Welcome to Reception's class page!

Key Information

We are a class of 17 children. Our teacher is Mrs Benson and our teaching assistants are Mrs Boyd & Miss Cannon. 

• Our P.E days are Tuesdays and Fridays. Please bring your child to school already in their P.E kit.
• Snack is £1 per week or can be paid upfront for the half term. 

• School meals are to be ordered on the school hub website. 

• Please make sure that your child brings their book bag to school every day.

• Read at least five times a week to gain Strive for Five. (See further down the page for more details).

Useful Information

- Achievement assembly. Each Friday a child will be selected as our Star of the Week and Class Dojo Champion. If this is your child, please remember that they may come in to school the following Friday in non-uniform.

Useful documents and links

As parents you may find these documents useful when assisting your child's development at home. The curriculum map outlines each of the topics which we will be covering over the school year and the newsletters look at the half termly topics, including any additional information on what will be happening in school.

Children's Mental Health Week

In recognition of Children's Mental Health week, the Reception children took part in activities which helped them to recognise their emotions, linking to the theme of 'Know Yourself, Grow Yourself'. They had a visit from Andy who modelled how to use a drum and reiterated to the children that they were part of a team and that it was important to work together. We also spent time with Relax Mel who showed the children different strategies on how to regulate their emotions using physical activities and breathing techniques. On Thursday Sarah from the Life Bus also had a discussion with the children about how best to build their life skills and the 5 SCARF strands they can use to support them. (Safety, Caring, Achievements, Resilience and Friendship). Sarah taught the children the importance of the word, 'yet' and to always put it on the end of sentence that begins with "I can't" because it is always possible for them to get there with perseverance. Although it was a busy week, the children learnt a lot about themselves and enjoyed taking part in all of the sessions.

STEM week

This week the children have taken part in STEM week, which has included them creating some fantastic models using loose parts. The children worked in teams, bringing their ideas to life by connecting and building tubes, pipes, wooden planks, etc., listening to each others ideas and building conversations. The children have also baked bread this week, working with Amanda from Phunky foods to mix and knead the mixture, using skills previously taught in art and design and technology, and then moulding their dough in to shapes of their choice. Ali also worked with the children this week creating shadow puppets from different materials and exploring how the shadows changed in size by moving the torches close and further away. For the final day of STEM week, the children worked with Rosie from the National Wildlife Trust to plant bulbs in to decorated plant pots and in the afternoon they created their own batch of slime using PVA glue, paint and activator solution. The children got messy, mixing the ingredients together and stretching it to thicken and strengthen their slime.

Autumn 1: The Gingerbread Man

This half term the children have been focusing their learning on Traditional Tales, using the story of 'The Gingerbread Man' by M.Alperin as a basis for their learning. Their learning challenge is 'Where is the Gingerbread Man running to?' and to help them answer this question, the children have been taking part in lots of activities linked to the story. Such activities include creating bridges over the river to help the Gingerbread Man to safety, baking Gingerbread Men to help them understand the role of the baker, and investigating what would happen if the river, that the Gingerbread Man tried to cross, was made up of different liquids. Each of these activities have provoked conversation amongst the children, whilst introducing new vocabulary and allowing the children to ask questions. As a basis for the children's literacy, they watched a video of some Gingerbread Men running from the oven , which they then created wanted posters for and placed around the school.

Autumn 2: Polar Explorer

This half term the children have focused on the learning challenge, 'How do polar bears keep warm?, with the story 'Poles Apart' by J. Willis as their main text. Some of the activities they have taken part in include rescuing penguins from their frozen eggs, painting polar animals, designing snowflakes in the snow, sequencing the text and taking part in an experiment using butter as blubber to find out if the butter really would create a barrier from the cold. This topic has given the children the opportunity to look in depth into some of our understanding the world strands, looking closely at the world around us and how places differ, as well as looking at the nature of ice and snow.

