Welcome to Reception

PE

PE will be on a Wednesday, please remember to come to school in PE kit (black bottoms, red t-shirt, school jumper/cardigan and plain black trainers suitable to play outside in). The children will stay in PE kit all day, so jogging bottoms/leggings are preferable as we will be playing outside at other points in the day.

Things we need to bring
You will also need to bring a water bottle, a book bag and a warm, waterproof day every day! Please remember to label uniform, especially cardigans and jumpers. A key ring or writing your child’s name on the Velcro tab on the bag is useful to help your child recognise their own bag.
As the weather gets colder and more unpredictable it is important that your child brings a warm, waterproof coat to school each day. Fleeces are optional and can be left at school just in case they are needed. Please ensure all jumpers, cardigans and fleeces are labelled clearly. Don’t forget a water bottle and book bag including reading packs are needed each day!

Class Teacher

Mrs B Clark - Reception Teacher
Mrs B Clark - Reception Teacher

Class Agreement

Spring 2

Welcome back, we hope you had a wonderful break and are ready for Spring 2. Such a short term after Christmas and another shorter term now until Easter. The children settled back in to our class routines really well after Christmas.

We have learnt all the Phase 3 sounds in phonics and this term will be consolidating this knowledge to practise blending and developing fluency in reading as well as applying these phonic sounds to our writing. You can continue to practise the sounds and letter formation at home using the brown books that are sent home each week, as well as using Spelling Shed for a fun game based way of learning phonics.  More information and videos on how to say each of the phonic sounds can be found here.

As we are revisiting the sounds we have learnt in Phase 3, your child’s reading book will vary in difficultly, please try to read at least 4 times a week with your child to develop confidence and fluency when reading. We have a number of reading volunteers and Reading Ambassadors in school who read regularly with Reception class, please ensure that your child has their reading pack each day in school.

This term we will be focusing our literacy work on rhymes and rhyming stories, using lots of our favourite Julia Donaldson books as well as the very funny Oi Frog series of rhyming stories. The children will practise hearing rhymes and making up their own rhymes, using their phonics knowledge to begin to write rhyming sentences. It is World Book Day on March 7th and we will be doing lots of fun activities for this in class and school. Please refer to the newsletters that are sent from school.

In maths we will focus on shapes, measures and spatial awareness as well as consolidating our understanding of numbers to 10. We look at each of the numbers in depth and discuss the ‘numberness’ of each number, what is a 5, what does it look like, how is it made. You can use Numbots at home to continue practising the skills of subsisting and early calculation.

PE will be on a Wednesday and as always children need to be prepared for PE but also warm clothing and suitable shoes (that can be fastened independently) as we will be playing outside during the day. Please remember to have a warm, waterproof coat every day, long hair should be tied up and no jewellery worn on PE days.

Please be aware that reading packs and brown books will be collected on a Thursday and returned home on a Friday.

We are looking forward to a great term!

Spring 1

Welcome back, we hope you have all had a wonderful, restful Christmas break.

This term our Literacy focus is based on some of the books by Oliver Jeffers, Lost and Found and The Way Back Home. Through the books we will explore the weather and seasons, floating and sinking, light and dark and space. We will begin to talk about the books, learning the stories and developing our own ideas and story telling.

In Maths, we will continue to develop our understanding of numbers to 10, focusing on 6-10, understanding the composition of these numbers and comparing these numbers to each other.

In Phonics we will revisit the sounds we have learnt, practising how to form the letters correctly and will continue to learn new sounds. These sounds become more complex so please refer back to the Phonics information we shared with you and revisit how to say the digraphs and trigraphs. You can find lots of helpful information here https://essentiallettersandsounds.org/parents/ and you can find the videos to see how to pronounce each sound here:

Phase 2

Phase 3

Phase 5

Books will vary over the course of the term as we revisit the sounds and words we have learnt. Reading books will be collected in on a Thursday, changed and returned on Friday. Children will have the opportunity to read in class everyday with an adult, please ensure their reading packs are in school everyday.

