Reception 2023 - 2024

Welcome to Reception!  

We have two classes and each class is supported by one of our brilliant EYFS Teaching Assistants every day. 

We are so lucky to have two inspiring classrooms, a great outdoor area, a large playground, a huge field and our fabulous forest area.

Our Reception children are such enthusiastic learners, and we are so proud of them.  Highlights since starting school have included: visiting our school forest every week, learning phonics each day, exploring all of the fun learning opportunities both inside and outside the classroom, caring for our newly hatched chicks, learning about London landmarks and of course having a great deal of fun!

Reception DM/NB  Mrs McLintock and Mrs Brereton Class Saint: St Werburgh	Reception AC/KM Mrs Chesworth and Mrs Marchant Class Saint: St Columba

Our EYFS department is the final stage of the Early Years journey that our children began in nursery and pre-school settings. We follow a play based curriculum which children are familiar with and our teaching and learning progressess from what children were learning about when they finished attending our feeder settings. This is progressively strengthened to challenge every child to strive towards excellence in achieving the Early Learning Goals at the end of Reception.

Our EYFS team are experienced in supporting our youngest learners on their transition into school, and we ensure each child’s transition is as smooth as possible.  We liaise with all pre-schools during the Summer Term and visit each child and their family at home in the week prior to starting school.

We introduce our daily routines once children are settled into school:

Morning Missions
As the children come into school in the morning, after self-registering and organising their belongings, they are encouraged to settle to our independent Morning Missions.  These are often fine motor, letter formation or simple number or investigation activities.

Phonics
We teach phonics daily in Reception and follow Essenial Letters and Sounds.  These sessions include the introduction of a new sound and tricky words, learning how to blend (sound out) words and segment (spell) words.

Daily Whole Class Teaching
In addition to our daily phonics we have a topic based session every morning and a Mathematics session every afternoon.   

Busy Times
Our children experience learning through a balance of adult led activities and learning through their independent play.  Adult led activities cover all aspects of the Foundation Stage curriculum.  Adults support children’s independent play either by playing with the children or providing resources to extend their learning.  Children are encouraged to complete independent challenge activities which support their next steps in learning.

Physical Development
In addition to fine and gross motor provision within the environment both inside and out during busy times, children look forward to our daily ‘Big Toys’ session on the playground.  This provides all children with the opportunity to take risks through activities such as digging, riding bikes, balancing, climbing, throwing and catching.

How do Children Learn in Reception?

Our Reception pupils' learning will take place in our indoor and outdoor spaces. We recognise that children learn in a variety of ways, therefore our
teaching involves a balance of teacher-led tasks and play-based, independent, practical activities. This allows children’s knowledge and skills to
develop throughout the year, giving them the foundations of independence needed for school life. The Reception year also preparesour children for their transition to
Year 1 

Phonics and Reading:

We follow the ELS scheme to teach phonics every day in Reception.  New reading books will be sent home on Fridays, and will need to be returned to shool on Thursdays, ready to be changed. As the reading books are matched to the children's teaching and learning in phonics, your child should be able to read them without too much challenge.  We ask that children read each sentence 3 times: First time - decoding (sounding out) and recognising tricky words. Second time - reading a little bit quicker. Third time - read it in your storytelling voice (with expression and fluency). This will enable children to read fluently as soon as possible. Research has shown that if children are relying on sounding out words, this hinders their ability to understand what they have read, meaning they will find reading difficult and ultimately won't enjoy it.

Children also have the opportunity to choose a quality picture book from our library each week that they can enjoy with an adult at home.

Each Friday on Class Dojo, we send information about the week's learning in phonics - thank you for supporting your child to practise what we have learned at home. On each 5th week of teaching, the children are assessed to find out what they know. Parents/carers will be informed of any sounds their child doesn't know.

The powerpoint from the Autumn Reading and Phonics meeting is available to download at the bottom of this page, along with our sound and tricky word mats.

Follow this link to our phonics page for more information about our phonics teaching:

https://www.lovelearnlaugh.org.uk/page/our-approach-to-phonics/130744

Here are links to videos to support with the pure pronunciation of the sounds we teach in school:

Phase 2 Pronunciation

Phase 3 Pronunciation

Communication:

Parents and Carers can log into Class Dojo for updates about children's learning in school twice per week. This includes photos and videos of activities, updates about learning in phonics and details about supporting learning at home. We post some of our activities on X to share the children's awe and wonder with members of the public. The teaching team are here to support parents and carers and are always available during drop off and pick ups should you wish to speak to us about anything.

This half term:

We will be consolidating our phonics learning so far and gaining confidence in reading and writing simple sentences. Our learning will centre around 'The Great Outdoors' which will include learning about minibeasts, animals and their life cycles and summer sports. Our texts will include information books and a variety of traditional tales.

Our Yearly Overview is available to download at the bottom of this page

Follow this link to our EYFS Curriculum page for more information:

https://www.lovelearnlaugh.org.uk/page/eyfs-curriculum/78680