Useful Links
Advice For Parents About Maths
Maths Family Toolkit -This website offers lots of advice about helping your child with their maths at home. It also offers the opportunity for parents to who are less confident with their own maths to develop their own skills. If you would like any support accessing this training, please do not hesitate to contact the headteacher. We can offer access to computers and support from trained staff.
Recommended Reads For EYFS and KS 1
Nottinghamshire Education Library Service - Recommended Reads
Sounds For Letters - Phase 2 and Phase 3 Phonics
Ideas For Key Stage 2 Spelling
Reading Information For KS 2 Parents
Comprehension Information For KS 2 Parents
Reading Information For EYFS And KS1 Parents
If your child has turned five and you would like them to continue to have milk at school, then please click on this link and follow the instructions to register.
Modern Foreign Languages - A Guide For Parents
At Woodborough Wood’s Foundation School, French is taught throughout Key Stage 2 (years 3-6). Children learn to speak, write and read French and in addition, learn about the culture and traditions of some French speaking countries.
At Wood’s, we take an active approach to learning French. Throughout the juniors, children receive a lesson each week where they have the opportunity to learn new vocabulary and phrases, practise their spoken French and as they progress throughout Key Stage 2, children are expected to read and write in the language as well.
We enable children to use strategies they learn in literacy, to decode French texts. In addition, we use songs, role play and games to reinforce vocabulary which in turn, enables children to become more confident French speakers. We teach the children to know and understand how to ask and answer questions, use correct pronunciation and intonation, memorise words, interpret meaning, understand basic grammar, use dictionaries, work in pairs and groups to communicate in French and look at life in another culture.
Children can also access private French and Spanish extra curricular lessons from EYFS onwards. Please ask at the office for further information.
Parents can help by encouraging children to share the vocabulary and songs they learn in French at home. This BBC website offers some useful games and songs.
Geography - A Guide for Parents
Geography explores the relationship between people and places and the interaction between them on a local and global scale.
We believe our children should have the opportunity to learn about their own area, the wider world and the people who live in these places. In investigating places and themes children at Wood’s observe and ask questions about geographical features and issues, collect and record evidence to answer questions and analyse the evidence to draw conclusions and communicate their findings.
Infant classes focus on our immediate environment and children start to make comparisons with the wider world. Their activities vary between written and more fun based activities.
Junior classes study the weather, map work, environmental changes, local area and comparisons with the wider world.
How parents can help at home
Use a globe at home to try and find different continents and countries. Look at maps and atlases with your children and encourage them to find capital cities or use the key to find different geographical features such as rivers or mountains. Look at google earth to zone in on different places in the world.
This BBC website also offers lots of ideas.
History - A Guide for Parents
At Wood’s, we provide our children with a high-quality history education which helps them gain a coherent knowledge and understanding of Britain’s past and that of the wider world. Studying History, inspires children’s curiosity to know more about the past. It also helps them to ask perceptive questions, think critically, weigh evidence, sift arguments, and develop perspective and judgement. History helps our pupils to understand the complexity of people’s lives, the process of change, the diversity of societies and relationships between different groups, as well as their own identity and the challenges of their time.
Within the Early Years Foundation Stage, activities and experiences for pupils are based on the seven areas of learning and development. Provision focuses upon four specific areas: Literacy, Maths, Understanding the world, Expressive arts and design. Foundation Stage history is part of the national curriculum’s learning objectives for developing the pupils understanding of the world, within our foundation stage the pupils learn through experiences that introduce the concept of time and change. For example, pupils may be asked to bring in photographs of themselves as babies and to discuss how they have changed over time, pupils will also explore patterns and routines. Pupils also explore the ways in which their lives are different to their peers and can talk about important people in their lives Teaching of History in Key Stage 1:
In Y1 children build on this knowledge by expanding their historical awareness to 1666 and the Great Fire of London. This is developed to include a more recent history investigation of changes to toys since their grandparents were children so they can begin to understand we learn about history from a range of sources. In Y2 the more recent history of grandparents lives is expanded to include 100 years ago and the history of space exploration links to children’s developing understanding of world geography. Pupils should develop an awareness of the past, using common words and phrases relating to the passing of time. They should know where the people and events they study fit within a chronological framework and identify similarities and differences between ways of life in different periods. They should use a wide vocabulary of everyday historical terms. They should ask and answer questions, choosing and using parts of stories and other sources to show that they know and understand key features of events. They should understand some of the ways in which we find out about the past and identify different ways in which it is represented. They should use simple sources of information such as artefacts, photos and books to answer simple questions about the past. They should relate their own account of an event and understand that others may give a different version.
