Reception

Welcome to Reception

Spring 1 2025

Dear Parents,

Welcome back after the Christmas holiday and a Happy New Year!  We hope you have all had a lovely time with your family and your children are ready for the new term.

Thank you to those parents who have already brought in wellington boots for your child to wear in outdoor provision.  Outdoor provision is a huge part of the curriculum and it is essential for the children to be outdoors every day to progress their learning.  As the weather continues to be wet and cold, please make sure your child wears appropriate clothing to accommodate this.

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. 

Attendance

Thank you so much for working hard on getting your child to school every day.  Last term there were many days when we had 100% 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 term.  There will also be some projects during holidays. 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 will continue to be on a Monday morning so please make sure your child comes to school in their full P.E kit.  Please also ensure that earrings and jewellery are removed on this day 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 ‘Foods’

Communication and Language

In addition to listening to stories each day, we will talk about non-fiction to develop new knowledge and vocabulary further.  We will also talk about events that happen in stories as well as events that happen in school and beyond.  We will continue to work hard to speak in full sentences so that others can understand us clearly and will learn to ask questions to find out more and to check that we understand what has been said.  We learn new vocabulary every day so please ask your child to discuss the new words they have learnt.

Personal, Social and Emotional Development

This half term we will be working hard to show resilience and perseverance in the face of challenge.  The staff will encourage our pupils to keep going even when challenges are tough.  Your child will learn to think about the perspective of others and how we can help to keep each other happy.  We will support your child to work and play co-operatively and take turns with others without the need for adults to often intervene.  

We are continuing with the toothbrushing scheme.  Our pupils love how clean their teeth feel in an afternoon.  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

Our pupils have daily access to the outdoors and also a weekly PE session in the school hall.  Building on from the learning in the autumn, we will refine and revise the fundamental movement skills of rolling, crawling, walking, jumping, running, hopping, skipping and climbing and learn how to confidently and safely use a range of large and small apparatus, alone and in a group.  Daily, we are developing the foundations of a handwriting style, which is fast, accurate and efficient. 

Literacy

This half term we begin to learn Set 2 sounds which includes understanding how more than one letter can make one sound – we call these ‘special friends’.   Pupils will have daily practice to learn these so that they recognise them at a glance.  They will use the knowledge of the individual sounds to help them read words.  We call this ‘sound-blending’.  Participating in daily phonics lessons helps us to become confident in word reading.  In addition, we have daily whole class reading lessons where we will read simple phrases and sentences made up of words with known letter-sounds correspondence and also learn some common exception words (Red Words).  We will also continue to work hard to write recognisable letters, aiming for them to be correctly formed.

Maths

For our daily maths, we will continue to count objects up to 10 and verbally count beyond 10.  We will also explore the composition of numbers to 10 - understanding that one number can be made up from (composed from) two or more smaller numbers.  We will begin to use a counting all strategy to combine two sets up to 10 and will also find number bonds for numbers up to 10. Resources such as five frames and ten frames will be used to support our pupils - “How many spaces are filled?  How many must still be empty?” Adults will use opportunities for your child to apply this knowledge e.g. “There are six pupils at the table but we only have 2 pencils. How many more do we need?”  We will continue to compare quantities, count on and back to find 1 more and 1 fewer and order numbers to 10.

Understanding the World

During dedicated talk time, we continue to discuss the seasons with a focus on winter and continue to understand the effect of the seasons on the natural world around us.  Through our book-based curriculum we will compare and contrast characters from stories, including figures from the past.  Together we continue to fill in a weekly timeline and learn to understand the past by discussing events that happened last week or last half term.  We will also draw information from a simple map from our local environment and story settings.  Through the use of the text Handa’s Surprise, the children will learn about the similarities and differences between life in this country and life in other countries, in particular Africa.  The children will also continue to learn about how different people may have different beliefs to us and look at how they celebrate special times.

Expressive Arts and Design

This half term, we continue to sing a range of well-known nursery rhymes and songs daily.  Your child is encouraged to explore, use and refine artistic effects to express their ideas and feelings.  They will learn specific skills and learn how to use the resources with care.  We are inspired by nature, by the stories we read and through pieces of art.  Your child will also be given opportunities to create collaboratively where they can share their ideas, resources and skills.

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