Reception

Below, parents of our current classes can find out more about their child's learning for the week ahead; this will also be shared on Tapestry. Please scroll further down the page to find more information about your child's learning. 

NEW SEPTEMBER 2023 INTAKE - Thank you for choosing our wonderful school for your children! We are very much looking forward to meeting you all at the welcome evening on the 6th June and cannot wait to meet your children at our play sessions, and when we visit their pre-schools. Please scroll to the bottom of this page for key information and dates for your diary. 

Your child's week at school - week beginning 22.5.23

We hope that you have all had a lovely weekend and enjoyed the sunshine. 😊

The week ahead:
Literacy
This week we will be revisiting the book ‘Pets and their People’ by Jess French. We will find out about animals in the wild and how important it is to look after their environment. We will discuss the different ways we can help these animals e.g. by reducing plastic waste which can end up in our oceans. Then, we will write sentences about this, using our Fred fingers to write each word. 

Vocabulary to discuss with your children at home:
ocean, recycle, reduce, climate change 

Can you ask your child to tell you about animals in the wild and how we can help them? 

Maths
In maths, we will be adding amounts by putting the larger number in our heads and counting on. We will make up number stories about our adding sentences e.g. 8 children went for a walk in the park and met 4 more friends so there were 12 children altogether. We will read the story Mr Gumpy’s Outing by John Birmingham and link this to learning about one more. We will play adding games and write adding number sentences linked to number stories that we will make up.

Phonics
Purple group will revisit all of the special friends sounds that they have previously learned- they have covered all of the set 2 Read Write Inc special friends so will spend the next half term becoming 'experts' by consolidating what they already know. They will read and write words with all of their special friends in and practise writing tricky words too. They will read words with four and five sounds in as well as two syllable words.They will read their storybook three times in class before bringing it home and will write sentences linked to the books.

Green group will revisit the special friends sounds that they have previously learned. They will read and write words that include previously learned sounds. They will read words with four and five sounds in as well as two syllable words.They will read their storybook three times in class before bringing it home and will write sentences linked to the books.

Red group will be practising all special friends sounds that they have been previously taught. They will read the red book ditties and write captions linked to these ditties. They will read and write words of 3, 4 and 5 sounds using the phonics sounds that they know and use their Fred fingers to sound them out.

Ditty Group will continue to revise all of the special friend sounds and have a particular focus on ‘ck’ - they will be reading and writing words with these sounds in. They will read two ditties in class, which will also be stuck in their book bag phonics books and write captions linked to this. They will continue to read alien words, which are nonsense words using the sounds that have been previously learned and words containing special friends sounds.

All children will be assessed over this week to check that they are reading at the correct level.

Continuous Provision
Continuous provision describes all of the different areas of provision which are available for your children to use every day. Within each of these areas of provision, there will be a core range of resources that children can use all of the time, throughout the whole year. Our carefully planned continuous provision will enable your children to learn skills, will challenge their thinking and will help them to try out new learning and ideas. This week we will enhance our provision with links to animals in the wild and our 'Animal Safari’ project.

Your child's Tapestry observations
We will add photos of your children to this observation throughout the week. We will also add any WOW moments for you to share. Every two weeks we will send you an observation of your children's writing and maths learning and will provide you with some next steps so that you can help them at home. Working together in this way helps you to be involved in your children's learning and helps your children to make the best progress possible.

We are here to support you at all times. Please catch us at the beginning or end of the day if you would like to speak to us or add a message to Tapestry - we will reply as soon as we can. If you need to send an urgent message, then please contact the office and they will pass it on to us immediately.

We are going to have lots of fun this week! 😊

The Reception Team

Jigsaw (Personal, social, health, and emotional education) 

This half term, the Jigsaw puzzle piece is Relationships. In Reception, the children will be learning about

• Family life
• Friendships
• Breaking friendships
• Falling out
• Dealing with bullying
• Being a good friend

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

School start and finish times:

Children should arrive at school between 8.30 and 8.40am

School finishes at 3.10 pm for children with surnames beginning with A-M and at 3.05pm for children with surnames beginning N-Z

Any concerns

Please use Tapestry to let us know about any concerns or questions you might have; however small they might seem; we are always here to support you. If you need to speak to us, then please either catch us at the end of the school day or contact the school office - 783876 - and we will either take your call or ring you back as soon as we are able to.

Meet the Reception Team

Mrs Llewellyn - Deputy Head, Early Years Lead, Class teacher 

Mrs Mitchell - Class Teacher

Mrs Wait - Class Teacher 

Mrs Buckland - Teaching Assistant

Mrs Kershaw - Teaching Assistant

Mrs Williams - Teaching Assistant

Miss Pollard - Teaching Assistant

Mrs Cole - Teaching Assistant

Mrs McGrath - Teaching Assistant and Lunchtime Assistant

Mrs Rumbold - Lunchtime assistant 

CHICKERELL PRIMARY ACADEMY EARLY YEARS FOUNDATION STAGE

OUR PHILOSOPHY 

At Chickerell Primary Academy and Chickadees, our teaching staff and Early Years Practitioners deliver an EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage) curriculum through high quality teaching and through interacting with children in ways which facilitate their learning, alongside an engaging and enriched environment. Our philosophy is to nurture every child’s curiosity and enthusiasm for learning within a safe and secure environment. We aim to develop their skills and confidence so that they are ready to take those important next steps towards a lifetime of learning.  

