Welcome to Sunnybrow Primary School’s Early Years Unit!
A bit about us…
We are a small Early Years provision, made up of Nursery and Reception children. Our class teacher is Miss Wild. We are supported by Mrs Black, Mrs Featherstone and Mrs Leddy.
In Nursery and Reception, we have fun exploring, investigating and learning new skills through a variety of play-based activities. Our broad and balanced curriculum provides opportunities for first hand experiences which enthuse, excite and inspire all children in all areas of learning. While we do follow topics, activities are carefully planned in response to the children’s own interests as we believe that this is the most effective way to stimulate and support children’s own natural curiosity whilst developing key skills and knowledge. Our outdoor space is open daily as free-flow learning, with a different set of experiences provided to the indoor classroom to ensure that we are developing the whole-child, evoking the senses and appealing to all learning styles through the natural environment.
For a more detailed account of our EYFS curriculum and teaching and learning approaches, please read the Early Years Intent, Implementation and Impact document.
EYFS Intent, Implementation and Impact
Important EYFS documents
EYFS policy 2023-2024
EYFS Long-Term English Plan Cycle A
EYFS Long-Term English Plan Cycle B
What have Class One been up to?
Class 1 Shabbat
In Class 1 we have been learning about Shabbat. We found out what families do for Shabbat and we made our own Challah bread.
Harvest Festival (18.10.24)
The whole school went to St Stephen’s Church to celebrate harvest. Reception children carried the food donations up to the altar where they were blessed and alter taken to the local food bank.
Autumn Walk in Auckland Park (17.10.24)
Our Reception children enjoyed an Autumn walk around Auckland Park. We discovered lots of signs of Autumn and we even saw the castle.
We’re Going on a Bear Hunt (9.24)
We have enjoyed reading this story and creating our own bear hunt story.
Making Scones and Blackberry Jam (13.9.24)
In class 1, we have started learning about harvest time and Autumn. We picked our own blackberries from our school field and turned them into delicious jam. We also made scones to go with our jam.
Grab a Grow-Up (25.6.24)
We had a fantastic morning trying lots of sporting activities with our grown-ups. lots of grown- ups came to help us, it was so much fun.
The Tiger Who Came to Tea Picnic (18.6.24)
One of our books this half term was The Tiger Who Came To Tea. We have also learned a lot about healthy eating and what a balanced diet could look like. The children helped plan a picnic and even helped prepare it. We thought it would be nice to invite other animals along to our picnic as well as the tiger.
Lanchester Garden Centre – Potter’s World (1.5.24)
As part of our current topic, we went to Lanchester garden centre to meet some animals that lay eggs. We saw lots of different birds, including owls and parrots. We also saw fish, giant rabbits, snakes, lizards and tortoises.
Willington Library (29.4.24)
We went to Willington Library. The librarian told us all about the library, what you can do at the library and what a librarian does. She read us a story and then let us explore the books and colour in.
Holi Festival – Colour Run (26.4.24)
To celebrate the Hindu festival, Class 1 joined the rest of the school in a colour run. It was so much fun.
Easter (March 2024)
Easter Egg Hunt…
Chocolate Crispy Easter Cakes…
We made lots of things this half term…
We acted out the Easter Story…
Farm visit to feed the lambs (22.03.24)
We were so lucky to get invited to the farm to feed the new lambs. We also met the cows and the horses.
Ice Skating (13.02.24)
Our topic after Christmas was Winter. The key experience for this topic was ice skating. We took the children to the ice rink at Billingham Forum. We all loved it, it was so much fun. The children were fantastic on the ice.
Celebrations (so far this school year)
We have enjoyed learning about and taking part in so many festivals and celebrations already this year. We have had, birthdays, Halloween, Bonfire Night, Diwali, Hanukkah, Christmas, New Year, Pancake day, Chinese New Year and soon it will be Mothers Day and Easter.
Our Parent Event (11.10.23)
Class One’s first parent event of the year was a huge success! We had a lovely afternoon with our families. We enjoyed making owls, bird feeders, colouring, time with Robbie and Ruby and showing off our wonderful classroom.
A trip to Hardwick Park 10.07.23
Class 1 had an exciting visit to Hardwick Park today. In the morning, we completed the ‘Save the Dragons’ workshop and had a fun time learning all about how we can help to save the planet, including picking up all the litter the naughty dragons had dropped! After a delicious lunch, we went to feed the ducks. Mrs Black managed to attract every duck, swan and goose in the park (much to the terror of the other teachers) but the children had lots of fun!
All about Andy Goldsworthy 07.07.23
Over the last half-term, Class 1 have been learning all about the sculptor Andy Goldsworthy. This topic built on the children’s learning about the natural world, changing seasons and materials, as the children included natural materials in their designs. They carefully used some of Andy’s design ideas to influence their own work.
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The First Three Weeks (22.09.23)
Our topic this half-term is ‘Owls and other woodland creatures’. As a class, we love getting outside and exploring the outdoors and Autumn is a wonderful time of year to get out and see all the changes in the world around us. After exploring the woodland on our field, we created a small-world 3D map of a woodland.
We’ve learnt the names of some woodland animals, learnt new words to describe them and we’ve had a go at making 3D models of the animals using clay and loose parts.
TT Rockstars Day (22.09.23)
We celebrated the launch of our TT Rockstars day (purchased for the older children in school to use to practise their times tables) by dressing up as Rockstars and playing lots of counting games. We loved the theme!
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October in Class One
This month, we’ve continued to learn about how our local area changes during Autumn. In particular, we’ve been learning about the woodland as a habitat to woodland animals. We went for a walk down the lines and spotted lots of signs of Autumn.
We even enjoyed a trip to the park!
Halloween Movie Night (26.10.23)
We came to school dressed up as Halloween characters and took part in a spooky day of learning before enjoying a Halloween movie with popcorn and sweets after-school.
Remember, remember what happened in November!
The fun and learning never stops in Class One! Christmas started nice and early as we started to learn the songs for our whole-school Nativity ‘Baubles’. We then really kicked-started the festive period with a trip to Beamish Museum. We took part in the workshop ‘Tales about Christmas’ where we heard a story around the fire, made peg dolls and played traditional games like ‘find the thimble’. Our children were so curious about life in the past and there was lots of interesting discussion. As always, behaviour was impeccable!
For Anti-Bullying week, we learnt what bullying is and talked about the importance of kindness. We made art-work for Anti-bullying week, influenced by the artist Andy Warhol. We’ve also learnt about Remembrance Day, played in the snow, and in art, we’ve painted designs onto t-shirts!
Feeling Festive in Class One
December has been an incredibly busy month in Class One. We started with a festive trip to Beamish to take part in a Christmas workshop and learn about Christmas in the past. We’ve been to the panto, had our Christmas party and Christmas lunch and took part in the school production of ‘Baubles’. There has been lots of learning too!
The first month of the year!
2024 has got off to a flying start here in Class One. We started our new topic ‘Winter’ and have been learning all about cold places and how people and animals adapt to survive. One of our favourite Science experiments was using an ice-bucket activity to find out about how polar bears keep warm with their layer of blubber!
We’ve been back out on our decking painting with ice and creating all sorts of weird and wonderful meals in the mud kitchen. In Maths, we have been doing working really hard to understand our numbers 1-5. Our counting is getting really accurate now.
You can view our archived Class information on our website.
