Welcome to Bumblebees Class, where the learning together and growing together begins at Bressingham Primary School.
In Bumblebees Class, we offer a positive first experience of school life. We are most fortunate to have wonderful indoor and outdoor spaces to learn. Our class holds a stimulating range of resources for both inside and outside playful learning opportunities. For example, our outside learning area has a hill and a wobbly bridge to help children develop balance, strength and their imaginations and a child safe pond for children to observe pond life and changes over time. We change our resources to reflect the children’s interests and ideas inspired by stories; we have recently set up an outside ‘magic train’ role-play area and ticket office. We offer a rich language environment full of rhymes and stories and our learning themes are projects inspired by these stories. We like to sing across the curriculum. We sing to line up, to tidy up and say goodbye. Music is a real motivator in our ‘Funky Fingers’ sessions where we strengthen our fingers and practise our fine motor skills as we listen to ‘funky’ music.
The Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum is designed for very young children and in our Reception Class, we work very hard to ensure that your child’s learning is driven by their unique needs and interests (Please see The Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum on our school website for more information).
The EYFS values not just what but how a child learns and describes ways of learning as Characteristics of Effective Learning. These characteristics are organised into strands;
Playing and exploring where children are engaged in their learning
Active learning where children are motivated to learn; and
Creating and Thinking Critically where children think about their learning.
In Bumblebees Class, we appreciate that children have already started their lifelong learning journey and we look for and further promote these characteristics or learning powers. Children learn how to develop as successful learners. We have four puppets who help us to demonstrate four key learning powers;
Curious Coco the monkey who is resourceful. He is good at finding things and asking questions.
Dogger the dog who is resilient. He never gives up.
Collaborative Clive the fireman who is reciprocal. He works with his friends to get the job done.
Thoughtful Thelma the badger who is reflective. She thinks about her learning.
These dispositions suggested by Professor Guy Claxton, based on research in the field of learning to learn are embedded into the whole ethos of our Early Years Foundation Stage.
It is our aim to excite our young learners and help them grow together – both socially and academically. Everyday, a child in turn is chosen to be our ‘special person’ who then chooses a helper. They are our class monitors and focus children for the day. They return the register, count the fruit, record the class fire drill roll, hand out the snack and choose the daily snack time story. For this they are both rewarded with a seat on a special chair during our carpet times and their photo is displayed. For rewards, the children fly their named rocket to visit one of our learning puppets, the star or the shooting star; within this system a child is chosen to take home Bertie Bressingham bear for the weekend. In addition, ‘Stars of the Week’ are presented in a whole school celebration assembly on a Friday morning.
Reading books, library books, letters and sounds and words to learn all go home for weekly learning. We also send home our green home/school sharing books in which we invite parents/carers to contribute and we update our class blog regularly so that we can share special moments from our learning. Every child has a Learning Journey and these are shared with families in our Family Sessions.
We welcome you warmly to our class.
Mrs Emma Sullivan and Mrs Jackie Fisher.
For more information about our school please contact us office@bressingham.norfolk.sch.uk or Tel 01379 687318.