Welcome to Reception
The Reception year is a very exciting time for both parents and children. At Woodham Ley Primary School, children are offered the very best start to their education by being provided with rich opportunities and experiences. Our curriculum is based on the framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and we deliver this through a play-based approach. The curriculum is organised in a way which meets each child's individual needs, interests and fascinations, resulting in us planning 'in the moment' rather than through a 'one size fits all' topic.
Throughout the year, the children will have fun, make friends, learn and develop at a pace matched to each child's stage of development. We work hard to foster positive relationships with parents and value just how important these partnerships are. Right from the start, we endeavour to ensure that caring, nurturing and warm relationships are developed between all members of staff and the children in our care. We promote calm, positive interactions with all children in order to enable them to quickly grow in confidence and independence.
We encourage children to take risks, be curious and explore. We want them to become resilient individuals who are able to problem solve and persevere with tasks even when they find them a challenge. By doing this, we can rest assured that each child will be equipped with the skills to be a life-long, independent and effective learner.
Planning in the Moment
For further information on our rationale behind 'planning in the moment', please read the document below:
For more information on the Early Years Foundation Stage:
Baseline Assessment
During the first six weeks of the children starting in Reception, we will be completing the Statutory Baseline Assessment. Please be reassured that the children will consider these assessments to be just a small practical task that we are asking them to complete which will feel like they're playing. Below is a link to the government website for more information regarding the assessment process.
If you have any questions about this, please speak to a member of the EYFS team.
Drawing Club
Drawing Club brings children's attention to detail. It's not about being 'good' at drawing. Instead it's about the development of fine motor skills to add the detail, the extension of vocabulary whilst doing it and the joy in the success of messaging, all the time experiencing life at the cusp of confidence.
Each session begins with sharing wonderful words that are linked to the story. These words are explained so the children understand their meaning and actions are put to the words. These words are repeated throughout the sessions and the children are encouraged to participate using the actions. The story is then shared with the children (this is: a story book, fairy tale or animated story). As the story is read, the wonderful words are incorporated to make the links in context to the story itself. The adult then models the drawing linked to the book and uses two secret codes that unlock something magical to happen to the idea created. The first code is related to phonics, letters and sentences and the second code is linked to number recognition and maths skills. The children are then invited to Drawing Club so that they can complete their own version of the modelled example.
At Woodham Ley, we have two sessions of Drawing Club a week. The first session focuses on the character or is linked to the setting of the story and the second session is based on an adventure the character may go on.
Snack
The children will have the opportunity to receive free fruit and vegetables through the Government's Free Fruit and Vegetables Scheme (SFVS) which aims to help children achieve their 5 A Day, and there may be occasions when we can provide and encourage children to try fruits they may not have come across before. We will also have a variety of other snacks made available each morning for the children to try, such as croissants, crackers, cucumber etc. In addition to this, children under 5 are entitled to free milk under the Nursery Milk Scheme. We also provide fresh drinking water so the children can re-fill their water bottles during the day, if required.
Please make sure that you speak to a member of the EYFS team to make sure we are aware of any allergies your child may have.
One of the opportunities the children have, when they are a focus child, is to participate in a cooking activity. We try to vary the experiences they have each time and encourage them to try both sweet and savoury items. This opportunity is a very important life skill and also provides an avenue for lots of additional learning linked to: Maths, Communication and Language, Physical Development and Personal, Social and Emotional Development. Usually the children would share what they had made at our weekly Reading Cafe, but as we are not able to go ahead with that at the moment, the children will be given what they make to take home instead.
In order for us to continue this provision, we are asking for contributions towards these cooking experiences. £10 a term, per child, would cover the cost of the ingredients and food bags for sending the items home. These contributions can be made on parent pay. Please speak to the office if you need help with this.
Thank you!
Focus Children
'Focus child' meetings will start from the week of the 23rd September. I will be in contact with you when it is your child's week. If there are any worries or concerns, please feel free to come and speak to me before your child's focus week. Please take pictures of things you have done with your child over the weekend after you receive your letter, and send them in to us (via the Evidence Me app) to share with the rest of the class. I look forward to hearing all your news!
Focus children are provided with home bags on the Friday before they are a focus child. The bag is linked to communication and language with activities to do at home. At the end of the week that they are a focus child, they are sent home with a story pack for them to learn and re-tell. Both of these activities are there to support the child's development in speech and language and to encourage a love of books and stories. Please ensure that these packs are returned by the following Monday each week so that they can be prepared and are ready to be shared with another child.
