden spoon competition!  In class we focussed on the story 'Peace at Last' by our Author of the Term Jill Murphy.  We did lots of fun activities including using instruments to recreate the different sounds from the story.  We also weaved our own quilts for Daddy Bear to sleep under!

WC 8.3.21 - Chicks!

It is so lovely to see all children back in school this week and they have all settled back so well!  Today we took delivery of 15 eggs which are currently in an incubator keeping warm in Nursery.  We are hoping that by Friday the eggs will have hatched and we can have chicks in both Nursery and F2!  This week so far we have been discussing how to look after the eggs and chicks once they have hatched and have made signs to let people know how to keep them safe!

Update 12.3.21

We are so lucky that all 15 eggs have now hatched!  The chicks have been split into two brooder boxes between Nursery and F2.  The chicks have dried out and are looking very fluffy and cute!  Mrs Green & Miss Black are taking the chicks home for the weekend and will bring them back on Monday morning ready for lots of cuddles with our chidlren!

WC 1st March - Farm Animals

This week in school and at home we have enjoyed beginning to think about farm animals and exploring what we already know about farms.  In school children have been collaging farm animals and thinking about which colours they need to represent each animal.

Spring 1

This term our topic is called 'Once upon a time...' We will be discovering the magic world of fairytales!  As well as reading lots of traditional and modern fairytales we will be finding out about castles and the Royal family.  We will be exploring this through artwork, science and ICT.  Please have a look at our topic map below for more information.

WC 8.2.21 - Chinese New Year

This week we have been learning all about how Chinese New Year is celebrated.  We had fun reading the story of the animal race and making Chinese dragons.  On Friday we also thought about Pancake Day and read the story Mr Wolf's Pancakes and decorated our own pancakes, they were yummy!

21.1.21 - Castles

We have been learning about castles this week both at school and at home. We used lots of different construction materials including boxes, tubes, bricks and other loose parts to make our own castles. We have loved seeing the photos of the castles that the children have made at home too.  Have a look below!

14.1.21 - A Snowy Day!

The snow has made us really excited today.  We loved going out to do our Daily Mile in the snow today and seeing how we made footprints in the snow!  It wasn't long before more snow came down and we watched how this covered over our footprints.

The children who are working at home had a great time in the snow today as well!

WC 4th January 2021

Well what a strange start to the term we've had!  Well done to all our children for coping so well with all the changes that have been happening whether it is still coming to school or working through their remote learning ay home.  If you are working from home all of your learning will be uploaded to your portfolio.

This week we have been learning about the Princess and the Frog.  We have looked at rhyming words, competed maths work around the song 5 Little Speckled Frogs, and learnt all about the lifecycle of a frog.

In class on Friday afternoon we still enjoyed 'Feel Good Friday' and it was lovely to see that the children at home joined in with this doing their favourite 'feel good' activity at home too.  Have a look at our Feel Good Friday photos below!

Autumn 2

Last term was such a busy one with starting school and moving classrooms for the heating works to be completed.  This term will be equally as busy as we have a jam packed term planned for the children!  This term's topic is called 'I wonder...' and we will be learning all about some of the different celebrations that happen around the world at this time of year.  We will be continuing to look at the changes in the environment and at the end of the term we will be getting prepared for Christmas!

A Visit from Santa

Christmas 2020

We have had a super busy few weeks in December, continuing with our learning as well as celebrating Christmas in a very different way this year!  In maths we have been looking at counting out quantities and then partitioning numbers as well as helping Santa to put his presents and Christmas items in size order!  We are super proud of all of our children in literacy as so many children are now not only writing their own name but are applying their phonic knowledge and writing words too!  Most children are now ready to move onto Phase 3 phonics in the new year which is absolutely brilliant!  Below are a few pictures of our work over the last couple of weeks:

23.11.20 - Christingle

Today we got into the Christmas spirit a little early as we had our annual Christingle Service.  The children all created their own Christingle and then we were joined over zoom by Reverend Peter Taylor who told us all about what the Christingle represents.  The children were all incredibly sensible when lighting the Christingles and thoroughly enjoyed the service.

WC 16.11.20 - Diwali

This week in F2 we have been learning all about how Diwali is celebrated.  We compared it to the celebrations that we have.  In literacy we enjoyed learning the story of Rama & Sita and retelling it using masks.  We also created our own Mehndi hand patterns and Rangoli patterns and wrote Diwali cards for our friends and family.  Finally we made Diva lamps using clay and decorated them using beautiful coloured jewels.  Then on Friday we switched the lights off and lighted our Diva lamps to see how they were used to light the way home for Rama & Sita!

WC 9.11.20 - Remembrance Week

We've had a really busy week this week learning all about Remembrance Day and ways that people remember the soldiers of the wars.  The children have learnt all about what the symbol of the poppy represents and we have made our own poppies in various ways.  We enjoyed decorating biscuits to look like poppies and created poppies from the bottom of pop bottles as a contribution to a whole school poppy display.  In Forest Schools this week we created crosses out of sticks and string and laid these by our own memorial tree.  I was really proud of how mature and respectful the children have been this week when speaking about Remembrance Day.

WC 2.11.20 - Bonfire Night

This week in Foundation 2 we have been learning all about the traditions of Bonfire Night and learning about how it is celebrated.  We made our own bonfire in Forest Schools and had marshmallows in Feel Good Friday.  We learnt about fire safety and how we can keep ourselves and our pets safe!  Children were also set a home learning challenge this week to create a bonfire picture on Purple Mash.  I'm sure you will agree that the children's pictures look spectacular!

As part of our learning this week about Bonfire Night we have also been continuing to think about the changes in the environment that we see at this time of the year.  Our outdoor area has been covered in autumn leaves and we have had fun this week playing in the leaves, throwing them up and sweeping them into piles!  We have been looking at circle art with by Kandindski and recreated our own circle art using autumn colours.  We then put the pictures together to create a beautiful display in our classroom.

Autumn 1

This term our learning will be centred around the topic 'Where will I go?'  As well as spending lots of time settling into our new classroom and learning the new rules and routines of out school we will be doing lots of exciting learning about ourselves and out families, journeys, maps and transport.  

16th October 2020 - Spooky Day!

We had a great day today getting dressed up in our Halloween costumes and doing lots of spooky activities around the classroom!  All of the children looked amazing and loved exploring the messy play.  We hope you all have a super half term and stay safe!

WC 12.10.20 - Pumpkin Soup!

This week we have been reading the story 'Pumpkin Soup' by Helen Cooper.  The children really loved the story and talking about the characters.  We discussed how to work together as a team and linked this to our school Rainbow Rules.  On Thursday we followed a recipe and made our own pumpkin soup.  It made the classroom smell delicious and we all loved having a taste of the soup!

Week commencing 21.9.20

Have a look at what we have been getting up to in our Forest School sessions!  Our challenge over the past fortnight has been to create our face using the natural materials.  We loved having hot chocolate and biscuits in the forest for our snack and learn a new hello & goodbye song!  Have a look below at a few of our Forest Schools photos so far...

Week Commencing 14.9.20

Over the next couple of weeks we will be looking at the story 'Mr Gumpy's Outing' by John Burningham. We will be doing lots of activities surrounding the story and will be retelling it using actions and a story map!
Here is a link to the story on youtube if you would like to watch it with your child at home:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mi_DV_DWN8M