Reception

Welcome to Reception!

Teaching Staff

Miss Smith - Team Leader

Mrs Lockton

Miss Arden

Miss Fenton

Support Staff

Mrs Whitt

Mrs Gage

Mrs Legge

Mrs Laing

Miss Ward-Wright

Mrs Barnatt

Topics

Autumn Term 1 - Magical Me

Autumn Term 2 - Light and Dark

Spring Term 1 - People Who Help Us

Spring Term 2 - Animal Magic

Summer Term 1 - Once Upon a Time

Summer Term 2 - We Are Explorers

The Reception curriculum is full of fun, hands-on learning opportunities that provide children with the foundations to their education. Starting school is a huge step for children and parents. Parents are children’s first educators and effective school and parent partnership is at the heart of the William Alvey School. We believe in working together with you to ensure that our children have the security and confidence to develop socially, emotionally and educationally.

Our recent Ofsted inspection (March 2022) stated: “Children in the early years get off to a good start. Adults carefully plan learning activities for children in the outdoor learning areas. They match activities closely to children’s identified next steps. Teachers teach more formal elements of the curriculum with clarity. Children respond well. Children rapidly learn to read.” They also highlighted “The relationships between staff and pupils are positive. Teachers know the pupils in their classes well. Pupils in Year 5 act as buddies for younger children in the early years through to Year 1. This helps younger children settle quickly into this large school. Pupils say they feel safe and happy.”

Starting School

This week the Reception children have settled into their new classes wonderfully! They have been busy learning the routines and class rules whilst learning lots of new names. The children have explored our outdoor environment and taken part in a range of activities including a Teddy Bears' Picnic and a special visit from Mr Bear! The Year 5 buddies were fantastic at helping the children to settle in! (The photos are being prepared!)

Reading Meetings

We would like to invite you to attend a Reading meeting. The meeting will last approximately 30 minutes and give you an insight into how we teach phonics and reading skills at William Alvey. We use Rocket Phonics (a DFE validated systematic synthetic programme). Our reading scheme (Rising Stars Reading Planet) follows the progression of our phonics teaching enabling every child to read at a level matched to their phonic knowledge.

All pupils are expected to complete home reading supported by their family with books that support both their reading to learn and learning to read. Home reading is tracked via teacher assessments of reading diaries. Lots of opportunities to read throughout the day are encouraged. We would greatly appreciate your support in this vital skill to help your child to thrive.

The meetings are as follows:

Mrs Lockton's class: Wednesday 13th September 9.15-9.45am and 2.30-3pm

Miss Smith's class: Thursday 14th September 9.15-9.45am and 2.30-3pm

Miss Arden's class: Friday 15th September 9.15-9.45am and 2.30-3pm

We look forward to seeing you at the meetings, you may come along to any meeting even if it is not your child's class teacher. Thank you.

The Three Little Pigs

Our focus for the next couple of weeks is on traditional tales. This week the children have thoroughly enjoyed reading the story The Three Little Pigs. We used a class story map to practise retelling the story with a focus on using expressive voices for the characters. The children then made their own story maps and worked in groups to retell the story independently. We had some super versions, with some brilliant Little Pig and Big Bad Wolf voices.

Great work everyone!

Our Nativity

The children did a fantastic performance of our nativity 'A Bundle of Joy!' Although we missed having a 'live' audience and having the singing support of our Year 5 buddies again this year, the children performed brilliantly. They thoroughly enjoyed all of the singing and dancing and having a chance to dress up and some of the children were even brave enough to take on a speaking role.

Well done everyone!

Away in a Manger

Light and Dark

The children have been very busy taking part in lots of fun and exciting activities based around our topic 'Light and Dark'. They have been learning about why we have day and night and enjoyed using a globe and a torch to investigate how when the Earth spins on its axis, half the planet has daytime when it faces the sun whilst the other half has night because it it facing away from the sun. Excellent investigating!

We have also been learning about the Hindu festival of Diwali and how it is celebrated around the world. The children had great fun re-enacting the legend of Rama and Sita and made some wonderful clay diya lamps.

Finally, to support our work on nocturnal animals the children took part in an amazing nocturnal animal workshop. They were excited to have the opportunity to observe and touch some nocturnal animals from around the world: Charlotte the tarantula, Toby the tenrec, Benji the skunk and Kiwi the Burmese python.

The workshop was thoroughly enjoyed by all!

Our Autumn Walk

This week the children in Reception have been learning about the seasons. They went on a lovely Autumn walk along the river Slea with their Year 5 buddies and talked about the signs of Autumn. We would like to say a special thank you to Year 5 for setting such a good example to the Reception children and for supporting them so well in their learning with their questions, answers and care. Thank you Year 5!

What a busy week!

The Reception children have been super busy this week! In PE we have been learning about balance, coordination and how to use equipment safely. To help us do this we have been using the balance bikes and the gymnastics apparatus in the big hall. The children practised negotiating space successfully and were fantastic at remembering to bend their knees when jumping off the equipment, for a safe landing.

In ICT this week we have been exploring lots of different technology including iPads and BeeBots. On the iPads the children were combining different 2D shapes to create some fantastic pictures. We then used the BeeBots and had to use the directional buttons to program the BeeBot and navigate it to a specific location. We had great fun!

Our Buddies are back!

The Reception children (and staff!) were absolutely thrilled to receive their first visit from our Year 5 buddies this week! The buddy system plays an important role in the integration of our Reception children into school life; it unites our oldest and youngest members of the school and is a very special relationship. We can't wait to see them again and we're looking forward to our next buddy activity - an autumn walk along the river.

Little Rabbit Foo Foo

This week the children have been reading and performing 'Little Rabbit Foo Foo' by Michael Rosen. They have thoroughly enjoyed working together to retell the story and have worked hard at using expression and remembering all of the actions in their performances. We hope you enjoy the videos!

We're Going on a Bear Hunt!

This week we have been on an incredibly exciting Bear Hunt in our school forest area! The children have been reading and performing 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt' in class. They then explored the forest area and used their knowledge of the settings in the book to re-enact the story. We didn't find a bear, but we did find evidence of his cave! Below the photographs you will find a link to Michael Rosen telling the story - please share this at home if you can!

Our First Week at School!

Our new Reception children have had a fantastic first week at school! They enjoyed a Teddy Bears' Picnic and they have been having lots of fun exploring the school environment and getting to know their new friends. Well done to all of the children for settling in so well!