Reading books
Once all the children are settled and into a routine, every child will receive a few books to bring home -these are reading for pleasure books (we are not expecting your child to be able to read them). Please share these and talk about them with your child at home on a regular basis. After October half term, once we have assessed the work on Phase 2, the children will also have a reading book to bring home (from the publisher Big Cat Collins). They will be given a phase book as well as their reading for pleasure book (these will be changed every Friday morning). As the children progress at their own rate, the level of book the children are given to learn at home may change, so please monitor this at home.
Please read with them regularly at home and discuss the book's characters and themes. Ask them questions about what has been read, give summaries of the book and see if they can make predictions about what could happen next as you read. Extra guidance on how to support your child at home can be found on the 'Reading' section of the website, under curriculum, and tips are provided inside the covers of the Big Cat Collins books.
Recycling wanted!
We would like you to dig deep into your recycling bags for yogurt pots, tubs, fruit containers, egg boxes, kitchen tubes, bottles etc as we use them in the creative area. All containers, pots and bottles will need to be washed out before being brought into school. Thank you in advance!
This week...
On Wednesday, it was lovely to see alll the children wearing their Christmas jumpers ready for their special school dinner. The staff joined the children in the hall, serving the dinners to the children before sitting and eating with them.
The children have worked extremely hard on their rehearsals for the Christmas nativity that they performed on Thursday. It was lovely to see them all enjoying the opportunity to show their grown ups how fantastic they are and they did a wonderful job of spreading some festive cheer. Well done!
In maths, they have focused on some more 2-D shapes, mainly circles and triangles and have been able to spot these in the classroom environment as well as singing songs about them e.g. My hat it has three corners.
This week was the last week for reading groups which will start again on the first week back after the holidays.
Next week we will be carrying out a phonics assessment, ready for our return in January, and completing lots of fun Christmas activities.
Last week...
in phonics, we have revised all of the graphemes we have learnt over the whole term and will continue to do this during the next couple of weeks. We have also learnt the new tricky words: we, be, me.
In maths, we have been learning about 2-D shapes and have focused mainly on squares and rectangles. We are able to very clearly explain the difference between the two shapes and have discovered that these are part of a group called quadrilaterals. We have sung songs about shapes, made pictures out of them, as well as making comparisons.
We have continued to discuss cold climates and have thought about what we might need to wear if we lived somewhere like this. We have watched a video where a boy helps his father build an igloo and discussed how these can be used to provide shelter during storms. We then created our very own igloo in our classroom which the children have enjoyed playing in with the small world animals.
We have also taken time to focus on reindeer and have learnt lots of facts about these animals, so we were ready to meet some of them in person on our trip. We have now raised enough money to adopt our very own reindeer called Pinto, that lives in a herd in Scotland, and eagerly await our adoption pack.
On Friday, we had a fantastic day at Colchester Zoo (see photos below). The children were exceptionally well-behaved and coped well with walking around and seeing the amazing animals. It was so exciting to be able to get close to a real reindeer, and we even managed to meet Father Christmas! A wonderful end to another busy week.
Woodwork bench
The children have the opportunity to use the woodwork bench during free flow each day. Every child has been assessed to check they understand the safety requirements for using this facility during. Please see our link to some photos of the children using this resource below.
https://sway.cloud.microsoft/2vdymG2oFoA6ih79?ref=Link&loc=play
Please see the link to our photos from our trip
https://sway.cloud.microsoft/hTCwILI68FCpaqrv?ref=Link
Colchester Zoo trip
Pumpkin Gallery
We're Going on a Bear Hunt
Click on the link below to see photos of our adventure
Our first full week in Reception
Take a look at everything we have done in our first week in Reception. We have been very busy!
The Invisible String
Hello, Reception!
I have prepared a video for you to listen to. It is about a wonderful story called 'The Invisible String'. Please watch it and discuss any questions you may have with someone who can help you at home. There is a task to do at the end which may help you to feel more at ease on your first day with us.
Enjoy the rest of your time at home, and we will see you very soon.
Have fun!
Mrs Hambleton
Stories to be shared
These stories are all about trying new things. They are lovely stories that could be shared with your child in order to prepare them for their first day.
'The Koala that could'
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ytTglyWmgFQ6oHNGRgBX4WZZzBGfGXSb/view?usp=sharing
'Be brave little Penguin'
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yNogwV5KjyMlWs9TqlrSbZTK9gSyrYD1/view?usp=sharing
