Reception
Dear parents/carers,
Your children are now into the final half term of their reception year; they have settled into school life beautifully! It is such a privilege for us to teach and nurture them and to watch them grow and blossom. It has been wonderful to welcome you into our school family and to work closely with you; together we can give your children the best possible start to their school journey. We are a friendly, caring and approachable team and we are always here to help and support you.
Below, you will find an overview of your children's learning for the week ahead; this will also be shared on Tapestry. You will find photos of your children having fun with their learning on the weekly Tapestry update; these will be added throughout the week. In addition you will receive regular Tapestry updates about your child's learning with next steps for you to practise with them at home.
Please scroll further down the page to find more information about your child's learning.
IMPORTANT - NEW SEPTEMBER 2024 INTAKE - it was lovely to meet you at our welcome evening. We are looking forward to meeting your children at the play sessions in July. Please scroll to the bottom of this page for further information.
Your child's week at school - week beginning 15.7.24
Hello,
We hope you have all enjoyed the weekend. 😊
Your children loved spending time with their new teachers in Year 1 … but we are very happy to have them back with us for the final week of their Reception year. 🥰
This observation will not save to your child’s Tapestry Journal but will be for information only. Therefore, we will not add any photos this week.
Overview of the week
Writing
Your children will discuss their week in Year 1, sharing their favourite activities with the class. Then they will write sentences about their week in year one, e.g. I had fun playing with the Lego. We will focus on using our Fred fingers to write words and writing known tricky, red words correctly.
Reading and Phonics
Your child’s reading books will be collected in ready to be audited. Your child will not bring any books home but they can access Oxford Owl to read books online. We have put lots of books and quizzes for them to revisit over the holidays. We recommend that you log on regularly to keep the momentum going with their reading.
In school we will read lots of books together and will practise our phonics sounds and tricky, red words.
Maths
Your child will consolidate their learning by reading Mr Gumpy’s Outing, again and exploring maths problems linked to this story, such as thinking about how many marbles it would take to sink Mr Gumpy’s boat in the water tray, can we build him a staircase by adding one more brick each time and can we work together as a team to get across the river?
Continuous Provision
The children will be able to enjoy all of the activities and resources that they have loved playing with throughout the year. We will enhance this with resources linked to our project ‘On the Beach.’
On Tuesday we will have our last buddying session at Willowbed with our buddies. Please send in a treat to share if you are able to. We will have a mini picnic at the park. 🧺
On Wednesday we have our whole school Sports Day. The children are very excited about this and we know that you will love watching them take part in their events. 🏃♀️🏃
Friday
We finish at the usual time on the last day of school. 🏫
Thank you again for all your support this year.
We are going to miss your amazing children so much.
The Reception Team 🥰
The Reception Team
Jigsaw (Personal, social, health, and emotional education) 
This half term, the Jigsaw puzzle piece is Changing Me. In Reception, the children will be learning about:
- Bodies
- Respecting my body
- Growing up
- Growth and change
- Fun and fears
- Celebrations
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
School start and finish times:
Children should arrive at school between 8.30 and 8.40am
School finishes at 3.05 pm for children with surnames beginning with A-M and at 3.10pm 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 Williams - Teaching Assistant
Mrs King- Teaching Assistant
Mrs Kershaw - Teaching Assistant
Mrs Brown - Teaching Assistant
Miss Clarke - Teaching Assistant
Miss May - Teaching Assistant
Mrs Mc.Grath - 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.
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.
Reception Curriculum Overview - this document will show you the different skills your children will be learning as they progress throughout the year
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.
Our Reception Curriculum Goals
Cornerstones Curriculum Project for this half term. This document will give you an overview of the project and will provide you with some ideas for how you can support your child at home.
Developing a good pencil grip
We continually focus on helping your child to develop an effective pencil grip; this helps 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;
- threading - beads, pasta etc.
- tearing paper to paste onto a large picture
- making snips in paper using scissors and then extend to cutting in a straight line
- making papier mache
- using play dough to create different shapes
- making marks in playdough using small tools
- grating vegetables or fruit
- playing musical games involving fine hand control (‘open, shut them’ etc.)
- using finger puppets to tell a story or join in a play
- drawing faces onto fingertips then making the faces ‘kiss’
- finding hidden small items in a bucket of rice or beans
- hanging washing onto a clothesline - you could make one at child-height