Michael Rosen Class Staff
Julia Donaldson Class Staff
Welcome to Reception
In Reception we believe that 'learning is fun!' We have worked hard to create an inviting and stimulating environment that the children feel happy and comfortable to learn in. Our continuous provision enables children to explore and learn with a variety of high quality equipment and natural resources. Staff are always available to observe, encourage and extend children. This way the children can become confident, independent learners.
The curriculum in Reception is delivered through a balance of adult led and child led learning. It incorporates everything we want the children to experience, learn and be able to do. Meeting all the requirements of the educational programmes in the statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and the flexibility to allow us to respond to children’s new interests and/or needs.
Phonics
Phonics is recommended as the first strategy that children should be taught in helping them learn to read. It runs alongside other teaching methods such as Guided Reading and Shared Reading to help children develop all the other vital reading skills and hopefully give them a real love of reading! At St Andrews we use a programme called Little Wandle to support early reading.
Words are made up from small units of sound called phonemes. Phonics teaches children to be able to listen carefully and identify the phonemes that make up each word. This helps children to learn to read words and to spell words.
Every morning the children are taught a discreet phonic session in classes. To begin with the sessions involve learning a new phoneme (sound) each day, then we build up to blending and segmenting phonemes. Our aim is for the children to be able to read and write simple sentences independently by the end of the Reception year.
Handwriting
The children are introduced to handwriting as part of our daily phonics lessons using the Little Wandle programme. In addition to this, the children will enjoy lots of physical and fine motor activities to improve the strength in their core muscles, wrist and forearm. They will also be taught how to hold a pencil and will learn how to form letters correctly enabling our children to write with a good flow and fluency as they progress through the school.
Homework
- Daily reading and phonics practise. We encourage parents to write in the reading journal every time they hear their child read.
- Values passport once a month
- Other tasks posted on Tapestry when appropriate including maths tasks, stories to listen to and topic suggestions.
- Talk 4 Writing model texts and story maps sent home for the children to learn.
Tapestry
In Early Years we use an online service called Tapestry. We would very much like our parents to become part of their own child’s Learning Journey. All you have to do is let us have your email address. We will then add you to the service and every time we add an observation for your child you will receive an email and you can have a look at the observations. Once you are logged in you can also add observations yourself of activities your child has completed at home.
Our Topics
- Autumn Term – It’s good to be me!
- Spring – Once Upon a Time….
- Summer – It’s a wonderful world!
Within these overarching topics we will also explore possible themes, interests and lines of enquiry in response to the children’s needs and fascinations. Each term we update our webpage with information about what your child will be learning.
