Reception
Welcome to Reception
Miss Ashington and Mrs Dinnis
We look forward to welcoming you and starting Reception.
Topic - 'Ourselves'
Reception Curriculum – Autumn 1:
Welcome to the start of a wonderful school year in Reception! This term, our topic is “Ourselves”, a special time when we focus on helping your children settle into school life, make new friends and build the foundations for a positive learning journey.
Focus Areas This Term:
During Autumn 1, much of our learning will centre around developing communication skills and Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PSED). Children will be encouraged to talk about themselves, share their thoughts and feelings and build friendships through play and group activities. This term is all about helping children interact confidently and get to know each other in a warm, supportive environment.
Exploring Families and Home Life:
We will be talking about our families, homes and life outside of school. Children are invited to share their experiences, family traditions, and the special people in their lives. Through discussions, drawings and creative projects, we’ll bring elements of home life into the classroom to make learning meaningful and personal. To support this, please can you bring in a baby photo of your child to be displayed in the classroom.
Settling into School Life:
Children will spend time getting familiar with their new school environment, learning about the classroom routines, rules and exploring the different areas of our school. We will talk about what it means to be part of our school community and how we can look after ourselves and each other.
Joining Our School Houses:
As part of becoming members of our wider school family, children will be welcomed into their school house teams:
- Ash
- Beech
- Holly
- Willow
These houses will be part of weekly activities and celebrations, helping children feel a sense of pride and belonging.
Class Animal Groups:
Within the classroom, children will also join their Class Animal Groups, a smaller community where they can take part in group activities, stay organised and build close friendships.
Building on Prior Knowledge:
This term, we will be building on children’s knowledge of:
- Where they live
- Who is in their family
- People who help them at home and in the community
This prior knowledge will support classroom discussions and help children feel confident talking about themselves.
Key Vocabulary We Will Be Learning:
- House
- Home
- Parents
- Siblings
- Family
- Solihull
- “I know about who is in my family”
- “I can identify family members by name”
- “I know where I live”
- “I know who my class teachers are”
A Positive Start:
Our goal this half term is to make every child feel happy, safe and confident in Reception. By exploring “Ourselves”, we will help your child build friendships, understand routines and begin their learning journey with enthusiasm.
We look forward to sharing this exciting term with you and your children!
Reminders:
Show and tell will be on a Monday (Hedgehogs, Rabbits, Badgers) and Tuesday (Foxes, Owls & Squirrels,). We encourage children to bring in either something that links to our topic, 'wow' work or images can be emailed for children to talk about.
Homework
Homework will be assigned on a weekly basis and will primarily focus on developing writing independence. These tasks will be light and manageable, designed to prepare the children for the challenges of the upcoming year. It is really important you support your child at home with this, alongside daily reading.
Important dates this term:
Monday & Friday - Changing reading book
Friday - Homework sent out and to be returned the following week
PE - Thursday (Children will keep their PE kits in school and take them home every half term.)
This half term our focus for PSHE is 'Being in my world'
In PSHE this term, we will be introducing Jigsaw Jenie and Paws, our class mascot who helps guide us through our learning and discussions about feelings, friendships and behaviour. Our first Jigsaw theme is ‘Being Me in My World’, where we will focus on understanding ourselves and our place in the classroom and school community. We will talk about how to make good choices, follow classroom rules and show pride in everything we do. Through circle times and activities, children will learn the importance of being thoughtful, positive, happy and polite towards others. We will encourage everyone to show respect, celebrate differences, and build strong, kind friendships. This topic also helps children understand and live by our school values, creating a caring and supportive environment where everyone feels safe, valued and ready to learn.
Press here to access the website - health for kids.
The EYFS framework includes Seven Areas of Learning that are equally important and inter-connected. Three areas are particularly important for sparking enthusiasm for learning and forming relationships.
The Prime Areas of Learning:
- Communication and Language
- Physical Development
- Personal, Social and Emotional Development
The prime areas are strengthened and applied through four Specific Areas of Learning:
- Literacy
- Maths
- Understanding the World
- Expressive Arts and Design
Characteristics of Effective Teaching and Learning
In addition to addressing all seven Areas of Learning, our curriculum is designed to promote the Characteristics of Effective Learning. These characteristics describe how the children will learn. These learning behaviours are particularly important in the EYFS because they build the foundations for children to be lifelong learners. The characteristics are:
- Playing and Exploring - Engagement
- Active Learning - Motivation
- Creating and Thinking Critically - Thinking
Planning and assessment
We offer the children in Reception a ‘hands-on’ play-based curriculum, both indoors and outdoors, throughout the day. Planning can be intentional, responsive, or anticipatory. It is flexible and can change in response to children’s ideas and interests. Planning may also be linked to events in the community or around the world.
“Play is essential for children’s development, building their confidence as they learn to explore, relate to others, set their own goals and solve problems. Children learn by leading their own play, and by taking part in play which is guided by adults.”
Statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage.
In addition to the activities planned by the adults, the children are offered plenty of opportunities to direct their own learning.
All children starting Reception will take part in the Reception Baseline Assessment. Please see the information for parents document produced by the DfE below to explain the process.
At the end of the Reception Year children will be assessed for the EYFS Profile. Each of the seven areas will be further broken down into the following categories.
To practise phonics, the children can access Mr Thorne’s Phonics on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MrTsPhonics/playlists This is free of charge and the 5 minute videos will give the children a reminder of the sounds they have already learnt but would also enable them to start learning about sounds that are to come in Year 1 if they wanted to. Games can be accessed on https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/ and https://www.phonicsbloom.com/ Additional resources are also available below, covering all of the phonics taught so far.
Maths games can be accessed free of charge via Top Marks: https://www.topmarks.co.uk/ The children could also continue to practise number formation, ensuring numbers are correctly orientated, and do practical addition and subtraction, for example using Cheerios for counting. There are also resources below revisiting learning the children have covered this year.
If you need to support your child with toilet training, below are some useful links to get them started. Current advice is to teach your child the skill of using a potty and not waiting for the child to be ready.
https://www.facebook.com/SolihullHVs
https://eric.org.uk/potty-training/
Phonic activities - Phase 2
Phonics Resources
Dental Hygiene:
In EYFS, we teach about dental hygiene. The children learn the value of good brushing and how to use toothpaste to fight tooth decay. The Colgate Tooth Defenders help us to learn how to keep ourselves healthy and even give us our own toothbrush and toothpaste to take home!
The Tooth Defenders would like us to complete our brushing chart to make sure that we keep our teeth and gums healthy.
If you need any support for your child or any tips on keeping teeth clean, please see our documents below to help you. Also start taking your child to the dentist….it is never too early to start!
Meet the Teacher - presentation and resources
School Readiness information for parents
Baseline:
Please use the link below to find out about the statutory Reception Baseline assessment that we will be completing with all children.