Any New Starter parents for Reception 2020 please go to the New starters page which is under the Parents tab, called Reception starters September 2020. 

We will transfer it to this page after the first week.

Thank you.

        Welcome to Oldswinford C.E. Primary School

           Believe, achieve and shine brighter together

Welcome back to Autumn term 2020

We are really looking forward to seeing you all back in September.

We have 2 days together, Thursday 3rd and Friday 4th September where we can all see each other again and have a good catch up!

We shall talk to you about Year 1 and go to visit your new rooms and teachers, so you all have a happy transition. You can ask us any questions you may have.

We can pop in and see you all in your new rooms the following week when we have new Reception children starting.

See you soon! 

 Foundation Stage

At Oldswinford C.E. Primary school we believe that the children’s time in Foundation Stage, the Reception class, is one of the most important times in their school life. This lays the foundation for their learning and development for the rest of their education. We work hard to nurture and care for the children and seek to make school an enjoyable and exciting place to be.

Curriculum

There are seven main areas of learning which are split into prime areas of :

• Communication and language development
• Physical development
• Personal, social and emotional development

Then we have ;

• Literacy
• Maths
• Understanding the world
• Expressive Arts and design

Each area of learning is implemented through planned purposeful play. This takes place through a mixture of adult led and child initiated activities. Play is so essential to help children relate to others, build their confidence, explore their surroundings, and think critically.

The progress the children make is assessed by 17 Early learning Goals.

What to expect in Reception

We have daily maths and phonics sessions, and talk for writing and kinetic letters most days. There will be a workshop in the Autumn term to show some of what we do.

The children have two P.E. sessions each week, so please make sure the children have had their earrings removed on those days. We will tell you the days when we get the new timetable.

All children learn at different rates so we differentiate our experiences so all can learn effectively. Parents/Carers will be sent a dojo link so they can see weekly updates and photos of what the children are currently learning and experiencing. Always helpful when a child replies ‘we just played’, to a question about their day!

When children start school, they are given a book with no words, until they learn to blend letters together to make words. They are also given words in their reading record to learn.  More lists appear as time goes in and the children learn to recognise them.

We will give you a water bottle which will be left in school for us to refill, then sent home on Fridays to wash thoroughly. Please remember to pop it back on Monday mornings.

The Environment 

These are some pictures of the areas in Reception which are in our two rooms which the children access straight away in the morning.

This is the Understanding the World area where children can explore, feel and touch a variety of objects.

This is the Worship area where we add to our class worship book each week and make time to stop and think about the values we have been taught in R.E. or in general class discussion times.

The Role play area is always a favourite, and changes with the change of topics. We have story baskets based on the topics around the classroom and a dressing up stand to fit the topic.  

Here we have the indoor and the outdoor Maths area where children can come to find out about numbers, shape and counting.

We have a cosy reading area where children can meet to share a book with a friend or an adult. They can read inside and outside. 

Our art area is where budding artists can come and express themselves with work being placed on the walls in frames and hung on the washing lines for all to see.

There is a Snack area which children can access all day. There is water to drink and a variety of fruit and vegetables to try. It is also a great social space to have a chat.

We have an ICT area where children can explore cameras and remote controlled equipment.

Our outdoor area is an extension and enhancement of the learning that takes place inside. We have been blessed with money from the PTA last year which has made a huge impact on the learning outside. We are currently working on developing a forest play area in the garden, and doing some planting.

The construction area is a great favourite where children can let their imaginations run wild.

We have a music area to explore songs and sound. Listening to the children sing is quite a treat and we soon learn what parents are listening to at home!

The children often use the instruments on the stage and invite us to a show.

The sandpit is a wonderful place to play and enjoy. We also have a water tray, guttering and funnels which is excellent for problem solving.

There is an understanding the world area, a place to find magnifying glasses and mirrors and lots of equipment to discover with.

The maths and writing areas have a variety of equipment to draw and write, with lots of numbers and letters to find and use.

We have a creative area with malleable materials available like playdough, and lots to cut and stick.

Our prayer cross is where children can place a thought underneath and sit and think.

If you need to ask anything just have a word at the beginning of the day as you come into the classroom, or when all the children have been dismissed at the end of the day.

We are looking forward to another exciting term.

The Reception team- Mrs Roberts, Miss Thomas, Miss Carton and Mrs Hardy.

We hope these websites help you access sites we use at school to support learning in Reception.

Resources to support your children’s learning.

Phonics

www.phonicshero.com (7 day free trial but you can create a paid account if you wish). Includes all sounds, games and printable resources. This is a resource we use in school therefore the children are familiar with it. You can download printable resources for future use.

www.phonicsplay.co.uk has a free resources section for both parents and children. We use these games in our phonics session to enhance the children’s learning.

Teach your monster to read (app available on app store and play store)- Allows the children to create a character where they can go on a trail to help their monster reach the ship on the way they have to play different phonics games.

Cbeebies alpha blocks can help reinforce children’s phonetic knowledge.

The tricky word song- the children love this! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvMyssfAUx0

Maths

https://www.topmarks.co.uk/ (any games with the appropriate age are a good start. The children have been playing: Caterpillar ordering; coin sorting; shape patterns; ladybird spots; paint the squares to recognise counting in 10’s/1 more and less.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/topics/numeracy -some of the games such as number blocks adding a subtracting are useful.

The days of the week song to the Addams family tune (again the children love this!)- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GKmCQOy88Y

Months of the year song- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5enDRrWyXaw&list=PLqv4y60m_3_BsDssdzvrCueiho5Tc-1j8

Reading lots of stories and singing lots of rhymes are essential part of our day. We sometimes use youtube to help us! E.g. five little ducks, ten green bottles, 10 fat sausages, wind the bobbin up, five little speckled frogs.