Reception

In Reception, we continue to follow the Early Years Foundation Stage. We provide children with a careful blend of adult-led and child-initiated activities. Our aim in Reception is to encourage children to explore and question the world around them in order to learn new skills and information.

In Reception, our learning is very much child led. However, we do have overarching topics which guide our learning. These are: ‘Me and You’, ‘Celebrations’, ‘Land Ahoy!’, ‘Materials’, ‘Growing Strong’ and ‘Minibeasts’.

The Team

Year Group Leader: Ms Hempston

Butterfly Staff:
Class Teacher: Mr Cary

Support Staff: Mrs Patel (Monday and Tuesday) and Mrs Evans (Wednesday - Friday)

Bumblebee Staff:
Class Teacher: Mrs Barnett

Support Staff: Miss Sainsbury

Ladybird Staff:
Class Teacher: Mrs Dumpleton (Monday - Wednesday) and Mrs Shefferd (Wednesday - Friday)

Support Staff: Miss Martin

Trips and Visitors

This year we will embark on trips or engage with workshops that link with our topics of learning. These include:

Autumn
- The children will get used to their new school environment by embarking on a hunt of the school visiting key locations as they go and searching for the many animals we have living on site.

- Later on in the term, the children will engage in a local autumn walk where they will use their observational skills to spot signs of autumn. We will require parent helpers for this trip.

Spring

- In the spring term, we will be visited by Mill Cottage Farm who will bring an array of farm animals for the children to meet. The children will learn about what the animals need to stay healthy as well as helping to feed and brush the animals. The approximate cost of this trip is £4.50 a child.

- To support our celebration of World Book Day and help promote a love of reading, the Reception children will take a visit to Tolworth Library. The children will be able to explore the differing books on offer and choose one to bring back to school to keep in the class library for a short period of time. This trip has no cost.

Summer
- In the summer term, the Reception children will embark on their first coach trip to the Look out Discovery Centre in Bracknell. Visits to The Look Out encourage children to explore, investigate and have fun with science, technology, engineering, art and maths. The children will also enjoy a mini beast hunt in the woods. The approximate cost of this trip is £24 a child.

- To link with our exploration of the world around us, we see how Grand Avenue Primary and Nursery School looked in the past and compare it to how it looks now. Mr Bassett, the school caretaker, will be joining us to talk about what the school was like when he attended and what has changed.

There may be additional workshops over the year which link to themed events or occasions the school is celebrating. For many of these trips, we will need parent helpers, so do make yourself known to the class teacher if you are available.

PE and Swimming

The Reception children will engage in PE lessons every week. PE days are as follows:

Butterflies: Friday
Bumblebees: Thursday
Ladybirds: Thursday

In the summer term, Reception will be taking part in their swimming lessons. We require parent helpers to help support the children to walk to and from the pool. If you are available to help, please let your child’s class rep know and they will add you to the rota. Swim days will be announced nearer the time.

In the Summer Term the children will also have the opportunity to learn some tennis skills with the Teddy Tennis team. These sessions will take place on Monday afternoons from 28^th April.

Sharing our learning

Performances

In the Autumn term, the children will learn about the Christian Nativity story. They will then enjoy performing this for their parents.
The dates of the performances are:

Butterflies: Tuesday 3rd December 9.15am
Bumblebees: Thursday 5th December 9.15am
Ladybirds: Wednesday 4th December at 9.15am

In the Summer term, each class will perform an assembly to their parents to share their amazing learning from across the year.

Open Afternoons

Every term, Reception will host open afternoons to share the children’s learning with you as parents. You will be invited into school to engage in learning activities and to explore your child’s learning journey.

The dates of these are:

Monday 18th November or Thursday 21st November
Tuesday 11th February or Thursday 13th February

The sign up sheets for these will be sent home after half term.

How can you help at home?

Home Learning:
Every Thursday, home learning is set on the Google Classroom. This assignment will include an overview of what the children have been learning about in school and how you can support this learning at home including a challenge to complete.

You can upload any completed challenges to the Google Classroom and your child will be able to share this in class each week. We also encourage you to upload any other exciting things you have been up to at home.

Each week a Discussion Point will be posted on the Google Classroom stream. This will be specific to each class and will reflect something that has inspired and fascinated the children during their learning.

Reading:

Please try to read with your child every day. Share and enjoy the book together, making it a relaxed and special time. When your child reaches an unknown word, encourage them to sound the word e.g. t-r-u-ck and blend the sounds together to read the word, truck.

Storytime:

Sharing a story with your child each day is a relaxing time in which to focus solely on them whilst enriching their vocabulary and imagination. All stories, whether in English or another home language will help to build a love of reading.

Gross and Fine Motor Skills:

Gross Motor Skill practice is a crucial part of your child’s physical development every day. A visit to the playground, riding a bike or scooter, dancing, climbing, rolling down a grassy bank, swimming all help with muscle development. Fine Motor Skill development leads on from this and supports the early stages of writing. Some ideas for activities include threading cereal loops on to string, drawing with fingers or a twig in a tray of salt or shaving foam, building with Lego, playing with Hama beads or modelling with Playdough.

Handwriting:
Keep practising forming letters and numbers correctly. Click here for guidance on how these should look: Reception Handwriting.pdf

Independence:

Children grow in independence as they settle into Reception. Please encourage them to use the toilet independently, put on their coat and fasten the zip, take their jumper or cardigan on and off, start to dress and undress on their own. At lunchtimes, being able to use cutlery correctly helps with confidence.

Communication and Language:

There is a great deal of focus in the Reception Year on language acquisition and broadening the children’s vocabulary. Talking to your child when you go on a walk or to the shops, noticing the weather and the world around them, visiting parks and museums, playing with friends and family will all help to support speaking in full sentences and knowing which vocabulary to use. Listening to stories is also an excellent way of introducing new words as is asking and answering questions.

Mathematics:

Mathematics is part of everyday life. Some useful activities that are part of the daily routine could be:

Laying the table
Noticing when a water glass is full, half full or empty
Cooking and preparing food
Having a family height chart
Recognising the door number, the date, birthdays
Identifying times e.g. bedtime at 7pm
Naming 2D and 3D shapes e.g. our coasters are square, the football is a sphere

At the beginning of the school year, you will have received a Numbots login for your child. We encourage you to access this site for short periods of time regularly. For example, 5 - 10 minutes a day.

Helping in School:

We would love to welcome you into school to play board games, hear children read or share stories with them. This can be on a regular basis or a single visit. Thank you so much for all your support.