Reception

Dear parents/carers,

We would like to welcome you into our school family; we look forward to working in partnership with you this year so that your children have a fantastic experience with us and make the best progress possible. Your children are going to have so much fun during their time with us, learning and growing in every sense and making wonderful memories along the way. They are going to have a super start to their learning journey here at Chickerell Primary Academy; we will do our absolute best to ensure that your children achieve their full potential and are ready for the next stage in their education academically, socially and emotionally by the end of the year. 

Your child's week at school - week beginning 2.12.24

We hope that you have all had a lovely weekend. 

Please see below for an overview of your children's learning for this week. Please like or comment, so that we know you have seen this. 

This week's learning
Literacy
This week we will learn about the Christian celebration of Christmas and compare it to other celebrations we have learnt about. We will read two different versions of the Nativity story and link these to our Christmas production of 'Snuggle up Stable'. Then we will write about animals that might have been in the stable. We will practise holding our pencils correctly, using our Fred fingers to sound out words, and forming our letters correctly.
Vocabulary to practise using at home:
Nativity, stable, Jesus, gifts, wise man, shepherd, angel, Mary, Joseph

Phonics
Group A will revisit the sounds that they have learned so far, learn the letter sound x, have a big focus on Fred Talk (sounding out) and blending and become more confident at sounding out and blending words with the sounds that they have learned so far for both reading and writing. They will also use magnetic letters to make words and focus on forming letters correctly when writing.
Group B will revisit the letter sounds that they have learned so far, learn the ‘special friends’ (letter sounds with more than one letter) sh, th, ch, ng, nk and sound out and blend words for reading and writing. They will also use magnetic letters to make words and focus on forming letters correctly when writing.

Maths
This week, in maths we will be learning about shapes with four sides. We will explore rectangles and squares. We will read 'A Bear in the Square' by Stella Blackstone and 'Square' by Mac Barnett and Jon Klassen. We will paint with shapes, go on a shape hunt around school, explore how shapes can be made and joined together to make new shapes and use tangrams to make shapes pictures.

Continuous and Enhanced Provision
Continuous provision describes all of the different provision areas which are available for your children to use every day, such as the maths area, the water tray and the home corner. Within each of these areas of provision there will be a core range of resources that your children can use all of the time, throughout the whole year.  Enhanced provision consists of the extra materials and resources that we provide for your children, making continuous provision more challenging and adapted to fit your children's needs. This week we will be enhancing our provision with resources that link to our project 'Sparkle and Shine' and to Christmas and the Nativity story.

Your children are going to have lots of fun at school this week! 😊

Please scroll further down the page to find more information about your child's learning. 

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

This half term, the Jigsaw puzzle piece is 'Celebrating Difference'. In Reception the children will learn about-

• Identifying talents
• Being special
• Families
• Where we live
• Making friends
• Standing up for yourself

How does the Jigsaw 3-11 meet the Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PSED) Early Learning Goals?

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 Brown - Teaching Assistant

Miss Clarke - Teaching Assistant

Miss Cairns - 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. 

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 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;

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