Welcome to Reception Class

Miss Bonshor and I are very pleased to welcome you to our Reception Class homepage.  We hope that this is a very enjoyable and exciting year for your child. On this page you will be able to find out about all of the different and exciting things that we are doing in our classroom.

Our aim is for your child to be happy and enjoy coming to school to discover and learn new and different things every day. One of our ways of enabling this is by us working together with yourselves to ensure that you child gets the very best from their first year in school.

If you wish to contact me you can either do so by sending me a message on Class Dojo or emailing me at s.wright@stpetersprimary.org

Mr Wright – Class Teacher

Miss Bonshor – Class LSA

Important Information

  • PE-  PE will take place on Fridays. Please make sure your child is wearing appropriate school PE kit as specified here PE Uniform 
  • Reading – we would expect children to be reading with an adult at home at least 5 times each week.  Please record this in their reading record.  Children will receive awards upon reaching certain milestones
  • Book  Bags – must be sent in every day.  Please keep your child’s reading books and reading record in their book bag as an adult will read with them in school each week. We shall record this in the reading record
  • School Uniform – we expect children to be wearing the correct uniform at all times (except on certain days such as special events or fundraisers which we shall let you know of in advance). A full list of the correct uniform can be found by following this link School Uniform

Here are some pictures of our classroom

Weekly Newsletters

Each week your child will bring home a newsletter which will keep you up to date with what we have been doing that week, and also informing you of any important dates or information that you may need. You can find a digital copy of the newsletters here.

Our Core Areas Of Learning

Phonics (Reading)

We follow the Ruth Miskin ‘ReadWriteInc’ phonics programme. In the Read Write Inc. Phonics programme, children learn sounds and the letters that represent them, and how to form the letters. Then, they read books written using only the letters they have learnt (and a small number of separately taught ‘tricky words’). This gives children plenty of early success and builds up their reading confidence.

We place great emphasis on learning to read (and write) in our Reception Class – and is it the foundation to learning in so many areas as the children grow. We want them all to have a really strong start.

Your support at home is essential – we always bring home books that matched with our phonics level and we ask all children to read at home at least 3 times a week (every day is best!)

I have attached some information below, including 2 short videos which will give you more information about phonics, but please do come and have a chat if you have any questions.

A Guide To Read Write Inc Phonics

How To Say The Sounds

Talk For Writing (Literacy)

At St Peter’s we use a ‘whole school’ to the teaching of Literacy, using the Pie Corbett’s ‘Talk For Writing’ programme. The Talk for Writing approach enables children to read and write independently for a variety of audiences and purposes within different subjects. A key feature is that children internalise the language structures needed to write through ‘talking the text’, as well as close reading. The approach moves from dependence towards independence, with the teacher using shared and guided teaching to develop the ability in children to write creatively and powerfully.

Here is Pie Corbett explaining Talk For Writing.

There are 3 parts to the Talk For Writing process:

  • Imitation: The ability to retell a story so that the child has a bank of tales by heart. The language patterns are known so well that they become part of the long-term working memory, embedded and internalised.
  • Innovation: The ability to adapt a well-known story, in order to create a new story, by making simple changes – substitute, add or alter.
  • Invention: The ability to draw upon a full range of stories, language, experiences and ideas to create your own story.

We use story maps (pictorial representations) to help us learn the story and be able to retell it. Below is an example of a story map for Little Red Riding Hood.

The children will have lots of opportunities to explore and internalise the story through drama, small world play and hands on activities.

Once the children are confident with retelling the story using the key language they have a go at making some changes to the original story (e.g. changing a character or the setting of the story). We then learn our new innovated story map, again internalising the language patterns associated with the telling of the story.

In Reception the children will invent their own story based on what they have learned in a variety of ways, such as creating their own story maps, orally retelling their story, or writing down key words or sentences from their story. Our main aim is for the children to develop their language skills which will enable them to retell stories, as the year progresses, however, the expectation is that they will do some form of writing in relation to their stories.

Mathematics

 

  • We use White Rose Mathematics in order to encourage mathematical awareness and understanding through enjoyable, game based learning.
  • We aim to give children a secure foundation in mathematics and ensure they’re prepared for Year 1 with a selection of creative, free-flow, and adult-led activities and games. We focus on concrete or ‘doing’ maths before moving to representational and abstract mathematics.

RE

In R.E. we follow the ‘Come & See’ program which is also followed by other Catholic schools in our diocese.

The ‘Come & See’ program allows the children to explore the life and teachings of Jesus through Bible stories, discussion, prayer and personal reflection and meditation. As with the rest of our curriculum, we ensure that the delivery of R.E. is through hands-on, play based learning and is presented in a style and manner that is meaningful to the children.

For our first topic of Advent 1 we shall be thinking about ‘Myself.’ Every person needs to come to an understanding of who they are to appreciate their value and uniqueness, the wonder and mystery of life. God creates each person in love, in his own image and likeness. Living in thanksgiving, acknowledges God who knows and loves each person – “me” The children will think about how they are special to God, and what it is that makes them so unique

Word Of God

“As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive. Above all clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body.”

(Colossians 3: 12-15) 

EYFS Knowledge Organiser  MYSELF(opens in new tab)

Our Areas of Learning

Click on the images below to find out more about each of the EYFS areas of learning, and see photographs of that learning in action.

SCHOOL MILK

Have You Registered Your Child For School Milk Yet?

Milk is free at school until your child turns 5. After this time you can pay for your child to continue having it.

You MUST register if you wish your child to have milk whether it is free or paid for. You can register using this link: http://www.coolmilk.com/