Welcome to Reception!

The Pre-school and Reception Team 

PRSO – Mrs O’Gara

PRDA – Mrs Allaby  Mrs Allaby

Mrs Stoneley  Mrs Elks  Mrs Dawson  Mrs Oxborough-Sharp  Mrs Fleming

Reception is such a special and important year at school and during the year we aim to provide the children with the tools that they will need to have a successful learning journey here at Upton Priory.

During the autumn term, we be finding out all about the children and what makes them special and unique! We can’t wait for them to show us how special they are and develop their unique skills as they settle into school and begin this journey.

We will be working on Personal, Social and Emotional development, becoming familiar with new rules and routines, sharing with friends and developing independence. Communication & Language is also a huge focus, listening carefully to stories and each other, responding appropriately with comments, questions and actions and learning lots of exciting, new vocabulary.

 

OUR CURRICULUM

PHONICS  

The children have daily phonics lessons.  We use Little Wandle – Letters and Sounds.  The link below will help you support your child with saying their sounds and writing their letters. There are also some useful videos so you can see how they are taught at school and feel confident about supporting their reading at home.

For parents | Letters and Sounds (littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk)

Pronunciation_guide_Autumn-1_June-2023.pdf

READING

When ready, your child will be given a book to read at home.  We will complete your child’s reading record giving you all the information you need to start reading with your child.

We encourage you to read with your child regularly,. We advise that they read for 10-15 minutes every day.  Please record this in your child’s reading record.  There should be no distractions. Show an interest in the book.  You can further support your child’s interest in reading by enlisting their help when using calendars, diaries, making lists, finding labels on clothes, using recipe books and DIY instruction leaflets. Model reading behaviour when reading newspapers, magazines and books. Bring stories to life with lots of expression and silly voices. Read to your child as often as possible, even after they have learnt to read independently. Take your child to the library. Talk about stories and pictures and play games such as ‘spot the words’ on signs and labels, indoors and outdoors.

We will be learning how to form our letters correctly and developing our gross and fine motor skills through lots of fun activities such as Squiggle Whilst You Wiggle, Dough Disco and Movement for Leanring. There will lots of mark making opportunities both inside and outside with big and small equipment.

Your child will also take home a shared reading book of their choice to enjoying reading for pleasure at home.  This will be changed each week on a Friday.

BUSY BOOKS

Your child will also receive a Busy Book which is for sharing any exciting new or events with their class.  The busy books are a great way at getting to know your child and their family and helps us to share meaningful conversations with your child.

MATHS

We follow the NCETM Numberblocks programme of study for our maths learning in Reception. The children love to watch the Numberblocks episodes and it is fantastic to see their learning coming to life through this animated approach. We encourage a very practical approach to learning maths, we focus on touch counting and rote counting forwards and backwards with confidence. throughout the year we look closely at numbers to 10 and how we can represent them in a variety of ways. Reasoning and problem solving has been introduced and we are incredibly proud of the children’s ability to explain why something could represent a certain amount or what we might need to do it to make it represent that amount. We are estimating different amounts and are consolidating simple addition and subtraction problems .

https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/shows/numberblocks

Homework

Homework is given out every Friday and is always due in on the following Wednesday (unless stated otherwise).

PE

PE Kits should be left in school and children will bring these home on the last week of term after their last PE session.  PE kits should contain – White T-shirt, Navy Blue/Black Shorts – joggers in winter and Pumps or Trainers.  The children will have PE on a Tuesday/Thursday PM on alternate weeks.

WELLINGTONS

Children are encouraged to have a pair of wellington boots in school as we take the children on welly walks in our school grounds and also for playing in the mud kitchen and wet sand outdoors.  Please ensure all items of clothing including wellingtons, PE kits and coats are clearly labelled with your child’s name.

Meet the Teacher – Powerpoint slides

Meet the teacher presentation

Emailing your class teacher

At Upton Priory, we ensure that our staff have a good work-life balance. As teachers, we enjoy the ability to communicate with you via email. We believe that it allows parents to ask important questions or raise any concerns you may have. However, we encourage our staff to only answer emails during working hours 8:30-5:30pm. Therefore, if we do not respond on a particular evening, we will do our best to get back to you the following day. We thank you for your understanding on this.

 

Book Recommendations 

Please follow the below link which will take you to a document containing a reading recommendation list for your child’s class.

We would encourage you to share these with your child(ren) and let us know if you have read/enjoyed any of the books on the list.

We would love to hear what you have been reading!

Reception Book Recommendations


Meet the Team

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