Teachers– Mrs Sarah Walker (Monday, Tuesday and alternate Wednesdays)
Mrs Catherine Harvey (alternate Wednesdays, Thursday and Friday)
Teaching Assistants-Mrs Partridge & Mrs Barnicoat
Welcome to our Foundation class, 2019!
We have all settled into Kea School life really well and already our children have had so many exciting and new experiences.
We have learnt all about ourselves and our friends, the Oceans, found apples in our orchard to make apple crumbles, painted our portraits and started to learn lots of sounds in Read Write Inc.
We are becoming more independent, trying to do things for ourselves, such as changing our reading books in the morning, zipping up our coats, unpacking and packing our own bags. We are making lots of new friends and finding out about each other through our learning, play and circle time.
Here are some photos to show what we have got up to so far…
Meet our class!
We like to look at books with our friends.
We learnt how to cut apples safely.
We explored our field and collected apples for our crumbles.
We made crumble mixture.
We explored the sea creatures in our water tray, looking at them closely with a magnifying glass.
We created collage fish.
In YF, we like to play with our friends.
Welcome to Spring Term 2019!
This half term we are very excited to start our new topic about vehicles and transport. We have started by discussing what the word 'transport' and 'vehicle' means to us and have managed to think of so many different types of vehicle! We have started this topic by visiting the car park to look at cars and note what is different about each one. The children were intrigued to discover that all number plates are different and have asked to make their own.
During this half term we are also going to learn about other vehicles including emergency vehicles and we are hoping to have a visit from the fire brigade and police at some point. At the end of the January we will be visiting the maritime museum to enhance our learning of boats and sea voyages.
Christmas Nativity 2018
Well done to all the children for remembering all the words to the songs and singing so beautifully and for performing their dance with confidence and smiles. You were all stars!
Autumn Term / Second Half 2018
This half term we have been looking at different celebrations and events. We have learnt about birthdays and Diwali and why some people celebrate these occasions. We also discussed Children in Need and Remembrance Day and why we raise money to support these causes.
Our half term will finish with our lessons focusing on Christmas and how this time is celebrated.
Trying Indian food for our Diwali topic
Remembrance Day
Foundation Class worked with an artist to create poppies using clay. These were then fired and painted and will be added to those made by other children throughout the school to create a special display of poppies.
Autumn term 2018
Making bread and butter
As part of our focus on 'Harvest' we have been reading and thinking about the story of 'The Little Red Hen'. We made some bread to eat and also enjoyed making butter using double cream ...unlike the characters in the story of The Little Red Hen, we decided to all work together to make the bread and butter as many hands make light work.
Our first week in the Foundation Class!
We have settled into school life incredibly well and all children are enjoying the new and exciting experiences we offer here at Kea School.
During this half term we are starting with the topic 'All About Me'. We are looking at self portrait and studying our features using mirrors. We are already gaining confidence during circle time to talk about our families, pets and homes. We are also building independence by trying to do things for ourselves, such as putting on our own jumpers and zipping up our own coats. We are taking responsibility of our own belongings and putting them in the right places in the mornings. We are also enjoying having lots of new friends to play with and find out about.
Please take a look at all the exciting things we did in the Foundation Class last year!
We did it!
We are delighted that Cool Milk have responded to our letters and have agreed to send us milk in large recyclable bottles rather than the individual cartons. They also sent us some reusable cups to pour our milk into each day.
Well done Foundation Class!
Summer Term - 2nd Half
As the children thoroughly enjoyed our topic on Growth last half term, to follow on from this, our topic for the final half term this year will be Animals.
During this half term we will be focusing on Mini-beasts, pets, farm animals, animals from around the world and sealife.
When we returned from our half term break we were very pleased to find that our caterpillars were still sleeping and changing inside their cocoons and we hadn't missed their big reveal!
We set up an iPad to record the cocoons whilst we were outside or overnight to ensure we could see them emerge. We were very pleased to discover that we managed to capture the moment that 'Ben' emerged from his cocoon and he even gave us a little flutter of his wings! You can watch Ben's special moment below...
All five of our butterflies successfully hatched and were released into the big wide world to dance across the skies. Before we set them free the children were able to hold the butterflies on their hands. It enabled us to practice being very gentle with our hands, something all the children were very good at, and allowed some incredibly close up observations of the butterflies to be made.
Since releasing them the children often search for the butterflies around the school grounds and are very excited when they spot a Painted Lady butterfly - of course assuming it is one of our pets.
