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.

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. 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 and our school; we often refer to them as our Super Learning Powers.

In our class environment, we are really fortunate to have wonderful indoor and outdoor spaces to learn with a stimulating range of resources for both inside and outside playful learning opportunities.

Our outside learning area has a hill, a slide and a wobbly bridge to help children develop balance, strength and their imagination as well as a child-safe pond and planting area for children to observe pond life and changes over time. We are developing another space for Forest School inspired activities where the children can explore and create in a mud pit and build dens using natural materials everyday whatever the weather. The children will also be taking part in our Forest School which takes place on our school’s small, woodland area.

Our resources are stored so that they are accessible to the children, enabling them to really choose their playful learning and allow this learning to be led by their own interests. This helps them develop independence and critical thinking as well as to respect and care for shared equipment. Our role-play reflects the children’s interests and ideas and we have been inspired to develop many of these ideas including a ‘magic train’ role-play area and ticket office, a space rocket and hot air balloon.

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. Children have a weekly P.E. session which enables them to gain independence when dressing and experience games, ball skills, gymnastics and dance.

Learning opportunities are organised into a mixture of independent playful learning where adults plan in the moment according to children’s needs and interests as well as planned, adult-led, 1:1, small group and whole group learning. The learning is practical and ‘hands on’. Children enjoy activities such as mathematical snack and practise their skills, cooking or making playdough, independently following simple recipes.

We aim to create memorable, learning events and memories. We have regularly arranged visits to:

Bressingham Steam Museum and our local garden centre and café

Knettishall Heath

Norwich Castle Museum.

Additionally, we have been supported by parents and the local community to have Farm Days at school with live animals and the chance to learn about crops and real tractors. We often go on walks in the village to learn about the local area and road safety.

It is our aim to excite our young learners and help them grow together – both socially and academically. Every day, 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, 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. For rewards, the children fly their named rocket to visit the star, the shooting star or the planets. Within this system a child is chosen to take home Bertie Bressingham bear for the weekend. The whole class also work together to earn bees for a honey pot and when it is full, we have a whole class celebration. 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 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 actively seek to build relationships with parents, local pre-schools and within the school. Once a child secures a place at our school, we go out to visit them in their existing settings. We then invite parents and children to visit us and then children build confidence to stay without their parents. We always have a summer picnic where current and new parents and children are invited to attend in order to get to know each other and to be welcomed into our school family. Our older children are paired up as Buddies to our Reception children and they meet at this picnic so that there are plenty of familiar faces before they start Bressingham School in September

We warmly welcome you to visit 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.

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School

School Road,
Bressingham,
Diss,
Norfolk.
IP22 2AR