Information for Lacey Class – Reception 2020

Dear Parents,

Congratulations for a fantastic start to school! The children have amazed us already and we are very excited about the year ahead. We are delighted with how well prepared the children are.

Thank you for your support with all the stay and play visits and the timetable of half days.  We feel it has been very beneficial.

The EYFS

Children in Reception continue the learning journey that they began in Pre-School and at home with you.  They follow the EYFS (Early Years and Foundation Stage) Curriculum, which is designed to help children develop from birth until they go into Year One at School. 

What do the children do?

Just as in Pre-School, the day at school is broken into different parts. During some of the day, your child can choose what they would like to do and some of the day will require your child to work with an adult.

What do the adults do?

Staff at school play alongside your child and help to teach them the next step in their learning. They also demonstrate and model things to small groups or the whole class and set up games or activities to practise the key skills they need to learn.

Staff at school observe your children daily in lots of different activities – some chosen by themselves and some which are taught or guided by adults. The information that the observations tell us enable us to plan for the next steps in your child’s learning.

Autumn Term Topics

This term is all about settling into school and joining in with the routines of the school day. The children will begin to learn the key sounds that letters make and how to write them and how to recognise, count and write numbers to 10.  If your child already knows these, we will adapt what they need to be taught to help them learn the next steps in their learning journey.  The Reception Curriculum is focussed on individual learning through play and challenge and we aim to provide opportunities to ensure that all children make great progress.

The topic for this term in Reception is ‘Into the Woods’.  We will be looking at lots of Traditional Tales and songs, including: Little Red Riding Hood, The Enormous Turnip, Ten Green Bottles, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Three Little Pigs. We will also do topics about the festivals of Divali and Christmas and learn about the Seasons of the Year.  Learning in Reception is very much led by your child’s interests, so we might deviate from this list if we need to!

What does your child need every day?

• Water bottle
• Fruit (1 piece of named fruit provided by you if you wish your child to have two portions of fruit a day)
• Weather appropriate clothing (sun hat/warm hat/raincoat – bear in mind the changeable weather that we have in England and that your child may spend up to half the day outside)
• Welly boots and wet weather gear
• Reading folder

PE

PE lessons will be on Wednesdays and Fridays. Please make sure your child is wearing their PE kit when they come in to school on these days.

Labels

Please clearly label all your child’s belongings so we can return them to you quickly if they get lost!

STIKINS labels are great and by purchasing them, you raise money for our school too. Click here and enter school fundraising number 14399 when ordering. Theses labels stick to everything!

Spare Clothes

Most children have the odd ‘wetting’ accident in school at some point. If you think your child is likely to have frequent accidents, please put a spare set of ‘bottoms’ (including socks or tights) in their bag. If your child borrows some spare clothes from school, please return them as soon as possible (nice and clean please!)

Messy Play

Learning through play can be a messy experience – so please be prepared for this!

Reading Books

Your child has been given a book bag so they can choose a new book each morning from the book box.  When we feel they are ready we will start giving them a book to practise their reading skills with a reading diary. They may also receive Games or Activities to support their learning in School. Please support them as much as you can.  

Check your Book Bag

Please check your child’s Reading Folder each day for letters. If your child has had an ‘accident’, there may also be some wet clothing in their bag. Please wash and return as soon as possible.  

School Toys.

Small children like to bring small toys from school home in their pockets – if this happens please could you return them and talk to your child about who they belong to. Please can you help us by not sending any toys in from home unless you are informed that it is okay for your child to do so.

Mrs. Reddecliff and Mrs. Wickens

Teachers are given time for planning, preparation and assessment each week and as you may be aware, Mrs Tapper is out of class on Friday. In order to cause the least disruption to the children each Friday Mrs. Reddecliff will be teaching the class.  When Mrs. Nugent is unavailable on Wednesday Mrs. Wickens will be the class TA.

Tapestry

Children often do things at home that they wouldn’t perhaps do at school, (and vice versa). We need you to share with us the special things that they are able to do, so that we can build up a really accurate picture of your child.  We use Tapestry to share evidence of your child’s learning at school with you – we love it when you share their learning at home with us. Please have a go at logging in so that we can sort out any issues for you.

Helpers

In Reception we appreciate any offer of help, no matter how small. You could help us by:

• Sharpening pencils
• Sharing stories/hearing children read
• Playing games/cooking
• Helping with woodwork
• Cleaning/sorting out indoor and outdoor Play equipment.
• Coming in to school to talk to the children about something that you do
• Coming with us for trips out of school

Your junk….our treasure!

Small children are like magpies…everything shiny or new to them is exciting.  If you have any unwanted ribbons/envelopes/stickers/glitter/flower petals/nuts and bolts/guttering/wrapping paper rolls/small cardboard boxes/enormous boxes/carpet rolls/treated and sanded planks/ropes/shells/stones…….etc    your children would love to play with it!  We are always extremely happy to receive donations of the above.

Spare or out of date lentils?

If you are going through your kitchen cupboards and find any spare or out of date:

• Flour
• Bicarb of soda/baking powder/cream of tartar
• Oil
• Lentils/dried beans
• Cake decorations
• Vinegar
• Cornflour
• Washing up liquid/shampoo/conditioner
• Baby bubble bath
• Clear pickling vinegar
• Salt

If you wish to donate any of the above items to school, they will be very gratefully received. We make playdough and potions regularly and need lots of ingredients! It doesn’t matter if they are not edible.

Key Children

Each week, we will be focusing our observations on 5 or 6 particular children. We will use this as an opportunity to find out as much about the child and their development and plan for their next steps. If you have any questions, concerns or just want to have a chat about your child- please telephone or email the school or catch Mrs. Tapper at the end of the day.  We also have termly Parents Evenings to discuss your child’s development.

Thank you for your support and for taking the time to read this lengthy letter!

Best wishes

Louise Tapper

EYFS Leader

PS   If you haven’t taken your child’s birth certificate to the office, please do so at your earliest opportunity.