Reception

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Welcome to Reception!

Please read the sections of the website below for details about what we are learning about in the different areas of the curriculum this half term. We hope you enjoy reading our class page, where topic, literacy and mathematics information will be updated ready for the start of each half-term and the Reception blog will be updated fortnightly on a Friday. As always, there will be lots of photographs uploaded after all the exciting activities and events we get up to!

The Reception team for this year will be:

Mrs Swift ( Assistant Headteacher and Early Years Leader) - Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday

Miss Duggleby- Letheren- Alternate Wednesday afternoons, Thursday and Friday

Mrs Wilson (Teaching assistant) - Monday all day, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday mornings

Mrs Bolton (Teaching assistant) - Monday- Friday mornings and Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday all day

Mrs Wilson (Learning support assistant)- Monday to Friday

Mrs Questa- (HLTA)- Monday afternoon (covering Mrs Swift's leadership time)

Mr Seaton

Mrs Swift is the Early Years Leader and will be teaching on Monday and Tuesday all day and Wednesday morning and every other Wednesday afternoon. Miss Duggleby- Letheren teaches every other Wednesday afternoon, Thursday and Friday. Mrs Wilson is the teaching assistant every morning and Monday afternoon. Mrs Bolton is the teaching assistant in our class every morning and Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday afternoons, her focus will be on developing language and communication with the children in the different areas of learning, doing focused learning with the children and small group interventions. On Monday afternoons Mrs Swift is out of class doing lots of exciting leadership jobs for Reception and the whole school and so Mrs Questa will be teaching Music on this afternoon. This may seem a complicated schedule at first with lots of new names, but the children soon know who is teaching them and on which days. Sometimes there may be reasons that Mrs Swift and Miss Duggleby - Letheren need to be out of class for some extra time due to training or carrying out different roles across school, so we may change days occasionally or there may be another member of staff teaching the children. If this is the case, we will always talk to the children about it so they know who will be teaching them.

Welcome to Autumn 2

Well done to the children on their first half term in Reception! We hope you have had a lovely holiday and are rested and ready to learn! This half term we will be carrying on with our Superheroes topic for a few weeks before we start our Christmas topic!

Our PE day for this half term is a Friday

Pedagogy

The team in Reception believe that the classroom is the third teacher and so we spend lots of time setting out the areas of provision and we can't wait for you to start exploring them! We believe that the there should be the same types of provision both indoors and outdoors so that your child can learn in the environment that suits them best. Our provision promotes choice, independence and cooperation it is organised in a way that enables children to develop key communication, language, literacy and mathematical skills at every opportunity, whether this be independently or with scaffolding from an adult.

We believe that learning in Early Years is a partnership between home and school. We really value your input into your children's learning and see parents as partners in this. You know your children the best and you will be able to tell us lots about their learning and development outside of school, which really helps us to build up a full and rounded picture of the children. With this in mind, our classroom door is always open. Any queries that you may have are hugely valued, so please do not hesitate to contact any member of the school team and we will be happy to arrange a meeting. We use tapestry all the time to update you with your child's learning and you can also update us with any exciting things you have been doing or key milestones in your child's development that you would like us to be aware of. We also use Tapestry to send out reminders and information, so it is useful to download the app on your phone or check the website regularly.

Please click on the boxes below for details of what we will be learning this half term.

Our Learning Journey this half term

Areas of Learning in Reception

In Reception, children learn through a combination of adult-led activities, child-initiated play and carefully planned learning experiences. Our topics provide an engaging context for learning, helping children to make connections between different areas of the curriculum and understand how their learning relates to the world around them.

The seven areas of learning in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) are:

1. Communication and Language

Children develop their listening, attention, understanding and speaking skills. Through stories, conversations, songs, role play and discussions linked to our topic, children are encouraged to express their ideas, learn new vocabulary and communicate with others.

2. Personal, Social and Emotional Development

Children develop confidence, independence and positive relationships. They learn to manage their feelings, work with others, take turns, solve problems and understand how their actions affect those around them. Our topics provide opportunities for children to explore emotions, relationships and real-life experiences.

3. Physical Development

Children develop both their gross and fine motor skills through a range of indoor and outdoor experiences. Activities such as climbing, balancing, running, dancing, construction, drawing, cutting and writing are incorporated into our topics wherever appropriate.

4. Literacy

Children develop a love of books, stories, rhymes and language while beginning to develop their reading and writing skills. Our topics provide meaningful reasons for children to read and write, whether that is creating a shopping list, writing a letter, making a map, labelling a model or retelling a familiar story.