Teaching of History in Key stage 2:
Children in Y3 expand their historical knowledge by learning about the Ancient Egyptians (3000- 30BC). This has been chosen for the first term to enable cross curricular links with a geographical study of the Nile, providing the basis for future learning in Y4 about flooding. Their chronological knowledge is expanded in the summer term to include the Stone Age (9000-2000 BC), the furthest time in history studied. This is studied after the Egyptians because there is less primary evidence available for children to have first hand knowledge and the Egyptians provides a useful benchmark for more distant time frames. The Romans (27BC to 476AD) enable children in Y3 to link the history of Egypt to that of England. In Y4 Benin (c900 – 1300) is studied to expand children’s knowledge of African history and move their chronological awareness on. The history of our village is studied to link to the geographical investigation of flooding in the local area. Both of these Woodborough units enable children to use primary sources of evidence, making the learning very relevant. In Y5 Ancient Greece (700-480BC) is studied as a comparison of the geography of modern Athens. This enables children to build on their knowledge of the geography of Nottingham from Y4. It is also linked to their study of space and what the ancient Greeks provided towards this, as well as their impact on British Democracy from 1066 to the modern era. In Y6 the Viking and Anglo-Saxon struggle for the Kingdom of England (410 – 1066 AD) to the time of Edward the Confessor is studied to coincide with the children’s residential visit to Yorkshire, enabling them to have first hand experience of the Vikings through visits to The Dig and Jorvik centre. This visit also enables the comparison of Whitby with Nottingham. Pupils continue to develop a chronologically secure knowledge and understanding of British, local and world history, establishing clear narratives within and across the periods they study. They note connections, contrasts and trends over time and develop the appropriate use of historical terms. They regularly address and sometimes devise historically valid questions about change, cause, similarity and difference, and significance. They construct informed responses that involve thoughtful selection and organisation of relevant historical information. They understand how our knowledge of the past is constructed from a range of sources. They also talk about why some written sources may give a negative view or account and understand that the type of information available depends on the period of time studied. The will also be able to evaluate the usefulness and validity of a variety of sources and use this to support their views.
How parents can help at home
Why not take your child to a museum, or read non-fiction books with them about what they are learning in class.
This BBC website also offers lots of ideas.
Music - A Guide for Parents
During the primary phase, pupils are taught the knowledge, skills and understanding of music through a range of musical activities that integrate performing, composing and appraising. Music can be used as a powerful tool to build pupils’ self-esteem, encourage social interaction, aid long-term memory and with strong links to maths and language, music can effectively support pupils’ progress in core subjects.
In the Early Years, singing, playing and exploring pitch, rhythm and dynamics is part of the daily routine. In Key Stage 1 and 2, Music is taught weekly as part of the national curriculum. In Key Stage 1 all children learn to play the recorder. In Key Stage 2, all children will learn to play the xylophone as part of a whole-class teaching approach. All children from Reception to Year 6 take part in a weekly singing assembly which involves learning different types of lively and exciting songs from memory. There are a number of visiting instrumental teachers who teach brass, guitar, piano and violin. Wood’s has a wonderful choir. Children meet weekly to practise songs and perform once a term in an assembly, as well as in community events. Professional musicians work with Wood’s to allow children to experience and appreciate a wider range of musical genres.
All classes follow the Charanga scheme of work. This involves children listening carefully and responding physically and emotionally to a wide range of music. They play musical instruments and sing a variety of songs from memory and create short compositions, with increasing confidence, imagination and control. They explore and enjoy how sounds and silence can create different moods and effects. They work on their own and in groups to improvise and develop their own musical compositions.
How parents can help at home
Songs can be a great memory aid for learning and there are many nursery rhymes and educational songs you can sing with your child. If you have internet, youtube can be a great help to sing along to unfamiliar songs. Clapping rhythms or using body percussion is also a great way for children to learn and remember longer sequences, especially younger children.
If your child takes an instrument home, please encourage them to practise for 10 minutes every day.
Design Technology - A Guide for Parents
Design and technology (DT) is the part of the curriculum in which pupils learn to design, make and evaluate functional products or systems.
At Wood’s, DT lessons always comprise practical and technical activities. In school children will carry out designing and making tasks involving, structures, mechanisms and textiles as well as a food-based activity.
We have worked closely with the National Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths centre in York to develop our DT curriculum.
Within the framework of the National Curriculum, pupils at Wood’s are expected to develop the design and technology capability to help them in practical and educational settings. These skills include:
- creative designing and problem solving
- making functional products and systems
- considering aesthetic, social, economic and environmental issues
- reflecting on other people’s designing and making
- becoming discriminating consumers of products and systems
DT consolidates a range of curriculum areas. It supports English as children practice reading when making sense of instructions, seeking information, scanning and skimming texts, as well as reading captions and labels in design work. DT also provides ample opportunity for the practical application of mathematics through calculations and measurements. Computing is another important part of the DT curriculum as pupils have access to a range of related activities including those where they:
- use, draw and paint programs to model ideas
- use databases and other information sources for research
- develop their understanding of sequencing and control systems
- use digital cameras to record their work
How parents can help at home
Design and technology is everywhere. We are surrounded by it but often don't think about how and why things are the way they are. Take a moment with your children to consider some of the everyday household items that you own which have been affected by advances in Design and Technology. How have they changed in recent years and why?
