Ruby Class

Year Overview

Our themes (and values) for this year are:

Term 1	Term 2	Term 3	Term 4	Term 5	Term 6
Why Am I So Magnificent?	It’s a Magical Time	Who Lives in a House Like This?	New life, New Changes	Who Wears This Hat Like This?	Amazing Adventures
Hope	Peace	Respect	Forgiveness	Community	Faith
Love is our overarching value.

P.E and Welly Boot

This year, Reception’s P.E. slot is on a Thursday morning. Please ensure your child has the correct P.E. kit (named) at school ready for this. We advise that you leave your child’s P.E. kit at school, so it is readily available when it is needed, and we will make sure it is sent home at the end of every half term to be washed.

This year, ‘Welly boot’ (forest school) will take place on a Friday, once every 3 weeks, and will last the whole day. Below, the dates of our planned Forest School sessions have been highlighted in yellow. Unless stated otherwise, your child will need nothing for these sessions except a pair of suitable outdoor shoes. If they already have a pair of wellingtons at school, they will not need another pair. Every session will be based around a particular topic and will be linked to nature/seasons. For example, within the month of October our ‘Welly boot’ day will be focussed around pumpkins.

Please remember the orange days are inset days (children do not attend) and the grey dates are school holidays.

Uniform

Please ensure that your child is wearing the correct school uniform (named) and appropriate black footwear. A polite reminder that children are only allowed to wear small, stud earrings and are not to wear nail varnish to school.

Snacks and water

All children in Reception are entitled to a free piece of fruit every day. Children can also bring in an additional snack if they are hungry. We also bake our own snacks within the classroom.

Your child will need to bring a full water bottle to school every day.

At C of E, in Reception, we also offer our children a slice of toast in the morning for breakfast. Breakfast is crucial for children because it provides the energy and nutrients necessary for brain function, concentration
and physical well-being.

Partnership with Parents

We value our links with parents and aim to create strong communication between school and home.

Ways we achieve this:

Tapestry – We use an online learning journal as a way of recording your child’s learning and achievements in Reception. We encourage all parents to capture some of your child’s ‘wow’ moments at home and share them with us.

Stay and Play – We look forward to inviting you in for Stay & Play sessions where you can be part of your child’s learning experience.

Weekly Newsletter – We send out a weekly newsletter, every Friday, sharing and celebrating our amazing children and wonderful things that have happened in school that week. Please keep an eye out for this in your inbox!

Reading

All children in Reception will come home with two reading books each week. On Monday, they will be given a decodable phonics book that has been carefully selected for their ability. On Friday, they will visit the school library to choose a book that you can read as a family to promote their love of reading. Your child will need to bring in their reading packs every day.

The Early Years Framework

There are seven areas of learning and development within the Early Years Foundation Stage framework. The seven areas of learning are:

• Communication & Language

• Physical Development

• Personal, Social and Emotional Development

• Literacy

• Mathematics

• Understanding the World

• Expressive Arts and Design

End of Year Expectations

At the end of the Reception year your child will be assessed against the seventeen Early Learning Goals. They will be scored with a judgement of Expected, which means they are working within age related expectations (ARE) or Emerging which means they are working below ARE. These judgements are made during June and you will receive their scores in their final school report.

We are really looking forward to welcoming your child into school with us and we know we have an exciting year ahead! If you have any questions or concerns, we are available at the end of the day and will be more than happy to support you with anything that you need.