EYFS

Learning Link: All Creatures Great and Small

We will start the term by exploring our RE topic ‘Galilee to Jerusalem’. We will begin by finding out about camels and as our learning is child-led, we look forward to seeing where our link of Creatures and Great and Small will take us. 

St. Salvatore:

Mrs Sumsion – mrssumsion@st-thomas.surrey.sch.uk

St Henry:

Mon – Tues: Mrs Morgan– mrsmorgan@st-thomas.surrey.sch.uk

Weds – Fri: Mrs Hills- mrshills@st-thomas.surrey.sch.uk

Curriculum Newsletters for Autumn, Spring and Summer can be accessed here as they become available

The Curriculum Evening Presentation can be accessed here

Year Group Reminders

Week commencing – 26.01.26

S=P+A+C+E for Me – Red Group

This week Red Group are invited to bring in a small item that they would like to talk about linked to our learning below.  Please can you support your child to be ready to talk about their object in front of the class.

Morning Drop Off

Can we please ask you to wait for an adult to be on the gate before sending your child down the path and into class.

School rucksacks.

Can we please ask you to check that your child’s rucksack is named and that they have no more than 2 small keyrings. We know how special these can be and unfortunately due to the space they may get lost or damaged.

Breaks the Rules Day – Friday 30^th January

The whole school are taking part in ‘Break the Rules Day’ on Friday 30^th January. On this day your child can choose to break all six of the ‘special rules’ or just one, that is up to you decide with your child. Please see flyer below. Behaviour and learning expectations remain the same and our children will still Ready, Respectful and Safe at all times. All school rules remain the same!

For this fun day we are asking for a £1 donation to our Busenya Partnership via Scopay.

Harvest Collection - Monday 26th January to Friday 6th February

You might remember that we moved our annual "Harvest Collection" from the autumn as it clashed with our Shoebox Project.  We thought January would be a good time to support our local charities as supplies can run low in the post Christmas period.  We are therefore inviting families to join us in collecting goods for the Guildford Food Bank and Mulberry House (supported housing for women).

Here is a list of specific items these charities have requested:

Ready rice

Instant noodles

Sauces in jars

Ketchup

Brown sauce

Salt

Pepper

Tinned meat and tuna

Coffee, tea, instant hot chocolate

Handwash

Stock cube and cooking oils

Crisps, popcorn for snack nights

Bottled water for emergencies

Biscuits

Chocolate

Fruit Squash

Spray cleaner

Ambient puddings (such as sponge puddings, Angel Delight, jelly)

Tinned fruit

If anyone has any unwanted gifts Mulberry House would welcome them to give as birthday gifts to their residents e.g. smellies, make up bags, socks, perfume

If you are able to contribute to this it would be amazing.  The collection will start Monday 26th January and run for two weeks ending Friday 6th February.

Many thanks for your support with this collection.

Home Learning

Phonics

Your child will be bringing home a small wallet containing the next set of sounds learnt in school this week. Please keep the cards safe at home to use in a fun way.

Please return the small wallet for the new sounds each Monday.

Collins eBooks

These are updated each week for you to access each at home.

Story Sacks

Please continue to enjoy these wonderful literacy resource. The sacks will come home on a Monday and will need to be returned on the Friday of that week. It is really important that they are returned on time so that there are enough sacks to send out again to each child on the following Monday.  These sacks have taken a huge amount of time and care to put together, and we are so grateful to all the families and staff members who have helped to make this project possible.  Please, please can we ask that you take care of these story sacks, so that they can be enjoyed for many years to come! A photograph is included inside each bag; please use this to ensure that all of the contents are back in the bag before returning it to school.

Any lost or damaged contents will need to be replaced or paid for.

School Jam - Mathematics

Please continue to access the School Jam program which has digital activities you can use to support your child to develop their maths skills.

Prayer and Liturgy Bag

We are now sharing the Prayer and Liturgy bag once again. When it is your turn for you and your family to use the class prayer and liturgy bag. We invite you to write a prayer, reflection, drawing or a photo to show how you, as a family, have used the prayer resources tonight.

We conduct liturgy in school using the four-part structure of: Gather, Listen, Respond and Go Forth. In the information guide you will find some ideas of how you could use the prayer and liturgy bag at home but these are only suggestions and can be used how you wish.

If you received this on a Monday, please return it on Thursday. If you received it on Thursday then please return it on Monday.

Reading for Pleasure

Lifesize Dinosaurs by Sophy Henn

RE

Galilee to Jerusalem Objective 4 - The Feeding of the Five Thousand - John 6:1-14

We will be thinking about how Jesus cares for us all and notices when we need things. He wants to help us and give us what we need.

Personal, social, emotional development

We will be listening to the story of The Boy Who Shared His Sandwich by Steph Williams and talking about how we can take care of our friends and family. How do we feel when someone takes care of us?

Literacy and Phonics

Phase 3

We will be learning the following new sounds: air and er

We will be learning the following Tricky Words: are sure and pure

Communication and language

We will be asking our questions to find out more and check that we understand what is being said.

Mathematics

Week 14, Focus: Composition

This week, the children will continue to engage with activities that develop their understanding of composition, or the numbers within numbers.

A key focus will be on exploring ways to represent numbers using the Hungarian number pattern (die pattern). These key representations will help to underline the ‘5-ness’ of 5, and provide structures that will support exploration of its composition and its relationships with other numbers. The children will secure their understanding of the pairs of numbers that make 5, and then use double dice frames to begin to explore 6 and 7 as numbers that are composed of ‘5 and a bit’.

Understanding the World

On Friday we are expecting a very exciting visitor from ‘Life Long Ago’ and will be finding out about fossils and what a palaeontologist is?

Expressive arts and design

We will be making our own fossils using malleable materials. 

Music

Using another part of The Magical Toybox Story, we will begin to explore what pitch means in music.

Physical Development (in PE)

Gymnastics

Move confidently and safely in space using under, round, over equipment and obstacles.

Move and stop, recognising both commands.

Show contrast with their bodies including tall/short, wide/thin,

straight/curved).

Make shapes with their bodies. Jump off an object and land appropriately.

Fundamentals unit 1 & 2

Topic of 'all about me'. Fundamental skills and gross motor skills will include balancing, running, changing direction, jumping, hopping and travelling. They will learn how to stay safe using space, follow rules and instructions and work independently and with a partner.

Vocabulary

Additional resource