Reception 2023 - 2024

Reception Class Teachers: Mrs Barker & Mrs Milojevic

Teaching Assistants: Mrs McNicholas, Miss Reed, Mrs Hunt and Miss Goodall

We have planned a curriculum and chosen topics for your child’s Reception year which we are sure will spark curiosity and ignite a love of learning.

At our school, reading is at the heart of the curriculum and in Reception we aim to promote a love of reading in each and every child. As a class, we will share and delight in stories and rhymes together every day. We encourage and support the children to read daily both in and out of school.

We will begin the school year with the topic ‘Once Upon a Time’, focusing on traditional tales that the children will already be familiar with. We will use stories such as ‘The Three Little Pigs’ and ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’ to inspire learning across the curriculum. Your children might learn to share and work as a team whilst building a house of sticks, develop their cutting skills whilst designing a stronger chair for Goldilocks or extend their vocabulary by using story book language.

Throughout the year, our topics will be led by the interests of the children, allowing them to take ownership and responsibility for their learning. Our open-ended topics include: I wonder what’s special, I wonder where people live and I wonder what’s out of this world. These topics will enable the children to ask questions and discover the answers themselves, supporting them to become resilient and inquisitive learners.

Important information

• Please feel free to share any information with your child’s teacher, this could be a small message at the door (however trivial you may feel it is) or if you require a more in-depth conversation, then we will be happy to arrange a telephone appointment with you. We know that you are the experts on your own children and look forward to working together to best support them!
  
  
• We use a secure online platform called ‘Tapestry’ to create online learning journeys for every child in Reception. Tapestry enables you to follow your child’s individual progress closely whilst allowing you and your child to reflect upon their achievements by sharing these observations with them. Please feel free to leave a comment on the observations.  Likewise, we would love you to add your own observations so that we can discover the learning and exploration that your child embarks on at home too.
  
  
• Throughout the school we use a reward system to celebrate and encourage a positive attitude towards learning. Children are awarded ‘Mission Merits’ for showing desired learning behaviours and this is celebrated in class.
  
  
• Phonics is a crucial part of your child’s learning in Reception and each Friday you will receive a Tapestry message to inform you of what your child has been learning during their phonics sessions that week. There are also lots of fun and engaging phonics games that you can play for free at phonicsplay.co.uk or www.phonicsbloom.com. We would also recommend that you follow ‘Phonics Family’ on Facebook for practical activities and ideas to use at home.
  
  
• We would love your child to enjoy as many books as possible during their time in Reception. They will have the opportunity to select a library book every Thursday and bring this book home for you to share together. We also strongly recommend becoming a member of Failsworth library and there are many books for you and your child to enjoy online at http://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/.
  
  
• Once your child receives an individual reading book, please ensure this book, along with your child’s reading comments book, is in school every day. We will listen to your child read at least once a week and we will write a comment to inform you of their progress. Please use the reading comments book to inform us of how your child is progressing with their reading at home. Please also remember that every recorded read goes towards your child receiving one of our 100 reads awards!
  
  
• Each class has an ‘Everywhere Bear’ which will be sent home with one child every Friday. Each bear comes with a special story for you to share and a little diary. We would love you to add some photographs, drawings or notes to the diary, to document your child’s adventures with this brilliant bear. Please return the bear, book and diary by the following Wednesday to enable us to share your child’s adventures with the class before sending it home with the next child.
  
  
• On a Friday afternoon, one child from each class will be awarded with a special ‘Star of the week’ certificate to recognise and celebrate an incredible achievement within their learning. When your child is selected, you will receive an email from the school office to invite you to the assembly.

We hope your child has a wonderful time in Reception!

Thank you in advance for your support.