We have all enjoyed watching the lifecycle of a butterfly and it has brought a great deal of awe and wonder into our classroom.
Saving the planet - one milk carton at a time!
The children in Foundation Class decided during snack time that they no longer wanted to throw their milk cartons in the bin each day and would prefer to use a more environmentally friendly alternative. We discussed plastic and the effect it has on our local environment and the ocean. The children decided as a class that they would each like to write a letter to 'Cool Milk', the supplier of the daily milk cartons, and see if they would be willing to provide larger recyclable bottles of milk that the children could pour into cups each day.
You can read the children's thoughtful and amazing letters below. We are hoping to receive a reply from Cool Milk in the near future.
Summer Term - 1st Half
This half term we are learning and exploring the topic of Growth.
We were very excited to discover some frog spawn in our school pond. We carefully used nets to collect some, enabling us to take a closer look!
We have looked at the life cycle of sunflowers and other plants. We were set a challenge to create a sunflower at home using any media or material that we liked and we all thoroughly enjoyed being creative at home with our parents. We have displayed our beautiful sunflower artwork in our garden centre role play.
We have also been enjoying our 'Stay and Learn Together' sessions on Friday afternoons where our parents are invited to come into our classroom and explore some fun and interesting activities together. We have planted sunflowers and made a lifecycle wheel and made our own see-through greenhouses so we can see and watch how seeds grow.
During our lesson about the lifecycle of chickens and ducks, we were very excited to hear some 'cheeping' coming from the corridor and were very surprised when five fluffy ducklings appeared for us to meet. We were even able to give then a cuddle!
Science in Foundation
Learning about science starts in Foundation with our youngest children, embracing their naturally inquisitive nature to everything around them. During their time in Foundation we constantly
- talk about the things they observe such as animals, plants, natural and found objects
- learn about why things happen and how things work
- develop an understanding of growth, decay and changes over time
- care for and are concerned for living things and the environment
- look closely at similarities, differences, patterns and change
Whilst learning about all of the above, our children are also developing their communication and language skills, physical development and literacy and numeracy skills. In addition, they are constantly developing their characteristics of effective learning through playing and exploring, our active learning and creating and thinking critically.
Below show some science activities the children have done so far this year…
Privacy and cookies policy
Part 1: Privacy Policy
Last Edited: 23rd May 2018
1. Introduction
1.1. We are committed to safeguarding the privacy of the users of our services. Our services include and will hereby be referred to as ‘Our Services’ (our websites used to promote eSchools services and tutorial resources, specifically http://www.eschools.co.uk/ and https://academy.eschools.co.uk/), ‘School Websites’ ( designed by eSchools and populated by individual schools themselves) and ‘Platforms’ (individual online services that provide teachers, learners, parents and governors with information, tools and resources) as well as our smartphone app. This policy sets out how we will treat your personal information across these services.
2. Collecting personal information on Our Services
2.1 We may process or temporarily store the following kinds of personal information:
information about your computer and about your visits to and use of Our Services (including but not limited to, your IP address, geographical location, browser type and version, operating system, referral source, length of visit, page views and website navigation paths)
information contained in or relating to any communications that you send to us or send through our website (including, the communication content) via online forms
any other personal information that you choose to send to us via online forms
2.2 Before you disclose to us the personal information of another person, you must obtain that person's consent to both the disclosure and the processing of that personal information in accordance with the terms of this policy.
2.3 eSchools websites may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us and to enrich your user experience. You can adapt your cookie preferences, although please note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer. We will not, without your express consent, supply your personal information to any third party for the purpose of their or any other third party's direct marketing. For further information on how you can manage and set your cookie preferences, please see our Cookie Policy.
2.4 Information submitted through the online contact form on a school website is processed via eSchools, and passed directly to the school in question. This data is held by eSchools for 30 days (or in the case of failed messages, 90 days) before deletion. Once passed to the school this data is held by them and subject to that school’s privacy policy.
2.5 Schools are also able to add analytics tools and can therefore gather information on visits to and use of their website (including but not limited to, IP address, geographical location, browser type and version, operating system, referral source, length of visit, page views and website navigation paths). Individual visitors can manage their preferences through cookie preferences, as mentioned in 2.4.
2.6 Session IP addresses are retained to monitor and safeguard against improper usage of our services.
2.7 Content on the platform (added by staff, governors and students) and website content is added directly by School Users. This information is only used for to display on the platform in the way the user intends and is not used for any other purposes by eSchools. At a time when a school ceases to use our services the content is removed within a 14 day period as detailed in our agreement with the school.
