Where I Live
This week the children have been exploring and discussing where they live. We have been discussing the different rooms in our homes and how each home is different. We also learnt the poem – Home by Nancy VandenBerge. We created actions to help remember the words.
Can your child recite it for you?
In Maths, we have explored matching. The children have been finding matching objects which are the same. They enjoyed making matching models, matching objects to the shadows and finding matching pairs.
In Literacy , we have been using our new phonics knowledge to add initial sounds to our pictures.
Check out what else has been happening this week.
Home link
Take a walk around your local area. Can your child spot local landmarks or features. You may choose to make a map of your journey, a bird’s-eyed view of your street or make a model to represent your local area.
All About Me.
This week we have been celebrating our wonderful selves! The children have drawn: self portraits and their families. There have been lots of ‘Talk Time’ opportunities in which children have thoroughly enjoyed telling us about their unique families. Thankyou to those who have emailed a family photograph to us as children have been immensely proud to talk about their family. We have also looked at different families through the use of a book: ‘The Great Big Book of Families’ by Mary Hoffman and Ros Asquith .
In Maths we have been learning about the number zero. The children came up with some fabulous number stories about zero.
First, there was two fidget spinners. Next, I gave them away. Now, I have zero.-Ronnie
First, I had three apples in my tree. Next, they all fell on the floor. Now, I have zero left!-Freya
Perhaps you could come up with your own number stories about zero using: First, Next and Now.
In Phonics we have been listening to sounds all around as well as deciding if our instruments make a high pitched or a low pitched sound.
The children are doing exceptionally well for this time of year. We are very proud of how they are settling into the routines and learning in Reception. Take a look at the learning that has been taking place in our fabulous Rainbow and Sunshine rooms or outside:
Home-link Activity- Week Commencing 27.09.21
Our current learning is All About Me! This week, we’ll focus on our homes and the different types of homes that people live in. Please send in a picture of your child’s favourite part of their house or the front of their house. You could email the photo to the email address below.
Please also feel free to use the Reception email address any time, to share achievements and learning from home. We’d love to celebrate these in class!
Early Reading
The session will start at 6pm and last around 20-25 minutes, plus there will be a questions and answer session at the end of around 5-10 minutes.
The link to this zoom session will be emailed to all parents and carers by Monday 27th September. If you do not receive a link and would like to attend please contact the school office.
Help your child at home – recent workshops
Thank you to everyone who has attended our recent Zoom sessions to help you support your child at home. Watch the phonics session and the Early Years introduction.
Welcome to Reception: Week 2!
We are so pleased to have all of our children in full-time! They have all settled into Reception so brilliantly and we are very proud of them all. We are enjoying getting to know them and all of their unique personalities and interests.
Take a look at what we’ve been up to this week:
Did you know…
Your child has their very own named space on display in the classroom, where they can choose to display the learning that they feel most proud of!
School library visits and books for home…
Each week, your child will visit the school library with their class. When they visit the library, they will be able to choose a book to share with their adult/s at home. It’s important that alongside teaching the children the skills they need to become readers, we help to develop a love and enjoyment of reading too! Here are some fun ways that you can support your child’s reading at home:
- Have conversations about the pictures in the book- what can you see?
- Introduce the author, illustrator and blurb. Discuss whether you have read any other books together, written by the same author. Does the blurb seem similar to anything else you have read together?
- Ask your child to predict what might happen in the story? What happens after the story finishes?
- Ask your child how the character feels. How do they know? Do the pictures give us clues?
- Ask your child to retell the story in their own words.
Snacks and Water…
In class, we provide a healthy fruit or vegetable snack each day. If your child would prefer to bring in their own snack, please ensure this contains only fruit and/or vegetables and that it is in a named container, which your child can keep in their tray. We are a nut-free school, so no nut products in snack or lunch boxes please.
If your child brings grapes as part of their morning snack, please always ensure that they are cut lengthways.
Water bottles should contain plain water. Your child can choose to have milk with their morning snack, which is free until they turn five. If you would like your child to continue having milk after their fifth birthday, you can contact the school office. The cost of milk is £12 each term.
