Welcome to Reception, 

Our Reception classes are: 

RFN – Miss Newton (EYFS Phase Lead, Class Teacher), Miss Brown (TA), Mrs Budworth (TA) 

RRD – Miss Denton (Teacher), Miss Murphy (TA), Mrs Barnett (TA), Mrs Carberry and Mrs Wager (1:1 TA) 

RCH – Mrs Hurn (Teacher), Mrs Askew (TA), Mrs Hammond (TA) 

Starting school is an exciting time: a time of new experiences, new friends and new places. Our Reception school days provide a safe and secure environment where your child can play, explore, experiment, investigate and learn. We also encourage the children to acquire skills and knowledge through first-hand experiences, gaining a sound understanding of the world around them. 

The curriculum for our Reception classes has been developed from children's particular interests as well as carefully planned topics which enable your child to access all parts of the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum. Educational trips and visits are also carefully planned which really bring our topics to life. Information on each topic can be found on the long-term plan on the school website. Should you have any further questions please feel free to ask your child's class teacher or another member of the Reception team.  

Autumn Term 

Marvellous Me – During this topic we get to know the children and their families. We focus on the three prime areas of the EYFS curriculum (Physical Development, Communication and Language Development and Personal, Social and Emotional Development). 

We read high quality texts such as ‘Colour Monster Goes to School’ ‘So Much’ and ‘Shine’ to introduce our different themes such as ‘The Zones of Regulation’, what makes me special and my family. 

We introduce ‘Dough Disco’; Dough Disco helps to strengthen children's fine motor muscles to enable them to develop their pencil grip which in turn will help to develop their writing skills.   

We also begin ‘Read, Write Inc.’ phonics sessions which helps us to read and write. 

Let’s celebrate – During this topic we look at the different festivals and what we celebrate as a cohort. We celebrate the religious festivals of Diwali, Hanukah and Christmas which is supported by the story ‘Little Glow’. 

As part of our Religious Education and alongside our school vision of ‘Living Life in All its Fullness’ the children participate in a Nativity performance retelling the ‘Christmas Story’. 

We also look at seasonal changes and the dark night and read high quality texts such as ‘Can’t You Sleep Little Bear’, ‘The Bear and the Scary Night’ and ‘Oscar and the Moth’. 

We continue learning our set 1 ‘Read, Write, Inc’ phonics sounds and apply this knowledge to read and write words. 

In Autumn term we focus on numbers to 5 and their composition. Teaching the ‘Mastery Approach’ we use the 5 big ideas which are coherence, representation and structure, mathematical thinking, fluency and variation. 

Spring Term 

Ticket to Ride - During this topic we read high quality texts such as ‘Oi Get Off My Train’, ‘The Train Ride’ and ‘The Naughty Bus’. Our main focus from the Early Years Curriculum for this topic is ‘Understanding the World’ and we complete map work, science investigations and explore vehicles from the past. During this topic we visit our local fire station and learn about fire engines and emergency service vehicles. 

Spring and New Life -  During this topic we look at seasonal changes, growing, timelines and life cycles. We read high quality texts such as ‘The Growing Story’ and ‘Tree Seasons Come, Seasons Go’. We plant our own flowers, beans and seeds and observe how they grow. To end our topic, we look at The Easter story from the Bible and visit our local link church All Saints for an Easter service. 

In Spring term, we focus on numbers to 10 once again following the 5 big ideas of ‘Maths Mastery’. 

Summer Term 

Once Upon a Time – During this topic we focus on traditional tales and nursery rhymes. We use ideas taken from ‘Pie Corbett’s Talk for Writing’ approach to help the children internalise the text, remember key facts and write simple versions of the traditional tale which become the stepping stones for future story writing. We complete STEM activities and work together to create a boat for the Gingerbread Man, a new chair for Baby Bear and a bridge for the Three Billy Goats. 

Amazing Animals – During this topic we read high quality texts from the author ‘Eric Carle’ and create our own art work inspired by his illustrations. We learn about different minibeasts reading non-fiction books and create our own fact files. We plan, do, review to create our own animals using junk modelling items. 

In Summer term, we focus on numbers to 20 and beyond applying the knowledge we have built through the first two terms once again following the 5 big ideas of ‘Maths Mastery’. 

We prepare for Year One by introducing a playtime into our timetable, visiting the Year One classrooms and holding story times with the Year One teachers. 

We showcase our P.E skills we have learnt throughout the year in our weekly P.E lessons with P.E coaches from SDH Academy by taking part in a sports day carousel of activities. 

We celebrate the end of our Reception year again by visiting our link church All Saints for a summer celebration service.