Welcome to the Starry Starfish Reception Class 

I am Mrs Mann, the class teacher and I work with the children Tuesday through to Friday. Miss Cook, our class LSPA leads the class to start off the week on a Monday and continues to support us throughout the week along with the rest of our great team Miss Harrington-Groves, Mrs Ratcliffe, Miss Easdon and Mrs Ellis. Mr Boulton is our dedicated PE teacher and he will lead the class in a range of lessons on a Monday and Thursday. 

Our special class mascots are Stella and Stanley who help us on our learning journey and are always watching carefully for children following our school rules of:

Be Kind, Be Safe, Be Responsible.

They both like to have weekend adventures and enjoy visiting the children's homes to have lots fun and meet with their families to discover more about them.

Please see the attached welcome pack which gives you an introduction of what your child needs as they begin their journey in Reception and also key information about our class. Our main platform for communication is Class Dojo which we use for notices and messages between home and school. 

Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Curriculum

The Reception year is the final year of the EYFS curriculum which spans across 7 areas of learning along with developing positive characteristics of effective learning. The areas are:  

Personal Social Emotional Development, Communication and Language, Physical Development, Literacy, Mathematics, Understanding the World

and Expressive Arts and Design. 

Learning through PLAY is still a crucial part of our curriculum and we aim to balance this with our discrete sessions to secure firm foundations for the children to build upon and be ready to join KS1.

The children will be measured at the end of the year against 17 Early Learning Goals (ELG's) where the 7 areas of learning are refined into further sub-areas which assess if your child is working towards or working at the expected level for their age. Please see the following document which goes into further detail on each one

In Early Years, we are guided by the children, their interests and areas of their development they are currently working on.  Below, we have outlined topics but these are adaptable as our curriculum is fluid and continually evolving .  The children's skills in all areas of their learning are progressed during the school year to ensure each and every child reaches their full potential and be the very best they can be! :)

Spring Term

Our themes which will guide our learning for the Spring Term will include topics such as Winter, Chinese New Year, Pancake Day, Healthy Living, Spring and Easter. 

This term we are going to continue to develop our phonics skills through our Read, Write, Inc. programme transferring our sound knowledge into our writing as well extending our reading knowledge to learn about 'special friends', 2-3 letters that make one sound e.g. ch in chop. 

In Maths, we will be diving deep into numbers between 1 and 10 exploring how to represent, compare, composition and number facts.  Along with exploring mass, capacity and the measurements of height, length and time. We will look at 3D shapes and identify more complex patterns. 

Wellie Wednesday sessions continue this term and are a highlight of our week. We will be exploring the natural world using our senses to make observations and comparisons. Please remember your child can come to school in their school PE tracksuit for the day, waterproofs and wellies can be left in school. 

PE will take place on a Monday and a Thursday, please send in both indoor and outdoor kit. The children will be learning and developing both their hockey and dance skills for the first half of the term. 

PLEASE NAME EVERYTHING that you send into school so we can best help the children keep track and be responsible for their own belongings. 

Phonics Homework

Phonics folders are now in book bags which include a combination of resources to help encourage children to practise both their sounds and word time activities to encourage blending. Red 'tricky' words are also included which are words the children just need to learn by sight as they cannot be sounded out. Please be as creative as you wish with these resources and link with your child's interests at homes e.g Snap, bingo, treasure hunts, splat the sounds, school role play. Please see guidance document below to explain in further details and have QR codes linked to offer more activities and support. 

Reading Books 

We will continue to send home 2x books. 1x reading book for your child to read and 1x reading for pleasure book for them to enjoy a story being read to them. Please do continue to ask the children questions around the book, making predictions for the story, showing empathy with the characters and offering their own opinions. This term we are  hoping to set up a new reward system for the children along with a lending library for families to have the option to borrow further books to share at home. 

NumBots 

We are introducing the NumBots programme in class where the children use the 'game style' app to develop their maths skills and fluency in addition, subtraction and number bonds. The children will also be bringing their log in details home so they can share this with you and earn certificates as they achieve each level. 

Please do not be overwhelmed with the amount we have sent home, we are not expecting you to do everything everyday, just a few minutes at a time would be great.  There is no time limit for homework so please do when is best for your child.  We will also be using the folders in class and will check them each week so please ensure they are in their book bag  EVERYDAY along with their reading books and reading records.

Please don't hesitate to get in contact if you have any questions or if you are unsure of anything especially if it is your first child starting school or you are new to our school community.