Welcome to Reception

Summer 1 2025

Dear Parents,

Welcome back after the Easter holidays!  We hope you have all enjoyed some sunshine in amongst the rain and have had a lovely time with your family.  After a good break your child should be ready to continue their learning journey.

We will continue working hard on our school values of Respect, Good Manners, Patience, Perseverance and Honesty and will earn dojo points for good behaviour, attitudes and effort.  When your child models a super learning attitude, they will be placed on the golden crown.  If they stay on it for the rest of the week, they earn an extra 10 dojos.  Can they get at least 125 this term to receive a certificate?

Attendance

Regular attendance helps your child build good habits, getting them used to the idea of getting up and ready for learning each day.  It helps your child build and sustain relationships with staff and make friends.  It can also help to ensure continuity of learning, with staff being more easily able to assess your child’s progress and identify next steps for them in accessing the curriculum.

Every moment in school counts, and days missed add up quickly. The higher a pupil’s attendance, the more they are likely to learn, and the better they are likely to perform as they progress through school. 

Staffing in Reception is:

Mrs May - Class Teacher 

Mrs Smith – Teaching Tuesdays and Thursdays

Mrs Patel – Teaching Assistant

Mrs Sadia – Teaching Assistant

Miss Iqbal - Special Support Assistant

Homework 

Please complete all homework which is set on a Friday and return completed books to school by the following Wednesday. Your child will have a timetable of homework activities, reading books and knowledge organisers to share with you each half term.  There will also be some projects during holidays and don’t forget your child can now use Purple Mash (you will find their login details at the front of their reading record). You can find links to useful websites in the websites star.

Parental support at home is vital in helping your child to progress.

PE

PE this term will be on a Thursday morning so please make sure your child comes to school in their full P.E kit on this day.  Please also ensure that earrings and jewellery are removed and long hair is tied up. The correct PE uniform is: yellow PE shirt, school green sweatshirt/cardigan, black PE shorts or jogging bottoms and black pumps or trainers.  Trainers are better now that they wear their PE kit all day.

Our topic this half term is ‘Animals’

Communication and Language

The classroom environment and the provision within this, is planned to engage and promote talk between each other.  We continue to encourage our pupils to work together to solve problems.  We support them to do this by modelling using problem solving words e.g.” I think…maybe you could…..it might be….how about trying….what would happen if?”  We continue to learn and practise new vocabulary, share stories, discuss events and listen carefully so that we can ask relevant questions to help us understand better.  Staff provide opportunities for the pupils to engage in conversations so that they can apply skills already taught, e.g. eye contact, listening to all the words, responding appropriately etc.  Please continue to encourage your child to speak in full sentences at home so that this becomes more natural to them. 

Personal, Social and Emotional Development

We will continue to support your child to have a good understanding of their own feelings and those of others.  Staff will model how to show sensitivity to others through listening to them and asking how they are.  Pupils will be encouraged to do the same and praised when doing so.  Class rules and school values continue to underpin the expectations around school and we continue to discuss right and wrong enabling our pupils to think about the consequences of their actions and how they might affect others.  Your child will be encouraged to set their own challenges and be confident to try new activities showing independence, resilience and perseverance.  We will support them to be able to follow instructions involving several ideas or actions.  We will do this by using visual prompts where necessary and ensuring instructions are clear and precise, particularly when giving several at once.

We continue with the toothbrushing scheme and your child is working hard to use the right pressure in order to clean their teeth and not damage their toothbrush.  Remember - this is not intended to replace tooth brushing at home. Our aim is to help support and reinforce what you are already teaching your child. It is still important that your child’s tooth brushing is supervised by an adult at home, in the morning and last thing at night before bed. Brushing before bedtime is especially important, to prevent plaque and food particles remaining in contact with the teeth throughout the night. 

Physical Development

Your child has daily access to the outdoors and also a weekly PE session in the school hall.   We give opportunities for them to move energetically and support them to develop the fundamental movement skills of rolling, crawling, walking, jumping, running, hopping, skipping and climbing.  During their physical development, our pupils demonstrate strength, balance and coordination and learn to negotiate space and obstacles safely.  They also continue to practise holding their pencil effectively, using a tripod grip.  This supports them to show accuracy and care in their writing and drawing.

Literacy

This half term we will begin to learn Set 3 sounds in phonics.  Daily practice of all sounds previously taught continues to be essential – this helps pupils to recognise ‘special friends’ in their reading.  During our English lessons, we will encourage pupils to anticipate key events in the stories and give their opinions for their choices.  We will also support them to write simple phrases and sentences that can be read by others using a capital letter and a full stop. Daily whole class reading continues to support your child in their ‘learning to read’ journey. 

Maths

During maths, we will build upon what we have already learnt so that our pupils have a deep understanding of the number system.  Your child will have regular opportunities to subitise and automatically recall number bonds to 5 (including subtraction facts and doubling facts).  Throughout the day, we plan opportunities for counting beyond 20 and noticing patterns in the number system.  Any opportunities for counting/recognising amounts at home and when you are out and about, will support your child to gain a deep understanding of number.

Understanding the World

During dedicated talk time, we continue to learn about the seasons and their effect on the natural world around us.  We will describe our immediate environment when observing seeds and bulbs that we have planted and also by observing minibeasts in their habitats.  Through books we are reading, we will learn about jungle and zoo animals with a particular focus on primates in their natural habitat, comparing this to our own environment. We will continue to understand the past by filling in our weekly timeline but will also find out about the history of zoos.  We will continue to learn about how different people may have different beliefs to us and look at how they celebrate special times, knowing some similarities and differences between different religious and cultural communities in this country.

Expressive Arts and Design

This half term, our pupils will make use of props and materials when role playing characters in narratives and stories and staff will encourage them to find resources to create their own props.  Your child will be encouraged to share their creations and talk about their designs by explaining what they did first, discussing how they made a particular part etc.  They will build on their previous learning by safely exploring a variety of materials, tools and techniques, experimenting with colour, design, text, form and function.

As always, we hope your child has an amazing half term being the best that they can be. 

Stay healthy, safe and happy! 

From all the Reception team: Mrs May, Mrs Smith, Mrs Patel, Mrs Sadia and Miss Iqbal