5. Mathematics

Children develop their understanding of number, numerical patterns, shape, space, measure and mathematical relationships. Mathematical learning is woven into our topics and children's play, allowing them to apply their skills to real and meaningful situations, such as counting objects, comparing sizes, measuring ingredients or exploring patterns.

6. Understanding the World

Children explore their families, communities, cultures, the natural world, people, places and technology. This area is often strongly connected to our topics, giving children opportunities to investigate, ask questions, observe changes and develop an understanding of the world around them. During our teaching we will explain to the children which aspect of Understanding the World they are learning about- Science, Geography, History, RE

7. Expressive Arts and Design

Children develop their creativity and imagination through art, music, dance, drama, role play, design and making. Topics provide inspiration and opportunities for children to express their ideas in different ways and develop their own creative responses.

Learning Through Our Topics

Although our learning may be organised around a particular topic, the seven areas of learning are not taught separately. Instead, they are carefully woven together throughout the children's experiences.

This approach means that one learning experience can support several areas of development at the same time.

Most importantly, using topics and children's interests as a context for learning helps make learning relevant, purposeful and meaningful. Children are more able to make connections between what they learn in school and their own experiences, families, communities and the world around them. This encourages curiosity, engagement and a genuine enjoyment of learning.

Our aim is therefore not simply to teach the seven areas individually, but to provide children with rich, connected experiences that support their development across the whole curriculum and lay strong foundations for their future learning.

We are Superheroes!

Wk bg 2.11.26: This week is a focused RE week- see the RE section for more information

Wk bg 09.11.26: Why do we celebrate Bonfire Night and Remembrance Day?

This week we will be learning about the history of Bonfire night and Remembrance day, we will be looking at lots of historical artefacts

Wk bg 16.11.26: How do superheroes keep healthy? This week we will be thinking about healthy eating and making superhero smoothies. We will also be thinking about how to keep our teeth healthy

Wk bg 23.11.26: How can we stop an egg from cracking when we drop it? This week will be a science focused week thinking about materials, we will be thinking about how we can protect an egg from cracking.

Phonics, Reading and Writing

This half term we will be covering Phase 2 of Little Wandle- see the phonics section of the website for more detail on this.

We will send out weekly tapestry updates on what we will be covering.

We will start our 'three reads' which will focus on vocabulary and initial sounds

More information will be given at the Little Wandle Phonics Evening

Children will receive their phonics book and library book every Tuesday and both must be returned the following Monday.

The phonics book is for your child to show off their fluent reading to you.
The library book is for you to share and enjoy together.

Please remember:

The phonics book and reading record must be returned daily so your child can take part in their reading group.
The library book, phonics book, and reading record must all be returned the following Monday.

Parents/carers should write the titles of their child’s library books in the reading record:

Library book title goes at the bottom of the page.

Thank you for supporting your child’s reading journey!

Mathematics

Wk bg 2.11.26- Subitising objects and sounds

Wk bg 9.11.26- spatial understanding, prepositional language and gestures

Wk bg 16.11.26- comparing sets by looking and using language of comparison- more, fewer

Wk bg 23.11.26- Counting, the five-ness of 5

Wk bg 30.11.26- Compare sets by matching and using language of comparison- more, fewer

Wk bg 7.12.26- Exploring the concept of whole and part

Wk bg 14.12.26- practical exploration of parts and wholes, matching, turning and flipping

Additional Spatial Awareness (Fridays)

Measures – Time

Use vocabulary like ‘morning’, ‘afternoon’, ‘evening’ and ‘night-time’, ‘earlier’, ‘later’, ‘too late’, ‘too soon’, ‘in a minute’.
Count down to forthcoming events on the calendar in terms of number of days or sleeps. Refer to the days of the week, and the day before or day after, ‘yesterday’ and ‘tomorrow’.
Name the days of the week
Name and describe the seasons
Begin to…Name the months of the year

RE

Autumn 2 Week 1 RE Focus Week

Enquiry Question: Why is the word 'God' so important to Christians?

Our RE learning will be all about The Creation Story, introduced to the children through the use of the characters Tom and Tessa. They will begin to learn about Christianity, God, the Bible and become familiar with some of the symbols used throughout school in our Understanding Christianity scheme. Following this, they will learn the sequence of The Creation Story and practise retelling it in groups using props. They will also explore the story through their play and through art activities.

Autumn 2

Our next unit will be Incarnation, where the children will learn about the true meaning of Christmas from a Christian perspective.

Enquiry Question: Why do Christians perform Nativity plays at Christmas?

The children will listen to, discuss and retell The Christmas Story, including through play. We will begin to think about what is truly important at Christmas, how Christmas is celebrated in Christianity and around the world, how we can think about other people at Christmas and how it links to our school RESPECT Code (Thankfulness, Generosity, Service etc).

