Reception

Dear parents/carers,

Your children are now starting the final 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. 

Your child's week at school - week beginning 22.4.24

We hope that you’ve all had a lovely weekend! 😊

Below, you will find an overview of your children's learning for the week ahead; this will also be shared on our website page. We will add photos of your children having fun with their learning throughout the week, so keep checking this observation. 😊

Please can you ‘like’ any Tapestry messages we send to you, so that we know you have seen them?😊

The week ahead:
Phonics
Ditty group- will read ditties 5 and 6, tricky words and set 1 sounds. They will practise their special friend sounds that they have learned already so that they become experts at recognising them, reading words with them in and writing them. They will read nonsense words using the sounds that have been previously learned and spell and write words using Fred Fingers. They will also use magnetic boards and letters to make words.

Red group- will have a set 1 speed sound special friends recap lesson, read words using previously learned sounds, read nonsense words using the sounds that have been previously learned, read tricky words as they appear in their books, spell and write words using Fred Fingers. Red group will read their red book 3 three times in class and then bring it home to read at the end of the week along with a bookbag book.

Green group - will learn the special friend sounds ‘ow’ and ‘oo’, read words including those sounds, learn capital letters as they appear in the books, learn tricky words as they appear in their books, recap on set 1 sounds and previously taught words, read nonsense words using the sounds that have been previously learned and spell and write words using Fred Fingers. Green group will read their green book 3 three times in class and then bring it home to read at the end of the week along with a bookbag book.

Purple group-will become experts at reading words including the special friends sounds that they have previously learned, learn capital letters as they appear in the books, learn tricky words as they appear in their books, recap on set 1 sounds and previously taught words, read nonsense words using the sounds that have been previously learned and spell and write words more complex words using Fred Fingers. Purple group will read their purple book three times in class and then bring it home to read at the end of the week along with a bookbag book.

Reading
We will share lots of stories throughout the week and will send home books for you to read to your children. Those children who are confidently recognising the sounds that we have already learned will bring home a sound blending book, ditty, red ditty book or green reading book.

Writing 
We will learn about different kinds of animals this week. We will read two beautiful poems from our new book, 'A First Book of Animals' by Nicola Davies. We will read a poem about an Ostrich and a Hummingbird and another poem about dancing Bees. Then we will write simple sentences about Bees and Ostriches. We will use our Fred fingers to help us write the words and will remember to use capital letters, finger spaces and full stops in our writing.  
Vocabulary to practise using at home: 
insect, bird, mammal, reptile, scales, antennae, hive, pollen, honey, Queen Bee, Ostrich, grasslands, jungle

Maths  
In maths, we will be focusing on the numbers 11,12 and 13. We will read the books Monster Counting Book by Frances Mackay and One Moose, Twenty Mice by Claire Beaton. We will make the numbers by using different 10 objects plus 1 more, then 2 more, then 3 more. We will use numicon pieces, counting cubes and ten-piece egg boxes. We will use number lines to 13 to count on and play games with. We will play games such as What's the time, Mr Wolf?

Continuous and Enhanced Provision
Continuous Provision describes all of the different areas of provision that are available for your children to access every day e.g. maths area, writing area, creation station, construction area etc. Within each of these areas, there will be a core range of resources that your children can use all the time, throughout the whole year. These areas invite the children to explore, engage and become active learners. We update our Continuous Provision to meet the needs of the children and we will enhance it to add links to our current learning. This week we will add enhancements linked to birds and insects and to our project ‘Animal Safari.’ 

We are going to have lots of fun together 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:

• Reception-

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

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 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. 

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