Reception 2021 - 2022

September 2021

Dear Parents and Carers,

We are enjoying getting to know the children who are all settling in well. They look so smart in their new uniforms. Please ensure that all your child’s clothing has their name in it;  including their PE kit, so if an item goes missing it is more likely to be returned to its owner if their name is in it.

Reception Staff: Mrs. Higginbottom is the class teacher and  Mrs. Wood will teach Reception every Monday. Mrs. Calderbank is our full-time teaching assistant and Mrs Elsmore is our part time teaching assistant she works in Reception every morning. Ms. Short is our lunch time supervisor.

Snacks: We would like to take this opportunity at the start of the new school year to remind everyone that we are a healthy school, fruit and a choice of healthy snacks are provided in class every day. If you wish to send a snack from home please ensure it is a healthy snack, some suggestions are fruit, vegetables, bread sticks or cheese. We suggest that you might like to send your child each day with a water bottle with their name on it.

PE: During this half term we will be having PE on a Thursday. This term the children will be learning dance. Everyone should bring their PE kits into school on Monday and take them home for washing after their lesson on Thursday. Jewellery, including earrings should not be worn. There will also be focused outdoor physical activities for the children to take part in.

Our topics for the autumn term are as follows,

RE: This half term, the children will be learning about God’s world. Throughout this topic, they will begin to appreciate the beauty of the world and know that God made it. They will learn that God loves and cares for each one of us and reflect on this. They will hear about and respond to the things God created for us. They will know that God has asked us to care for the world and think of ways in which we can help to do it.

At Home: You could help your children by looking at pictures of animals and plants and talking about how special creation is and encouraging them to notice different parts of God’s wonderful creation and think of ways to care for the world.

Personal, Social and Emotional Development:

During this term we will be getting to know each other and learning to get along together by taking turns and sharing our resources. We will also be learning how to choose the resources we need and become responsible for carrying out small jobs within the classroom. These skills will be taught through circle time activities, RE lessons and by learning all about our Golden Rules.

Literacy - Communication and language: We will be learning to listen carefully and understand why listening is important.  We will be enjoying story times and reading pirate stories. The children will be doing lots of activities based on the stories we read including role play and retelling familiar stories  in our own words. We will also be learning about rhyme, poems and singing lots of pirate songs. Our Talk for Writing text is Pirate’s Love Underpants.

Guided Reading: Reading is taught through guided reading sessions and class shared reading activities. During this time the children learn reading skills appropriate to their level of ability.  These sessions are designed to be challenging and scaffold the children as they begin to develop reading strategies to support them in their reading.

Home Reading: The books children bring home are for practise and are designed to build confidence and develop enjoyment of reading.  Children are expected to read these books regularly with support from you.  These books provide opportunity to practise skills taught in school. Please write a comment in your child’s reading diary each time they have read at home. Books will be changed three times a week if they have been read, on a Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. If you have not already got one book bags can be purchased from school, these slot nicely into the children’s trays for ease of changing both reading and library books.

Further Reading: Children will bring home a library book each week; our library day is Friday. Also local libraries have a wide range of books to enjoy!

Phonics: Phonics is taught daily, initially as we settle in as a whole class group. Then later the children will be split into groups based on their level of understanding of letters and the sounds they make. During our phonics and literacy lessons we will be learning to read individual letters by saying the sounds for them and then blending sounds so that we can read short words that are made up of known letter/sound correspondence. We will be learning to read some common exception words which are matched to our learning in phonics.

The children will soon be bringing home phonics books to support their letter/sound recognition.

Maths: We will be learning how to match, sort and compare amounts. Representing and comparing numbers I, 2 and 3. Representing numbers to 5 and finding one more or one less. We will be comparing size, mass, and capacity, exploring pattern, and learning about shapes and positional language.

More Curriculum Information:

Our curriculum information for the autumn term can be found on the parents' section on the website under curriculum information.

Home Learning: The children will receive a variety of homework tasks each term. These will help you to understand more about what your child is learning about in school as well as offering opportunities to practise and develop new skills and build confidence.  Please see the Home Learning section on the EYFS page of the school website for lots of useful websites to help support learning at home: http://www.st-pauls-hyde.tameside.sch.uk/page/early-years-and-foundation-stage/64171

Learning Journeys: Some of the work your child completes in school will go into their individual learning journey, along with photographs and observations. We will soon be sending home a set of WOW cards. Any home learning or significant achievements can be recorded onto a WOW card. Please send them into school and we will share them with the class and then add them to their learning journeys.

Class Fund: Class fund is a voluntary contribution of £1 each week, which can be paid half termly. This money will be used to provide a choice of snacks, ingredients for cooking, practical science activities and additional resources. Please send any contributions into school on a Monday.

Currently we ask that if you need to speak to the class teacher please contact the school office and I will contact you as soon as I am able to, this may be at the end of the school day. Alternatively, you can email me at: reception@st-pauls-hyde.tameside.sch.uk

We look forward to working with you and your children during the coming year.

Kind Regards

Mrs Higginbottom and the Reception Team