Home-link Activity- Week Commencing 20.09.21
Our current learning is All About Me! This week, we’ll focus on our families and the way that all families are different. Please send a photograph in, of your child with their family. You could email the photo to the email address below and we’ll print it in school.
Please also feel free to use the Reception email address any time, to share achievements and learning from home. We’d love to celebrate these in class!
Helping Support Your Child at Home…
Thank you to everyone who has attended our recent Zoom sessions to help you support your child at home. Watch the phonics session and the Early Years introduction. (And apologies for the distracting cursor in the latter – maybe that’s a nervous habit of Mr Roundtree!)
Isolation Home Learning Emails…
This week, you will receive an Isolation/ Home Learning Email. This will be sent each week, to provide home learning activities. The activities should only be used if your child needs to isolate and cannot attend school.
Reminders…
Please ensure all of your child’s clothing and property is clearly labelled with their name.
Diary Dates…
–Reception: Support your child’s reading– 6.00pm, Thursday 30 September 2021 (Zoom link TBC)
–Individual School Photographs– Wednesday 13 October 2021
Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA)
The Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA) is statutory for all schools from September 2021.
It is a short, interactive and practical assessment of your child’s early
literacy, communication, language and mathematics skills when they begin
school, using materials that most children of your child’s age will be familiar with.
All Reception children will be participating in the reception baseline assessment (RBA) within the first 6 weeks of starting school.
The purpose of the assessment is to provide the starting point for a new measure that will help parents understand how well schools support their pupils to progress between reception and year 6 / the end of key stage 2.
For further information about the RBA, please see this guide.
Introduction to Reception – Zoom session
We’d like to welcome new Reception parents to our school by inviting you to a short Zoom session on Wednesday 15 September at 6pm. This session will be a 30 minute introduction to Reception at our Sphere Federation schools.
The sessions will outline the recent changes to the EY’s Framework and the introduction of a Reception Baseline Assessment. It’ll also offer you a few top tips on how you can support your child at home.
The session starts at 6pm. It will last around 20-25 minutes, plus there will be a questions and answer session at the end of around 5-10 minutes.
If you’re interested in attending this Zoom session, please either send us a message on the School Gateway app or email the school office. We’ll then email the Zoom joining details out to all those who have expressed an interest.
Watch out for further workshops relating to both English and Maths on your child’s class website page in the coming weeks.
Our First Week
Our first groups have had a great first week in school.
All the children came in confidently. They happily waved at their grown-ups through the window before finding somewhere exciting to explore in the classroom.
We enjoyed taking part in our first PE lesson. Check out our super balances, hoop skills and jumps.
We can’t wait to welcome more new starters next week!
Lunch menus
PE days – which day to I wear my PE uniform?
We are going to continue with wearing PE kit on PE days – this cuts down on lost property and saves learning time, so we’re going to continue this for at least next year as a longer term trial. On the days your child has PE, they should come to school in their school uniform PE kit. (Track-suit bottoms instead of shorts would be good on colder days. Footwear : black/brown/grey/white flat shoes which are safe to run around in.)
Footwear on PE days could be children’s ‘school shoes’ which are often a plain ‘trainer’ style anyway, if you want to avoid having to buy 2 pairs of shoes.
Here is a link to our uniform policy.
Please find below the days each class has allocated PE times, which will be taught outdoors, except in extreme weather.
- F2 Sunshine (Miss Parling) – Monday and Friday
- F2 Rainbow (Mrs Allen-Kelly/Mrs Wilkins) – Monday and Friday
- 1A (Miss Lowry) – Thursday and Friday
- 1,2B (Mrs Latham) – Thursday and Friday
- 2C (Mr Gathercole) – Wednesday and Thursday
- 3,4A (Miss Harker) – Tuesday and Thursday
- 3,4B (Mr Catherall) – Monday and Tuesday
- 3,4C (Mrs McCormick/Mrs Wadsworth) – Tuesday and Wednesday
- 5,6A (Mr Freeman) – Monday and Wednesday
- 5,6B (Mrs Hogarth) – Tuesday and Wednesday
- 5,6C (Mr Lindsay) – Wednesday and Thursday