2.8 Some of our services require the school to provide access to information they require for use with those services. For example a school using our communication tool, Letters Home, which enables schools to contact parents by email regarding important school information. In this situation a school will provide eSchools with access to the email address(es) they wish to send their communication to. Schools have granular access to ensure only the required data is shared and accessed by eSchools. The data is frequently updated to ensure that eSchools only retains up-to-date data.
3. Using your personal information
3.1. We may use your personal information to:
administer our services
enable your use of our services
troubleshoot and problem solve
send you email notifications that you have specifically requested. You can manage your preferences at anytime through your eSchools dashboard.
keep our services secure, safeguard against improper use of our services and prevent fraud.
3.1.1. For the purposes of providing you access to your eSchools platform and app (ie. forgotten password/login)
3.1.2. By registering for updates, School Staff/Governors are able to subscribe to our regular communications.
3.1.3. We will use any contact details supplied in an online form for the purposes explicitly detailed in said form. For example troubleshooting and problem solving or the provision of live online training as explicitly requested by you, the user.
3.2. We will not, without your express consent, supply your personal information to any third party for the purpose of their or any other third party's direct marketing.
3.3. eSchools understands our obligation to be mindful about the data we process and only process data that is required to fulfil our obligations in providing our services; to a school who enters into an agreement to use our services and you, the user.
3.4. We will not pass your information to third parties; except for the purpose of fulfilling our services to a school who enters into an agreement to use our services and you, the user or where we are required to do so by law.
4. Disclosing personal information
4.1 We may disclose your personal information to, any of our employees, officers, insurers, professional advisers, agents, suppliers or subcontractors insofar as reasonably necessary for the purposes set out in this policy.
4.2 We may disclose your personal information:
to the extent that we are required to do so by law;
in connection with any ongoing or prospective legal proceedings;
in order to establish, exercise or defend our legal rights (including providing information to others for the purposes of fraud prevention and reducing credit risk);
to any person who we reasonably believe may apply to a court or other competent authority for disclosure of that personal information where, in our reasonable opinion, such court or authority would be reasonably likely to order disclosure of that personal information;
to the school in the case of improper use on the platform by individuals.
4.3 Except as provided in this policy, we will not provide your personal information to third parties.
5. International data transfers
5.1. Data directly collected by eSchools may be stored and processed in and transferred between any of the countries in which we operate in order to enable us to use the information in accordance with this policy. Any third party we use is within the EEA or they hold a sufficient accreditation (i.e. Privacy Shield) as in line with requirements under the GDPR. No other third party are permitted to access the school’s data.
5.2. Personal information that an individual adds to our websites may be available, via the internet, around the world. We cannot prevent the use or misuse of such information by others.
6. Retaining personal information
6.1. This Section 6 sets out our data retention policies and procedure, which are designed to help ensure that we comply with our legal obligations in relation to the retention and deletion of personal information.
6.2. Personal information that we process for any purpose or purposes shall not be kept for longer than is necessary for that purpose or those purposes.
6.3. Data collected through analytic cookies will be retained for 26 months. Individual visitors can adapt the data collected through cookie preferences, as mentioned in 2.4.
6.4. Notwithstanding the other provisions of this Section 6, we will retain documents (including electronic documents) containing personal data:
To the extent that we are required to do so by law;
If we believe that the documents may be relevant to any ongoing or prospective legal proceedings; and
In order to establish, exercise or defend our legal rights (including providing information to others for the purposes of fraud prevention and reducing credit risk). Data will no longer be kept after the termination of the contract with the school.
7. Security of your personal information
7.1. We will take reasonable technical and organisational precautions to prevent the loss, misuse or alteration of your personal information.
7.2. We will store all the personal information you provide on our secure (password- and firewall-protected) servers. The web service we employ has a broad range of accreditations and certifications and the data centres used ensure the data stays within the EEA.
7.3. eSchools use a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) which creates a secure connection uses two keys to encrypt data in transit. Despite this, you acknowledge that the transmission of information over the internet is inherently insecure, and we cannot guarantee the security of data.
8. Amendments
8.1. We may update this policy from time to time by publishing a new version on our website.
8.2 You should check this page regularly to ensure you are aware of any changes to this policy.
9. Your rights
9.1. You may instruct us to provide you with any personal information we hold about you.
9.2. We may withhold personal information that you request to the extent permitted by law.
9.3. You may change your cookie preferences at any time as referenced in 2.4.
9.4. School Staff/Governors who subscribe to our Newsletter may manage their preferences at anytime through their eSchools dashboard.
10. Third party websites
10.1 Our website includes hyperlinks to, and details of, third party websites.
11. Updating information
We will only provide communication about the eSchools platform to school staff/governors who can manage their preferences at anytime through their eSchools dashboard.
Part 2: Cookie Policy
Last Edited: 23rd May 2018
This Cookie Policy explains how eSchools use cookies and similar technologies in our Services. It explains what these technologies are and why we use them, as well as your rights to control their use.
What are cookies?
Cookies are small data files that are placed on your computer or mobile device when you visit a website. Cookies are widely used by online service providers in order to (for example) make their websites or services work, or to work more efficiently, as well as to provide reporting information.
Cookies set by the website owner or service provider (in this case, eSchools) are called “first party cookies”. Cookies set by parties other than the website owner are called “third party cookies”. Third party cookies enable third party features or functionality to be provided on or through the website or service you are using (such as advertising, interactive content and analytics). The third parties that set these third party cookies can recognise your computer both when it visits the website or service in question and also when it visits certain other websites or services.
Why do we use cookies and other tracking technologies?
We use first party and third party cookies for several reasons. Some cookies are required for technical reasons in order for our Services to operate, and we refer to these as “essential” cookies. Other cookies enable us and the third parties we work with to track and target the interests of visitors to our Services, and we refer to these as “advertising” or “analytical” cookies. For example, the embedding of YouTube and Vimeo videos, as added by individual schools will require “advertising” cookies to be enabled in order to successfully play them. Schools that, for example, opt to track visitor data using Google Analytics will require “analytical” cookies to be enabled in order to do so. These third party cookies are used to tailor content and information that we may send or display to you and otherwise personalise your experience while interacting with our Services and to otherwise improve the functionality of the Services we provide. We also enable schools to employ cookies and similar tracking technologies in connection with their use of our Services in order to allow them to track visitors to and interactions with, their school website.
How eSchools Uses Cookies
eSchools websites may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us and to enrich your user experience. The cookies differ depending on the information. You can adapt your cookie preferences, although please note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer. We will not, without your express consent, supply your personal information to any third party for the purpose of their or any other third party's direct marketing.
User Embedded Content
Our Services allows schools to embed code which may potentially contain cookies. Please note embedded content, if displayed on one our websites, has been added by the school and not by eSchools. The embedded content added by the school may require additional cookies or tracking technologies to be enabled in order to function.
How can I control cookies?
You have the right to decide whether to accept or reject cookies. Be aware that cookie preferences are set on a per device basis; therefore you may need to set your preferences on each device you use.
Initial cookie pop-up banner: You can exercise preferences about what cookies are served on our Websites by selecting your preference from this modal which appears upon visiting an eSchools website/login screen and dashboard. You can also change your cookie preferences by clicking on the link on the footer of any page. The banner will reappear annually (August 31st to coincide with the academic year) to confirm your settings.
Browser Controls: You can set or amend your web browser controls to accept or refuse cookies. If you choose to reject cookies, you may still use our Websites though your access to some functionality and areas of our Websites may be restricted. As the means by which you can refuse cookies through your web browser controls vary from browser-to-browser, you should visit your browser’s help menu for more information.
Disabling Most Interest Based Advertising: Most advertising networks offer you a way to opt out of Interest Based Advertising. We will not, without your express consent, supply your personal information to any third party for the purpose of their or any other third party's direct marketing. If you would like to find out more information, please visit http://www.aboutads.info/choices/ or http://www.youronlinechoices.com.
Mobile Advertising: You can opt out of having your mobile advertising identifiers used for certain types of Interest Based Advertising, by accessing the settings in your Apple or Android mobile device and following the most recent published instructions. We will not, without your express consent, supply your personal information to any third party for the purpose of their or any other third party's direct marketing.
How often will you update this Cookie Statement?
We may update this Cookie Statement from time to time in order to reflect, for example, changes to the cookies we use or for other operational, legal or regulatory reasons. Please therefore re-visit this Cookie Statement regularly to stay informed about our use of cookies and related technologies. The date at the bottom of this Cookie Statement indicates when it was last updated.
Where can I get further information?
If you have any questions about our use of cookies or other technologies, please email us at support@eschools.co.uk.