A day at St Mary's
Staffing in Foundation Stage
The Foundation Stage is run predominantly as a unit with staff working as together team. Your child will be allocated a class teacher, which will also be a point of contact for parents. However, on a daily basis your child will learn alongside all adults and children within the unit.
Morning session
School starts at 8.50am when the classrooms open and your children will be welcomed into the classroom by their teacher. All staff will be on hand to support your child to settle in and take any messages you might need to pass on. Please inform staff in the morning if someone else is picking up your child that day, we cannot let your child go home with another adult unless you have given your permission. Your child’s safety and wellbeing is our number one priority and we take every precaution to keep them safe.
The children will spend much of the day in Child Initiated Learning Time where they will be free to play and access their own learning. They will be able to move freely from inside to outside. During this time teachers and early year’s practitioners actively seek opportunities to move your child’s learning forward during their play. This will include supporting them to develop relationships with their peers, building their confidence and resilience and ensuring their level of well-being and involvement is high.
Our environment is carefully planned so that there are opportunities for learning in all seven areas of the Reception Curriculum and we change our learning environment to reflect the needs of the children.
During the day there will also be small group and whole class teaching times where we introduce children to new concepts and come together to share learning. Each day will include a Phonics session where we explicitly teach the children.
Snack time
The children will be free to help themselves to a piece of fruit and drink in the morning. We encourage the children to be independent at this time. Please provide a named water bottle for your child.
Lunch time
At 11.50am the children begin lunchtime. The reception children are the first in the hall and staff will be on hand to support them.
The Government currently provides Free School Meals for all children up to and including Year 2. Children can opt into school meals on a daily basis and have a choice of three main options and three packed lunch options. There is always a vegetarian option and special diets for medical and religious reasons can be catered for, if requested. School lunches, which follow the healthy eating guidelines, are all freshly cooked and prepared on site by the St Mary’s Catering Team. A weekly menu is provided and is available on our website, or a paper copy may be obtained from the school office.
If your child would rather, then they can bring a packed lunch from home. Home packed lunches should not include fizzy drinks, sweets or any form of nuts, as we have children in school who suffer from severe nut allergies. They may have squash or fruit juice in their home packed lunch and water/ milk is always available at lunch time for those eating school dinners/ school packed lunches. You may decide on a daily basis whether your child has a school dinner or a packed lunch from home, children will give their lunch options during morning registration on the day.
Lunchtime is a time for children to talk and eat together. We encourage them to use cutlery and to be independent by modelling this.
After finishing their lunch the children play outside with other children from Key Stage One (Year 1 and Year 2). They are supported by lunchtime staff during this time.
Lunchtime finishes at 1pm.
Afternoon Session
The afternoon session will begin with a carpet time which might be a story or a maths session. The children will then return to a mix of child initiated learning and small group time.
End of the day
We finish every day with a class story time. Stories are an essential part of day and we value this time to come together, reflect on daily learning and enjoy a story together.
The school day finishes at 3:20pm, with the school gates being opened to parents at 3:15pm, allowing time to queue up ready for children to be collected. Once the school day has ended, your child's teacher will let each child out one by one, ensuring their parents are waiting, before allowing them out of the classroom.
