Welcome to Reception Mrs Wilson- Class teacher/ Vice Principal Mrs Bradley- Early Years Practitioner Mrs Cunningham- Early Years Practitioner Miss Gazey- Early Years Apprentice

Learning and growing together in faith and friendship

Behaviour Policy Remind them of the child friendly Behaviour Policy and give them a copy to take home

Our School Day Doors open at 8.50am. School starts at 9.00am. Children enter school via the Foundation Stage Entrance in the Outdoor Area. The school day ends at 3.10pm and children need to be collected from the Foundation Stage Entrance. Children receive fruit, water and milk during and at the end of the day. This is charged at £1 per week, to be paid on a Monday morning. Please encourage children to have a free bagel in the morning!

Uniform Nursery and Reception: A gold polo shirt with a grey skirt, pinafore or trousers A blue school cardigan or jumper, with the school logo Girls may wear a blue check dress in warmer weather PE: A sky blue polo shirt, with the school logo Navy shorts Black pumps or Velcro Trainers Please put children’s names in their uniforms and PE kits. Uniform

Things to remember: PE kit to be in school all week please. This half term, children will be involved in Bee Active on a Monday afternoon, but there will be other times when the children may need their kit, depending on events in school. Outdoor clothing is essential- we operate a free-flow of indoor and outdoor activities and encourage outdoor learning. Children need a pair of their own wellies and a warm, waterproof coat to enable them to access all areas of learning. A full change of clothing is also highly recommended. Children in Foundation Stage will get messy!

Learning in Reception: Religious Education As a Catholic school, RE is our core subject and at least 10% of the teaching timetable is dedicated to RE. The RE units in Reception are: Creation: God’s gifts People who Care for us Advent and Christmas Baptism and Special Celebrations Lent, Holy Week and Easter Prayer People Who Help Us

Always There Bear Each Friday, we will send one child home with our ‘Always There Bear’. The idea is based on the story of the same name, where a little boy takes his favourite bear to different places. Please take good care of Always There Bear and his camera, taking lots of pictures if things that you do, which your child can share with the class on Monday. Always There Bear always says his night- time prayer, which will be in his bag, so please don’t forget to say his prayers with him!

Learning in Reception: EYFS Curriculum There are 7 areas of learning in Reception, broken down into: Prime Areas: Specific Areas: Personal, Emotional and Social Development Communication and Language Physical Development Literacy (Reading; Writing) Maths (Number and Shape; Space & Measure) Understanding of the World (People & Communities; The World; Technology) Expressive Arts and Design (Exploring and using media & materials; Being imaginative)

The Teaching of Early Reading and Writing Children in Reception take part in a daily phonics session and additional Literacy lessons each week. These sessions are designed to teach children the skills they will need when reading and writing. Reading Books Once the children are ready, they will bring home their reading book every night. Please read with your child as much as possible and record a comment. Reading books are changed on a Monday and a Thursday. Sound Books Your child will soon be sent home with a sound book to practise a sound a week at home. Please practice saying the phoneme (the sound), reading the grapheme (letter) and reading simple words starting with the weekly sound. Sound Books will be given out on a Wednesday and will be collected on a Monday.

Magic Maths Children in Reception also take part in short daily Maths sessions. Magic Maths is a fun and interactive session that aims to develop essential Maths skills in children from the start. In Reception, we will teach children the basics of counting and recognising numbers to 20, one more/ less, adding and subtracting groups to find totals and simple sharing, halving and doubling, and counting in 2s and 10s.

How to help your child at home First and foremost, talk to them! About anything and everything! Literacy: Practise reading and sound books. Read lots of stories and talk about the characters, their feelings and what might happen next. Look for examples of letters or words in the environment. Encourage children to write: a shopping list, birthday cards (name writing), etc. Maths: Look at numbers around and about: door numbers, car registration numbers, etc. Go on shape hunts. Use comparative language to compare the sizes of objects (heavier/ lighter; longer/ shorter/ taller, etc.)

Forthcoming Events Trips Autumn Term: visiting Santa- most likely Churnet Valley Railway Spring Term: farm visit- Reaseheath Summer Term: Zoo- Twycross Nativity: look out for dates on The Communicator!

Home School Agreement

Any questions?