PE

Jumping & Landing & Seated Balance

Our PE lessons will continue to be on FRIDAYS.

This half term, our focus skills are Jumping & Landing & Seated Balance and all our fun activities and skills are based around the new themes – Moon Adventure & Fun in the Jungle!

Fundamental Movement Skills Challenges

To be expected children will begin to:

Dynamic Balance to Agility Jumping and Landing:

Maintaining balance:

I can jump from 2 feet to 2 feet forwards and backwards.

I can jump from 2 feet to 2 feet side to side.

I can jump from 2 feet to 2 feet forwards, backwards then side to side.

Static Balance Seated Balance

In a seated position for 10 seconds:

I can balance with both hands and feet touching the floor.

I can balance with 1 hand and 2 feet touching the floor.

I can balance with 2 hands and 1 foot touching the floor.

I can balance with 1 hand and 1 foot touching the floor.

I can balance with 1 hand or 1 foot touching the floor.

I can balance with no hands or feet touching the floor.

French

We will be giving the children their first taste of linguistics! It is widely reported that young children pick up languages easily. The children will take part in a whole class French session every week. We will start by focusing on greetings using fun actions, rhymes and games.

Computing

Exploring Hardware

During focused teaching time, we will start our next unit of our new KAPOW computing scheme, ‘Exploring Hardware’. Through this unit, the children will learn:

To learn how to explore and tinker with hardware to develop familiarity and introduce relevant vocabulary.
To recognise that a range of technology is used in places such as homes and schools.
To learn how to operate a camera and/or iPad and use it to take photographs.

We will also continue to find out about Online Safety.

Upcoming Events

Wednesday 11th November and Thursday 12th November- Come read with us- 9.15

Wednesday 25th November- Parent event in the afternoon- more details to follow

Tuesday 15th December and Wednesday 16th December- Christmas performances

Friday 18th December- Christmas party Day

Reception Blog

This section will be updated fortnightly on a Friday so please keep checking back for updates.

Wow Reception! A massive well done to you all on your first half term at school, we cannot believe the progress you have all made!

In the last couple of weeks we have been learning about real life superheroes and about treating each other equally and with RESPECT. The children really enjoyed learning about Nelson Mandela, Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jnr.

We have also be reading lots of stories about autumn to further our learning about the seasons.

This week we have been thinking about our school grounds again and that many things in the world are natural, they come from nature and are not made by people. We enjoyed working together to make our own models/ small worlds using natural objects. We used this as an opportunity to recap our learning about looking after our world and we read 'George Saves the World by lunchtime!'

We hope everyone has a lovely half term and a well deserved rest!

The Reception Team

Useful PowerPoint and links

Mathematics PowerPoint

Behaviour, Language and Communication PowerPoint

Little Wandle Power Point

Useful Starting School links

If you haven't done so already, you may find watching some of these programmes or playing these games with your child a good way to get them ready for and excited about school. We can't wait for them to start!

My First Day at School - Game

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zhtcvk7/articles/znc9vk7?collection=starting-school-curation

cBeebies Ready for school - TV programmes

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05bvjjt

Starting School with cBeebies - Various

https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/curations/starting-school-curation

Rhyme of the Week

Our Rhyme of the Week will be added every Friday for you to enjoy with your child.

Autumn 1 Rhymes

Autumn 2 Rhymes

Spring 1 Rhymes

Collective & Class Worship

As a Church of England school, staff and children take part in daily worship. We find this coming together, whether as a class or whole school, invaluable in their spiritual and philosophical development. It's incredible how such young children regularly astound us with their deep thinking and thought-provoking questions about themselves, life, the world, religions, the universe and beyond!

Once we settle into the school routine, the weekly worship timetable will be as follows:

Monday: Whole School Worship - Sets the theme for the week from our school RESPECT Code and challenges the children with a 'call to action' to live out that aspect throughout the week.

Tuesday: Class Worship 'Newsday Tuesday' - Keeping up with important and child-relevant current affairs, making links with our school Christian values and Global Christianity.

Wednesday: Whole School Worship – Explores our Christian values using stories, drama or poetry - Led alternate weeks by teaching staff and Reverend Carolyn.

Thursday: Class Worship 'BIG Questions Thursday' – Think about and discuss possible answers to a wide range of thought-provoking questions such as: Why should we look after the world? What do you see and how do you feel when you look at the sky? Are toys or friends more important and why? Make links to our school Christian values and RESPECT Code.

Friday: Whole School Worship - Celebrating the successes of the week, including certificates linked to our school Christian values and RESPECT Code.

We will regularly post details about the content of Class Worship on Tapestry.

Collingham Lady Elizabeth Hastings Primary School