Reception Class

Welcome to Class 1!

 

I hope you all had a lovely Summer. We are so excited to welcome you and your child to Reception!

We cannot wait to begin this exciting learning journey together and support a fantastic start to school. Our classroom is a happy and nurturing environment with plenty of opportunities for children to learn through play, explore and discover.  We will support children to develop their independence, confidence and a love of learning during their first year of school.

In their reception year children are exposed to language rich, play based opportunities that support them to develop their communication, understanding of the world and creativity, while building strong foundations for literacy, numeracy and problem solving. Each half term children will focus on a different engaging topic that will support their development.

In the first half term we will explore the theme ‘Who Am I?’, allowing children to develop a strong sense of identity and belonging while building on friendships and settling into their new environment. They will explore their own interests and what makes them and others special, share their own families and learn about different types of families, explore their own feelings and emotions, talk about their home and different types of homes and learn about the different parts of a body.

In the second half of the term, we will focus on the theme ‘Who helps me?’ which enables the children to build a strong sense of community, develop their social skills and knowledge on how to stay safe and healthy. Children will explore who helps us at home and in school and learn about the different job roles of the people that help us in the community.

English/ Literacy

It is integral that children develop a life-long love of reading which we will support by providing regular opportunities for adults to talk to about the books they read with the children and what they experience in the world around them. We will share both fiction and non-fiction books, build on their listening skills and sing songs, rhymes and poems together.  In the first couple of weeks the children will come home with wordless books. This pre-reading is a brilliant opportunity for the children to talk about what is happening in the story. This develops their language skills, vocabulary and comprehension. Each week the children will also be able to pick a library book to take home and read with an adult.

The children follow the RWI phonics scheme which helps them to read fluently. In the first term they will learn single letter Set 1 sounds and then begin to practice these in words through oral blending. To help your child keep up with the RWI programme, we will record what the children have focused on in their phonics lessons each day in their reading record. Additional to the formal Phonics programme, we provide many opportunities to develop early literacy skills through games and the indoor and outdoor enhanced provision. These will often be linked to the children’s topic work to develop their vocabulary and allow them to retell stories and develop their imagination and creativity.

Maths

In Reception we follow the Mastering Number programme. This helps to secure strong early maths skills and allows children to develop a deep understanding. In the first term children will focus on developing their subitising (recognising quantities without counting) and counting skills. They will also explore the composition of numbers within 5 and start to compare sets of objects. Alongside daily whole-class teaching sessions, there will be a range of child-led opportunities to develop mathematical skills through meaningful play during indoor and outdoor continuous provision.

Themes (Understanding of the World/ Expressive Arts and Design)

During our topic work linked with ‘Who am I?’ and ‘Who helps us?’ the children will have opportunities to enjoy a wide variety of inspiring experiences including creating artworks (inspired by famous artists like Frida Khalo) using a variety of materials. As part of learning about different festivals children will make and taste apple flapjack, create collage fireworks, make clay Divas and create their own Christmas decorations to name a few. The children will learn about the months of the year and the changing seasons. They will also take part in Forest School sessions on a rotation basis throughout the year. Class 1 will have Forest School on a Friday afternoon in the first half of the Autumn term. This is a great opportunity for them to continue their learning outdoors, develop teamwork and grow respect and gratitude for the outdoor environment. For Forest School please can children bring in:

• Waterproofs to go over school uniform. If they don’t have waterproofs, please bring in a long sleeve top and trousers (not jeans).
• Wellie boots (in a carrier bag in case they get muddy)
• A coat (separate to their normal coat if possible as they often get wet and or muddy).
• You might also like to pack hat, scarf, gloves and perhaps spare socks in case theirs get wet, but this is not required.

PE/Physical Development

Children have a range of daily opportunities to improve their physical development in both their gross and fine motor skills through indoor and outdoor continuous provision.  There will also be a weekly PE session on a Monday afternoon which will focus on developing functional skills.  The children are welcome to leave their PE kits in school, and we will send them home if we feel they need washing or at the end of each half term.

PSHE/Personal, Social and Emotional Development

This is such a crucial part of your child’s education and underpins everything that we do.  Through all our activities, every child will have the opportunity to develop their personal, social and emotional skills, learning how to get on with each other and to have mutual respect and responsibility.  We will introduce and explore our school values: building Relationships by being Resilient, Resourceful, Reflective and Respectful as well as our school motto; ‘Aim High, Be Resilient & Take Care of Each Other’.  Often, we will have a focus on specific elements of PSED in activities such as circle time and with a programme called SCARF (Coram) using specialised resources and stories.  The SCARF themes this term are: ‘Me and My Relationships’ and ‘Valuing Differences’.

Homework

In Reception we ask you to support your child’s learning by helping them read 5 times a week. As previously mentioned, this begins with wordless books to develop language comprehension and will progress as the term continues to include the practising of Set 1 sounds and words. We will be sending home copies of Set 1 sounds and later in the term words. We ask that children practice these at home regularly to support their confidence. We will send you links to the RWI Portal to support with this.

For Maths home learning we will start with the online educational programme NumBots and then move on to DoodleMaths towards the end of the Autumn Term. We will provide you with information on how to access these and we will set weekly tasks on Class Dojo for the children to complete.

Communication

To help us share our adventures with you, we use Class Dojo. Each week we will share what we have been doing in class. We will also use Class Dojo to share additional messages with you. As your child’s class teacher, I am keen to receive any feedback you may have which will support your child in their learning journey in Class 1. If at any time you want to let us know anything extra, or if you have any questions or concerns, do please ask us at school drop off or pick up or arrange a meeting (telephone or face-to-face). Alternatively, you can contact the admin team in the office who can forward emails to us or arrange meetings.  Similarly, you can pop a message in your child’s Reading Record. It is so important that we keep communicating about the needs of your little ones so we can work together to support them. Please do look at the weekly newsletter where there are school updates and useful dates.

The children’s well-being is of paramount important to us and as a school we aim to create a happy, healthy environment for all. If you have any worries or questions, please do not hesitate in coming to see us.

Many thanks,

Mrs S Matthews (Class Teacher) and Miss D Elkins (TA)

 

Characteristics of Effective Learning A Parents Guide Summer

Characteristics of Effective Learning A Parents Guide Spring

Please click on the link for more information about the Early learning goals: Early Learning Goals – website