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Early Years Foundation Stage - Bluebell & Buttercup Classes
Welcome to Reception 2023-2024
Dear Parents and Carers,
We would like to extend our warmest welcome to all our new and existing families that have children starting on their school adventure with us this year!
We know that starting school is a significant moment for both your children and you as parents and carers. There will be a mixture of excitement and nerves so please rest assured that this is completely normal. Our wonderful staff team will be ready to welcome your children on their first day at school, and every single one after that, with kindness and lots of encouragement so that they settle well into their Reception school year. At St Nicholas' Chantry School, we recognise that all children are different. The team will always be there for whatever your child needs - that's the 'Nurture' part of our school values!
We are so excited to get to know your children and look forward to the year ahead full of fun, exciting learning adventures and 'WOW' moments, as your child grows as a successful learner.
Meet the Team
We have two full time teachers teaching in Reception. Each class is also supported by a highly skilled teaching assistant every morning and in the afternoon.
Bluebell Class: Mrs Bosley (Class Teacher and EYFS Lead)
Bluebell Class: Mrs Ramada (Teaching Assistant)
Bluebell Class: Mrs Legget (Teaching Assistant)
Buttercup Class: Miss Warden (Class Teacher)
Buttercup Class: Mrs Warren (Teaching Assistant)
Teachers' PPA (planning, preparation and assessment) time will take place on a Friday and will be covered by HLTAs (higher level teaching assistants).
Mrs Van De Velde (HLTA PPA Cover for Bluebell and Buttercup class)
Newsletters
Please find attached our September welcome letter from the Headteacher Ro O'Reilly:
Reception newsletter Term 1:
Reception newsletter Term 2:
Learning Focus Topics Throughout the Year
Term 1: Starting School/All About Me, Harvest and Farming, People Who Help Us.
Term 2: Diwalli, Where Do I Live?, Habitats, Christmas and Traditions.
Term 3: Light and dark, starry night and shadows and reflections.
Term 4: Dangerous dinosaurs, puddles and rainbows.
Term 5: Change and growth, ready steady grow, sunshine and sunflowers.
Term 6: All around the world, big wide world, splash.
Key Information
School Lunches: The children get very excited about staying for lunch in school. Don’t forget that school meals are free for your child for the first three years of their school lives. Our school meals are cooked on site by Aspens and can be ordered via their website. You will need to register order on the website with the information in your coded letter. You can of course provide a packed lunch if you prefer.
Uniform and PE Kit: In Reception, the children have an indoor and outdoor session each week. This year, outdoor PE is on a Tuesday and indoor on a Thursday. The children will change for PE in school. Please encourage your child to get dressed and undressed independently at home as this is part of the EYFS curriculum. As the colder days approach, please send your child in with warmer PE clothes (eg. layers such as tracksuit bottoms, sweatshirt/ hoodie). Daps or velcro trainers are both acceptable. Please ensure if your child's trainers have laces, that they can tie them independently. Please ensure that all uniform and PE kits are named.
Wellies: We like to make the most of the outdoor environment surrounding our school. We are so lucky to have access to the woods on our doorstep and love to take the children on ‘Welly walk’ adventures whenever possible. Therefore we ask for a pair of NAMED wellies to be kept in school so we can just welly up and go!
Water bottles: Please can you ensure that your child has a clearly named water bottle in school every day. As part of our Healthy Schools policy, we would like to request that this contains water and not squash/juice.
Snacks: Please send your child into school every day with a named fresh fruit/ dried fruit/ vegetable morning snack. Up until the age of five, all children will receive free milk as part of their afternoon snack.
Reading practice: After we have introduced the first set of phonemes/ graphemes, we will assess your child's progress of being able to recognise, blend (put the phonemes together to read a simple phonetic word) and segment (hear and say the phonemes in a simple phonetic word). Once your child is able to blend, we will send them home with their first independent home reading book. This is such an exciting and important first step on their journey as a reader. Your support as parents/carers to hear your child read regularly is crucial in our home/school partnership in ensuring confident, fluent readers. We politely request that you hear your child read at least three times a week and that this practice is recorded in their reading record. Children who read their book three times or more each week will be rewarded with a raffle ticket. This will give them the chance to win a brand new book in our weekly reading raffle.
Library: On a Wednesday afternoon, both Reception classes take a visit to the school library where they change their independent reading book and their sharing book. The sharing book is chosen from a section in the library.
Early Years Recommended Read List
Please find below a link to the recommended read list for Reception children:
https://www.booksfortopics.com/booklists/recommended-reads/reception/
Class timetable
Unlocking Letters and Sounds Phonics Resources
Phase 2 Actions and Letter Formation
Phase 2 Common Exception Words (CEW)
Phase 3 Actions and letter formation
Phase 3 Common Exception Words (CEW)
Maths resources and home learning
During the morning, Reception have daily Maths lessons that follow the White Rose Maths scheme. Below is a link to the overview of what is being taught throughout the year.
In the afternoon, our class based maths learning follows the NCETM scheme 'Mastering Number'. This is something that is used every afternoon within the classroom as children go through their maths journey. This link gives you an overview of what is being taught each term throughout Reception.
Many of you will also be familiar with the CBeebies show "Numberblocks". This is something we use a lot throughout our maths lesson which help children learn their numbers within school. This link will take you directly to the page which includes activities and videos linked to the TV programme.
'Proud clouds'
Your child is always learning and we would love you to capture these learning moments which you see at home on a 'Proud Cloud' certificate. Proud Clouds can be achieved for a whole range of different things such as a swimming award, using technology to control something, noticing numbers on road signs, observing words/ letter/ signs in a supermarket, showing empathy towards somebody, noticing differences in people, improved concentration playing a game, creating a natural collage in the garden, using their imagination to create a story or perhaps talking about changes in nature. We would love you to capture this moment with a photograph and e-mail it to the class teacher with the context of what is happening and /or a quote of what your child is explaining to you about their learning. This is vital evidence which will be used in your child's learning diary to build up a bigger picture of them as a learner.
Please click on the proud cloud link for more copies: Proud cloud doc. certificate
Communication
Mrs Bosley (Bluebell Class)
gbosley@stnicholaschantryschool.org.uk
Miss Warden (Buttercup Class)
hwarden@stnicholaschantryschool.org.uk
buttercup@stnicholaschantryschool.org.uk
Our school Facebook page
You can follow us on our school Facebook page at: