Welcome to Reception Class!

The Reception team are very excited to welcome all our new starters and their parents to Walford Nursery and Primary school.

Your child’s first experience in school is very important. Here at Walford, we offer our children lots of opportunities to learn and explore through play within our continually changing provision areas (indoors and outdoors). The children will learn through a mixture of adult led and child initiated learning, both of which are as equally important in a child's development.

What to Expect, When? 

Did you know that children develop more rapidly during the first five years of their lives than at any other time!

 The attached booklet  has been written to help you as a parent/carer know what to expect during these vitally important years by focusing on the seven areas of learning and development which are covered in the Early Years Foundation Stage.

A typical day in Reception

Each day includes:

• A time for the whole class to be together for story-telling, imaginative talk, word collecting, sentence building and writing!
• A phonics session (in a group with an adult)
• A mathematics session (again, in a group with an adult)
• Opportunities to self-select from a wide range of activities both inside and outside the Reception Classroom.
• A time for a snack of fresh fruit and a drink of water or milk
• A group session/time for (and this changes from day to day) music, physical activity, drama, cooking etc
• A challenge (two or three times a week); for example, “We need to build a house for the little pig that will not blow down in the garden!”

IPads

In class, your child has access to lots of educational apps on our class iPads. Most are free although some do have to be paid for. Here are some of the most popular ones;

Meet the Alphablocks, Twinkl Phonics, Get Growing.

Tiggly Series; Shape’s got Talent, Chef Addition, Story Maker, Safari.

Alongside these opportunities and once the children are settled in school, we will start our Learning Challenge Curriculum. For the first half of the Autumn Term, our question is; ‘Is everybody’s home the same?’ For more details please see the topic web below.

Helping at Home

Read, read, read

Read to your child as often as you can! Read anything and everything, not just the reading scheme books. Real books, with pictures, rhyme and enjoyable stories are crucial here. Try to encourage your child to talk about the pictures, or to make predictions about what will happen next. It’s most important for your child to enjoy reading above all, so try to relax, and stop when either of you begins to feel pressured or anxious.

Encourage your child to recognise and read print when you are out shopping, on the bus or at the park. Most children can recognise the Golden M for McDonald’s a mile away!

Help your child be epic at maths!

Did you know that children with good numeracy skills are more likely to earn more, stay in education longer and have more chance of actually being in work when they grow up?

Children are born with an innate mathematical ability and research has shown that parents have a massive effect on how this develops.

Do maths together every day...

This may not sound very attractive, but guess what? You already are! Maths is everywhere - helping your child get dressed, baking together, going to the shops, singing counting songs, building with blocks - practically every activity we do with our child involves maths! For further information, please follow the link;

https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/grownups/help-your-child-with-maths#:~:text=When%20your%20child's%20getting%20confident,feel%20they've%20grasped%20it.

Getting dressed independently

And finally, (and on a more practical note!), it is really useful if you can encourage your child can have a go at dressing themselves at home so that they can do themselves during the school day. It’s often quite time-consuming for teachers to have to do up 30 zips on wriggly children bursting to go outside!

Communication Book and Book Bags
Please could you ensure your child brings their book bag into school each day. Book bags should contain your child's phonics sheets and later, when they are ready, a reading book. Our aim is to be paperless; therefore most written communication will be via Showbie or the school email system.  More information about this app and how to access it will be provided when your child starts school. 

EYFS Parents Meeting – Dates to be confirmed

Towards the end of September, we will be inviting you to an informal meeting which will be held in the Reception Classroom. The aim of the meeting is to explain about the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum and to introduce you to our fantastic Read, Write Inc phonics scheme.  There will be plenty of opportunity to ask questions, look around the classroom and have a cup of tea or coffee and a cake or two!

Please feel free to come and see me about anything you may need help with. I am happy to meet with you and discuss any comments, questions or concerns you may have about our topic, the work covered in class or your child's progress.

Best Wishes,

Mrs Hyde