Foundation Newsletter Spring - Repton School Dubai

Repton Dubai: Foundation NewsSpring Term, 2012Spring has Sprung!It’s been a wonderful term of discovery for ouryoungest learners here at Repton, both Nurseryand Reception have been investigating the world inwhich we live in the most exciting and fun filledenvironments. When visiting the classes, thechildren are always so eager to share theirenvironment and tell me all about their discoveries.International day was a ‘sense’ sensation with thechildren having the opportunity to learn a littlemore about their world. It was wonderful to see themany countries that were represented at the eventand this would not have been possible without ourwonderful Parent volunteers. Thank You!It’s been a busy term for events and we thank allour parents and helpers who have made this term avery special one, a few of our favourite eventsincluded the following:Chinese New Year this year was celebrated with‘oodles’ of noodles and many other ‘red’ themedactivities. We certainly welcomed in the ‘Year of theDragon’ with a magnificent dragon dance led byReception Dolphins. We enjoyed sharing ourcreations with the infant school with a paradearound the Repton circle.In our annual ‘Sports Day’ both the Nursery andReception had a great time engaging in all thedifferent sporting activities including a variety ofcompetitive and non-competitive races. Out on theRepton Circle the weather was perfect and thechildren and parents cheered and supported eachother. Even the parents enjoyed a little friendlycompetition in our Mummy and Daddy races.The term continued with a celebration of stories onour ‘Pyjama day’. What an amazing day, whichstarted with very sleepy teachers and finished witheveryone enjoying some well deserved hotchocolate with their favourite bedtime stories. Thenormal day was abandoned for a celebration of ourfavourite authors read to us by older classes andsome very interesting and engaging junior andsenior teachers.

Repton Dubai: Foundation NewsSpring Term 2012In the Foundation department we see these manyevent days as an extension of our curriculum. Theyensure that each of our children can develop inconfidence and become a lifelong learner bycommunicating and investigating with thewonderful environment the Foundation staffprovide. As we end what has been a very busyterm, we would like to thank you for all yourcontinued support.Shiobhain BradyHead of FoundationReception NewsWe have had a very busy but exciting term inReception. The children have thoroughly enjoyedour topic based activities, learning to add and takeaway and continuing to practise their phonicsthrough our Read Write Inc programme. This termin particular the children have been developingwonderful reading skills. It is so nice to see them allmaking the most of their time in Reception, longmay it continue!While exploring ‘In the Town’ we focused on thejobs people do. A nurse came to visit each class totalk about her job. She showed us x-rays, let us useher stethoscope and taught us how to put bandageson. The children in Reception Seahorses andStingrays show us how it’s done.Our topic 'In the Town' allowed us to explore manyelements of a real town. We read a variety of fictionand non-fiction texts, and looked at differences andsimilarities between our town and other townsaround the world.As part of our learning journey we looked at avariety of shops and we were lucky enough to takea trip to the Union Co-op. We each had five dirhamsto spend. We looked at the price of each item,added them together until we had spent all of ourmoney, some even managed to come home withchange! The children in Reception Whales had apicnic on their return to school.While exploring ‘In the Country’ Reception Sealions looked at farms. They enjoyed playing with amodel farm and talked about the animals that livethere. We also looked at where food comes from inparticular root vegetables, milk and eggs.Repton School P.O. Box 300331, Nad Al Sheba 3 Dubai Tel 04 426 9393

Repton Dubai: Foundation NewsSpring Term 2012The children have been introduced to numeracyproblems such as addition and subtraction. Theyhad fun exploring the concepts and have beenusing a variety of tools and props to assist them infinding the answers. Here the children in ReceptionDolphins are showing how clever they are atmaking a number sentence.The children in the Rainbowfish class have enjoyedplaying on the new iPads. They have been able topractise their number formation, colour picturesand play educational games. They have had somuch fun! The teachers have been very impressedwith what they already know when using them.I am sure you will agree that the children’s readingis coming along beautifully, they are all sodelighted to be learning to read.In literacy the children have been practising theirsounds, Fred talk and writing. Most of the writingthey do relates to our topics and this term theywrote shopping lists, made class books, havewritten letters to the famer in our story ‘FarmerDuck’ and re-told the story of ‘The EnormousTurnip’.We have been making the most of the nice weatherand using all the playgrounds during our breaktimes. Each playground is different and offersopportunities for many learning experiences. Oneimportant lesson at playtime is the value ofteamwork as demonstrated here by ReceptionStarfish.Repton School P.O. Box 300331, Nad Al Sheba 3 Dubai Tel 04 426 9393

Repton Dubai: Foundation NewsSpring Term 2012We have also been learning about growth andchange by talking about how we develop frombabies to adults. We had great fun looking atphotos of the children as babies and trying to guesswho they are.Have a restful holiday, ready for more fun in ourlast term in Reception. Happy holidays!!Kate Edwards and the Reception TeamNursery NewsThe Nursery children have had a very exciting andproductive Spring Term. We started off with twolovely trips.First to the Park to develop our physical skills andexplore the local community and then it was off toPizza Express to do some cooking. The childrenalways enjoy these excursions, one of the mostexciting parts being the journey on the bus!Swimming lessons have been an exciting additionto the curriculum this term. The children are reallybeginning to gain confidence in the water as well asbeing more independent in dressing themselves.Then on World Book Day the whole departmenttook part in a pyjama day, snuggling up to readbooks together.Repton School P.O. Box 300331, Nad Al Sheba 3 Dubai Tel 04 426 9393

Repton Dubai: Foundation NewsSpring Term 2012The children have also begun to take part inassemblies this term. This has been a greatopportunity for the eight Nursery classes to gettogether and feel a sense of belonging within thewider community of Repton. They have met theloveable puppet Clovis and are helping him to learnsome good manners!We mustn’t forget the effort that was put in byeveryone to help make the Nursery Sports Daysuch a success. There were some budding athlete’samong the children and perhaps one or twofrustrated ones amongst the parents! A greatmorning was had by all.made and painted some wonderful Spring flowersand we were even lucky enough to experiencesome Spring showers when it rained a little bit thisweek.Emma Balsom and the Nursery Team.Tablet TechnologyThis term we have introduced ‘tablet’ technologyinto the Foundation Department. The ‘i pads’ havebeen a huge success in extending the curriculum onoffer to the pupils. It has been very evident fromour orientation that many of our pupils have priorknowledge of using ‘i pads’ and are even teachingthe teachers a thing or two.It’s wonderful to see our Nursery classes buildingthe foundations to their future. We hope for alovely last term in the Nursery.We have rounded off the term with some lovelyspring activities. The children have learned thenames of many different baby animals, they haveWishing you all a very Happy Holiday, see you onthe 15 th of April!Repton School P.O. Box 300331, Nad Al Sheba 3 Dubai Tel 04 426 9393