The first two full weeks in Reception have flown by, and the children have settled into their new routines wonderfully! We have been so impressed with their enthusiasm and willingness to learn. The children have now started their first topic: All About Me. We have been talking about our families and noticing similarities and differences between our own and others' families. The children did their first piece in their writing book by drawing a picture of their family. In art, the children have been starting to make their ‘expressive self portrait’, and have used sponges to create their background. In phonics, the children have started their journey with letters and sounds. They’ve been introduced to the sounds m, a, s, and d and are already showing great progress in recognising these sounds in words. Through a variety of fun, engaging activities, they have been practising blending and segmenting sounds, which lays the foundation for early reading skills. In maths, the children have been focusing on subitising, which is the ability to recognise small quantities without needing to count. They have been practising this up to the number 3, developing a good understanding of numbers and their values. In addition, the children have been learning about the composition of numbers up to 3. They’ve been exploring how numbers can be made up of smaller parts (e.g., 2 and 1 make 3) using practical resources like counters and cubes. Overall, it has been a busy and exciting start to the school year, with lots of learning happening through play and exploration! We are so proud of how well the children have settled in.

  

  

  

  

   

             

 

Key messages:

• Star moments occur every Friday. This is an opportunity for us to celebrate their achievements that they have at home with you in our weekly year group assembly. You can write in the star template what your child has achieved, eg. riding a bike for the first time, getting a medal in football, helping lay the table at home etc. Please place the stars in your child’s bag ready for the class assembly and these will be displayed in the classroom. You can find an electronic copy of the template here.

• A reminder that children are not to play on the climbing frame or use the school equipment before and after school, including siblings.

• Please can you give us donations of clean recycling to add to our junk modelling as we use it throughout the year - small boxes, toilet rolls etc. However we cannot accept anything that once contained nuts, eggs or fish.

• Please can you make sure your child comes into school dressed in their full PE kit with trainers every Thursday.

• Please remember to sign up for Tapestry (our online learning platform)- https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeeYGZQKyO1NHkmKjgeLGNRWyEHXdYnTDOmY9c9f_WnlPtBlA/viewform?usp=pp_url

• Individual school photos are happening on Monday 30th September and Tuesday 1st October. Please ensure your child is wearing the correct school uniform on this date.

• Can you believe we are already thinking about our Nativity performance?! Please let us know if for religious/personal reasons you would prefer for your child not to be involved in this.

• Parent volunteer training is on Friday 4th October. If you wish to volunteer for trips, reading etc., please attend this training. Please enquire at the main office.