INTENT 

The intent for our children is to enter the next stage of their education, Year 1, with a secure foundation in learning and well-prepared to tackle new challenges with confidence and a positive mind-set. 

We engage our pupils in a stimulating environment led by the children yet carefully organised and managed by adults. We provide a text-based curriculum which is progressive and builds on children’s prior knowledge. It is an ambitious, challenging and inclusive curriculum which is responsive to children’s individual needs, fascinations and interests. We encourage our children to take the lead in their own learning, this helps to develop their confidence, to explore new ideas, to solve problems, to take risks, to make links and to seek challenge; we aim to foster their personal development from the very start. We develop children’s language and communication skills in a range of ways and we introduce and use new vocabulary with them to further develop their speaking skills. We develop high levels of engagement, curiosity, collaboration and cooperation. We encourage our children to manage their own behaviour in the classroom and in social situations. We encourage our children to express themselves with confidence in a meaningful way and to respect the opinions and values of themselves and others. 

IMPLEMENTATION 

Our approach is influenced by the work of educationalists, researchers, psychologists and practitioners who have guided our knowledge of how young children learn and how adults can support their learning.  At Chickerell Primary Academy and Chickadees, provision is underpinned by a complementary relationship between adult-led, adult-initiated and child-led learning, alongside high-quality adult-child interactions. We use a continuous cycle of observation and assessment, which informs our planning and teaching, alongside structured and systematic lessons and guided group work. In addition, summative assessments are carried out for phonic development, the stable order principle in number and an assessment of each child’s stage of development for each of the seven areas of learning. These take place every half term and are used to inform the planning of subsequent teaching and learning.

*Please refer to our curriculum overviews for Chickadees and Reception. These will show you how our curriculum progresses across the Early Years Foundation Stage, building on prior knowledge in a sequential way and using the Read, Write Inc. phonics scheme, the White Rose Maths scheme and Cornerstones to support the progression of key skills and knowledge. 

IMPACT  

The impact of our EYFS curriculum is reflected in having well-rounded, happy and confident children transitioning into Year 1. Our children enter Key Stage 1 well-prepared to begin the next chapter of their educational learning journey. They are equipped with a broad range of knowledge and skills that provide them with the right foundations for their future learning.  Our children make very good progress from their starting points; the vast majority of our children make better than expected progress with us and achieve outcomes that are at least in line with national data. Our teaching and pedagogy are reviewed and evaluated regularly through EYFS team meetings, through meeting regularly with EYFS colleagues from other schools and through meetings with Key Stage 1 staff.  We ensure that the areas we discuss and develop are reflected in changes and developments in our classroom practice. 

The Early Years provision is highly valued by school leaders, it features in all areas of our school development planning and there is a designated EYFS link governor - Jane Hurdiss.

PLEASE READ OUR EYFS POLICY TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT HOW OUR CHILDREN LEARN AT CHICKADEES AND IN RECEPTION. TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT CHICKADEES, PLEASE TAKE A LOOK AT THE 'CHICKADEES PRE-SCHOOL AND CHATTICHICKS WRAP-AROUND CARE' PAGE. 

Our EYFS curriculum

Our EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage) curriculum for both Chickadees and Reception has been guided by the EYFS Framework, Development Matters and early years pedagogy, whilst being personal to our school; it embraces the contextual learning and the cultural capital that comes from our community and our children’s home lives. It has been designed to engage and enthuse the young minds of our children, through carefully planned, play-based learning experiences. Our curriculum is rich and well-sequenced; it ensures that the skills our children require for the next stage in their education progress throughout the EYFS, so that they are ready for school after Chickadees and for Year 1 after their reception year. In reception, there is a key focus on transition to Year 1 which continually evolves throughout the year. For example, whilst teaching the children about the past and the present (Understanding the World), we will introduce the concept of a timeline and introduce some historical vocabulary such as – new, old, ago, past, order, time. In this way we teach children the foundational knowledge, and develop concepts and vocabulary, that prepare our children for their history lessons in year 1.  

Developing a good pencil grip

We are focusing on helping your child to develop an effective pencil grip, which will help them to form their letters correctly when they are writing.

Suggested Activities to help develop your child's fine motor skills, which will help them to grip their pencil and form their letters correctly.

Activities;

1. threading - beads, pasta etc.
2. tearing paper to paste onto a large picture 
3. making snips in paper using scissors and then extend to cutting in a straight line
4. making papier mache
5. using play dough to create different shapes
6. making marks in playdough using small tools
7. grating vegetables or fruit 
8. playing musical games involving fine hand control (‘open, shut them’ etc.)
9. using finger puppets to tell a story or join in a play
10. drawing faces onto fingertips then making the faces ‘kiss’
11. finding hidden small items in a bucket of rice or beans
12. hanging washing onto a clothesline - you could make one at child-height