PE is on a Wednesday and will be indoors, however as children will be in PE kit all day, please ensure they are wearing trainers and always have a warm, waterproof coat for playing out and lunchtime. A gentle reminder that children should not wear jewellery and earrings must be removed on PE day. Fleeces can be worn in class as an additional layer of warmth due to the open windows and doors. Fleeces can be left at school throughout the week on your child’s peg.

Autumn 2

Welcome back, we hope you had a fun filled but restful half term break. The children had an amazing first term and have settled into school life well. This term will also be very busy. Our topics are based around people who help us and celebrations.

We will continue to learn new phonic sounds and continue to develop the skills of blending. This is a very important skill in learning to read. Children will initially say each letter sound in the words and blend them together to read the words. Each child has a plastic zippy wallet Reading Pack. Please ensure this is in school each day as children will read throughout the week and books will be changed on Friday. You will also have a red Reading Record where we will write the name of the current reading book for that week. Please aim to read each day with your child to enable them to build their confidence and will eventually read the words on sight as they will be familiar with the text. You can comment in the Reading Record to let us know how you get on.

Children will also be able to practise spellings and phonics using Spelling Shed. You can access this for free on a browser or download the app. Your child’s login details will be stuck into the front of the Reading Record.

In Maths, we will be developing our understanding of number, the composition of numbers to 5 and comparing these numbers to help with early calculations. We will learn about shapes and patterns, as well as beginning to subitise, where we learn to recognize how many objects there are without counting. We have access to Numbots for you to use at home, login details are in your child’s reading record. You can download the app or play on a browser.

Our Topic lessons will focus on discussions about the people who help us from the NHS, Military and people in our local community. We will discuss and explore different celebrations and festivals such as Diwali and Christmas and think about Armistice and Remembrance. We will continue to discuss the schools Core Value in our class worship time.

PE will be on a Friday, all children should come to school in PE kit with trainers (not pumps) that can be worn outside. Please remember that all long hair should be tied up and no jewellery including earrings should be worn on PE day.

As the weather gets colder and more unpredictable it is important that your child brings a warm, waterproof coat to school each day. Fleeces are optional and can be left at school just in case they are needed. Please ensure all jumpers, cardigans and fleeces are labelled clearly. Don’t forget a water bottle and book bag including reading packs are needed each day!

As we work towards Christmas, we will be learning the Christmas story and preparing for our Nativity, as well as a fun filled week at the end of term. Please refer to key dates in the newsletter for more information.

Autumn 1

A huge welcome to all our children and families starting at East Bierley this autumn 2023. Our Reception class team is Mrs Clark and Miss Senior, Mrs Imran and Mrs Winder will be in class too. We are so very excited to welcome you all to our class, school and community. It has been wonderful to meet you during our home visits, thank you for welcoming us into your homes.

This term we will spend some time settling into our class, learning new routines and expectations and making lots of new friends. We will talk about our family and homes, our communities and where we belong.

We will start learning phonics using Essential Letters and Sounds and children will begin to bring home a reading book very soon. Please ensure that the reading pack is returned to school each day, particularly on a Friday to ensure we are able to change the reading books.

PE will be on a FRIDAY, please remember to come to school in PE kit (black bottoms, red t-shirt, school jumper/cardigan and plain black trainers suitable to play outside in). The children will stay in PE kit all day, so jogging bottoms/leggings are preferable as we will be playing outside at other points in the day. You will also need to bring a water bottle, a book bag and a warm, waterproof day every day! Please remember to label uniform, especially cardigans and jumpers. A key ring or writing your child’s name on the Velcro tab on the bag is useful to help your child recognise their own bag.

Your child’s learning journey will be on Tapestry, and you will soon receive an activation link via email. We use Tapestry to share snapshots of our learning with you and encourage you to share wow moments from home with us at school. We will also share class information and termly activities for you to do together at home. You can find key information regarding our curriculum and links to further information in Memos and Documents.

We are very much looking forward to an amazing term with all our new children.

Mrs Clark and Miss Senior