Welcome To Reception

This page is for all our reception children in Ash and Oak class. We will use this page to share information with you and tell you about our topics and special events throughout the year.

Autumn 1

This half term our theme begins with 'All about Me', during which we will be getting to know each other and finding out about the things we like to do and our families.  We will also be doing a lot of work around being kind, looking after ourselves and being a good friend.  This will include looking at texts including The Paperdolls, The Tortosaurus and The Best Me!  

For the second half of the half term we will be focusing on 'Traditional Tales'.  This will include weekly topics including Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Three Little Pigs and Jack and the Beanstalk.  This will be followed by a week of learning about Diwali. 

In maths our first topic is 'Match, Sort and Compare'.  This will involve activities such as pairing socks, playing pairing games and sorting objects according to a given criteria.  This topic is followed by 'Talking about Measure and Patterns' and then 'It's me 1,2,3'.

Drawing Club

We will shortly be starting 'Drawing Club'.  This is a fun way of teaching literacy and extending children's imaginations and storytelling abilities.  

How drawing club works:

Each week we choose a story which will be our topic for the week.  We will draw a character, setting or adventure from the story and add a letter/word/sentence code and a maths-based code, such as a numeral, number of dots, a shape etc.  When we 'press' the codes, something exciting happens!!!  The children choose what is going to happen when we press their codes, for example, "The school gets wheels and we all go to the park."

Phonics

We will be using the Ready Steady Phonics scheme.  This includes daily learning of new sounds (phonemes), reviewing previously learnt sounds, blending sounds together to read and segmenting sounds to write.  

Here is a Ready Steady Phonics video showing how we pronounce the sounds that the children will be learning over the next few weeks. The children have loved their phonics sessions so far, so they might like to show you at home!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxLHjtNUxro

As part of these sessions, they will be completing a workbook focusing on reading the new sound and practising letter formation.  Please see the below attachment for more letter formation practise sheets.  We will put the completed workbooks in their bookbags at the end of each week so that they can share their learning with you at home. If these folders could be kept in their bags, that would be great.  This reading diary is for you to fill in when you have shared a story/workbook with your child. This doesn't have to be a lengthy comment, we just like to praise the children when they have engaged with reading at home. Inside this reading diary there is also a QR code for you to scan - this directs you to a digital copy of the book that they will have already read in class and will include any sounds/words that have been taught throughout the week. You will also find a 'reading for pleasure' book that your child will choose themselves from our class reading areas - we don't expect the children to be able to read these books, they are to share with an adult/sibling!

PE Day

Our PE day is Thursday.  Please can children wear their school uniform to school every Thursday and they will remain in this all day.

Welly Wednesdays

On Wednesday 24th September we will be starting our Welly Wednesday sessions. If you haven't already done so, please could you send in a named pair of wellies that can stay in school. The uniform for this day will be dark coloured joggers/leggings and dark coloured t-shirts/jumpers that you don't mind getting muddy! Children will change into their wellies in the afternoon.

We take full advantage of our outdoor classroom, woods and fields around school, so please ensure children have their coats each day in case of poor weather. Children have access to waterproofs on a daily basis when in our outdoor area but please be mindful that sometimes clothes can get muddy!

Dojos

Your child may have mentioned getting Dojos!  Each child has their own online Dojo Monster and the children are given Dojos points for impressing us with actions such as working hard, being respectful, being a good friend and helping others.  Each time a child gets 20 Dojo points they are given a prize out of our prize box. 

The Dojos are also used for us to record observations of your child.  These observations will just be a small snapshot of your child's time with us and 'wow' moments so that we can spend the majority of our time playing and supporting the children.

An invite for parents to join Dojo will be given out at the end of this half term.       

EYFS Stay and Play sessions for parents/carers 

As part of our reception year, we have termly ‘stay and play’ sessions. During these sessions you can join your child in school. This is the perfect opportunity for you to see what your child does at school, meet other parents and have an informal chat to staff.  Due to space we do limit this to one adult per child.  

First 'Stay and Play' session -  Thursday 13th November 2.15pm-3.00pm.

EYFS Graduation (parents/guardians invited - 2 per child).

Monday 13th July 2026 2.00-3.00pm 

Trips and Memorable Experiences 

Term 1

PJ day in school (wear your PJs and bring a favourite teddy and book)  Friday 3rd October 2025.

Walk around the local area - week beginning 17th November 2025

Wider Learning Links

Alphablocks - a great programme for children to watch to support their phonics learning.

Numberblocks - a great programme for children to watch to support with number and shape skills.

www.cbeebies.co.uk  - Click on ‘games’ or ‘puzzles and games’ and scroll down to ‘sort games by’ and choose ‘learning area’ to choose the area of learning you would like your child to practise.  

Cbeebies also has lots of information and clips to support other areas of our EYFS curriculum, such as Understanding the World (Chinese New Year, Diwali, growing plants) and Health and Self-Care (healthy eating, exercise), Expressive Arts and Design (art ideas).  These are just a few of the topics that you can search for on this site.   There are some lovely stories in the Radio section too!

www.ictgames.co.uk - This website has many literacy and numeracy games.

If you have any queries or concerns, please come and speak to us or contact us via the below email addresses:

Ash class (Mrs Richards) - [email protected] 

Oak class (Miss Ellis) - [email protected]