Spring 1: China

This half term the Early Years children have focused their learning on China, with the Reception children's learning challenge being, 'How do people celebrate in other countries?' This half terms book focus has been 'Ning and the Night Spirits by A. Fong' and the children have had lots of opportunity to build their knowledge of China through activities linked to the book and external visitors giving the children opportunity to build their knowledge through observation and participation of cultural activities. Such visitors have included Sophie Martin, a local illustrator, who painted blossoms with the children and also Shane, the cook from Kowloon Chinese, who gave the children a demonstration of how to make egg fried rice, which the children later enjoyed for snack using chopsticks as utensils. The children have also taken part in activities, which have gave them the opportunity to verbally compare Distington and China, extending their vocabulary of the topic further. All of the opportunities this half term have built up the children's knowledge of China but also allowed them to expand their play further when playing in the Chinese Market role play area and Small World area of the classroom. The children have also looked at the celebrations of the Chinese New Year and how it takes part all over the world. They explored artefacts, which related to this celebration in particular offering curiosity and conversation starters amongst the children. 

Spring 2: Real Life Superheroes

This half term has sparked a lot of excitement with the children as it gave them the opportunity to meet some real life superheroes within their community. Looking at the topic of 'People who help us', the children learnt lots about the roles of different professionals. They enjoyed visits from the local police and firefighters, who explained their roles to the children, showing them examples of their uniforms and the different pieces of equipment that they need to use in order for them to do their jobs. The children even got to sit in their different vehicles and listen to the sirens echoing through the village. 

The children's book focus this half term was, 'Milly and the Super School Day by S. Clarkson', which offered a different perspective on this topic as it allowed the children to take part in some self-reflection and look at how they help others. This is something which was expanded on throughout this half term's literacy.

Roald Dahl Day

The children have enjoyed celebrating Roald Dahl's birthday today, learning about some of his most popular stories through sensory activities. They enjoyed mark making in chocolate to represent the story of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, took the dirt out of Mr Twits disgusting beard using tongs and tweezers, created Fantastic Mr Fox masks and designed and threaded dream catchers to represent The BFG.

Read Write Inc.

We have daily Read Write Inc. sessions, streaming Reception and Year 1. Each session gives the children the opportunity to practise saying each sound and segment words with their focused sound in, reading the sounds aloud to blend words back together. Our lessons include lots of modelling and repetition, helping the children to recognise their focused sounds in the environment and to support them when using their letter/sound representations in their writing. When writing, we support the children using Read Write Inc. letter formation rhymes.

Below is a chart, which will help your child to form their letters at home.

Alongside our phonics lessons, we enjoy playing different phonics games to help consolidate the children's learning. Some of our favourite online games can be found on Phonics Play and Phonics Bloom. Please use the links below to access these websites so your child can enjoy playing games at home too.

Strive for 5

To achieve Strive for 5 at the end of the half term, your child must read at home 5 times per week for a full half term. If they achieve this, they will receive a prize on the final day of half term. Each time your child reads, please record this in their reading record. 

Below is an image of the 'Strive for 5' display in the Reception classroom. Each of the children are runners and their aim is to run from the start point to checkpoint 5, at the top of the mountain, each week. Each checkpoint marks off how many times the children have read each week. The children love to check how well they are doing each day and understand that if they are at checkpoint 2, they need to read 3 more times to get to the top. At the beginning of each week, the children go back to the starting point and begin their weekly reading journey again. 

Mastery Maths

In Reception we follow White Rose Maths. This programme of study allows children to learn practically while utilising the learning environment. We build upon core principles that allow children to progress their mathematical skills throughout the year. Creating a mathematically rich learning environment also provides children with opportunities to develop, practice and consolidate their skills in different contexts and using different media. 

We also use Numberblocks to support the cementing of newly learned numeracy areas- all of these videos can be accessed for free on BBC iPlayer. Please use the link below to access them at home.

Alongside our maths lessons, the children enjoy playing different maths game. Some of these games can be found online on Top Marks. Please use the link below to access these.

Try Day Friday

Each Friday the children enjoy taking part in 'Try Day Friday', where they are encouraged to try a new food. The chosen food promotes conversation amongst the children and often they have questions about where the food grows or comes from. Occasionally, the children have mixed opinions as to whether or not they like the foods but sometimes, they go home telling their families that they have found something new that they like. Some of the foods we have tried so far include raspberries, mango, pineapple, grapefruit, pomegranate and honeydew melon.