Hello, Welcome to the Reception class page
Our names are Mrs Gudgeon and Miss Southern and we are the class teachers for the Reception class.
Mrs Collins is our lovely teaching assistant who supports the class each day.
Intent
At Westcliff Primary Academy, we ensure that our children develop a love of learning and become enthusiastic, inquisitive and resilient learners who have the opportunity to develop the necessary skills and knowledge needed to enter the next stage of their education and to become a lifelong learner.
We aim to give our pupils rich and memorable experiences which provide them with first hand experiences and develop their awareness of the wider community and cultures. Language and vocabulary lie at the heart of our curriculum.
In Reception, we continue to follow the Early Years Foundation Stage which is a statutory document that sets the standards for Learning, Development and Care for children aged 0 to 5 years old. Your child will be learning skills, acquiring new knowledge
and demonstrating their understanding through the 7 areas of learning and development. The prime areas are those most essential for your child’s healthy development and future learning. As children grow, the prime areas will help them to develop skills in 4 specific areas.
For more information about the EYFS please take a look at the What to expect document via the link below.
We work as a foundation unit, which means that we (Reception) share our learning environment and classroom with our lovely Nursery class. As teachers, we work collaboratively to plan and enhance all the areas of the classroom to provide exciting learning opportunities for all of our pupils that are appropriately matched to each child’s needs and abilities. Lessons are tailored to each individual child’s needs and interests, helping children from a young age build a love for learning. Learning through exploration and open ended play is essential as we believe this is the best and most natural way for children to learn. Play allows children to explore, investigate, recreate and make links between new and previous learning. During your child’s time in Reception, they will access a wide range of independent and adult led activities. Your child will spend time every day accessing the environment in the classroom, outdoor classroom and Beach School sessions. They will join in whole class and group learning activities, in addition to adult directed tasks one-to-one and in small groups.
In Reception, we follow the Red Rose Letters and Sounds Scheme to plan and deliver our phonics sessions with a reading scheme to complement the delivery sequence. Phonics is taught daily in small groups according to your child’s knowledge and ability to recognise, read and write sounds in words and sentences which is carefully monitored and assessed on a regular basis. We ensure that children in Reception have a secure foundation of phase 1 phonics, where children develop oral listening skills, as they move onto learning new phonemes, graphemes and tricky words as part of their learning during phase 2 and beyond.
We have designed the curriculum around your child’s current interests to ensure we captivate and enthuse the children whilst ultimately covering all areas of the curriculum with the necessary skills and knowledge we wish them to know and remember. Each half term is based around a topic; however mini-topics may develop within each half term based on children’s interests. Each topic will be based around a text and by using talk for writing, children love becoming absorbed in the book, developing their story language and understanding of characters and settings. We also embrace important celebrations throughout the year such as Harvest, Diwali, Remembrance Day and Chinese New Year. During your child’s early years, we will teach them to be curious about the world around them, to develop a love of learning and to be a kind and caring member of our School.
Impact
The impact of the Reception curriculum is reflected in having well rounded, confident and inquisitive children transitioning into Reception. We measure progress and children’s learning across the year through formative and summative assessments which are based on the adult’s knowledge of the children, written work and pivotal moments that are recorded on dojo from both school and home. We expect all our children to make more than the expected steps progress from their starting points. This is measured by being baseline assessed as the children enter our Nursery class. We make regular assessments of children’s learning and we use this information to ensure that future planning reflects identified needs. Assessment in the EYFS takes the form of observations, and this involves the teacher and other adults as appropriate. These observations are not time consuming and used to record pivotal moments of learning for each child and to inform next steps.
Red Rose Letters and Sounds
Formation Phrase Handwriting Patter
When we teach the sounds in phonics we use the following rhymes to help children remember how to form the letters correctly.
a- Round the anchor and down the rope..png)
b Down the bat and round the ball.
c Curl round the cat.
d Back round the dog’s body, up to his ears and down to his tail.
e Across the shelf and over the elf.
f Follow down the flamingo and fly.
g Go round the gorilla and swing from the vine.
h Down the hill and over the hedge.
i Down the insect and don’t forget his cap.
j Jump off the jetty and don’t forget your cap.
k Down the koala’s body, arm and leg.
l Down the long ladder.
m Down the mound and over the moles.
n Down the nose and over the nostril.
o Back around the octopus.
p Down the path, up the path and round the pond.
q Quick! Back round the pond, down and splash.
r Rain down to the ground and over the rainbow.
s Slip down the slide.
t Down the tree and across the branch.
u Down under the sea, up for breath and down again.
v Down the vase and up the vase.
w Down the wave and up the wave. Down the wave and up the wave.
x Cross the box and cross the box.
y Down the yo-yo, up the yo-yo and swing.
z Zip, zap, zoom!
Learning in Maths
There are six key areas of early mathematics learning, which collectively provide a platform for everything children will encounter as they progress through their maths learning at primary school, and beyond:
-
Cardinality and Counting
-
Comparison
-
Composition
-
Pattern
-
Shape and Space
-
Measures
These areas form the fundamental mathematical basis of a CBeebies series of five-minute animated programmes called Numberblocks. We use these and the NCETM materials to draw out and build on the maths embedded in the stories contained in each episode.
You may also like to check out the EYFS websites below:
-
null Rose Math null Rose Maths Team has prepared a series of five maths lessons for each year group from Year 1-8. Every lesson comes with a short video showing you clearly and simply how to help your child to complete the activity successfully.
-
Active Learn: Read online Bug Club Books and visit the Math Factor.
-
Numberblocks: Sing along and learn all about numbers with the Numberblocks!
-
Alphablocks: Watch as the letters of the alphabet tell stories and make words using phonics. Play the learning game, watch clips and print colouring pages.
-
Epic Phonics: One month free membership.
-
Phonics Play: You will find lots of games and ideas to explore with children at home. Free membership.
-
Oxford Owl : This website has a free ebook library where you can find a wide range of ebooks to share at home with your children.
APPs for EYFS
-
Meet the Numberblocks: Can you count the Numberblocks? FREE
-
Numberblocks: Hide and Seek: Find and add the Numberblocks!
-
Numberblocks: Card Fun!: Learn with the Numberblocks!
-
Alphablocks: Letter Fun: Learn to read with phonics
Support and Training for parents
Please see the links below for a range of training, support and events available for parents. If you would like any more support, training or events in school then please do not hesitate to contact a member of the Foundation Stage team.
Early Years Alliance
Family sessions | early years alliance
Parent Connects are one-off online events providing wellbeing and other advice. They are an opportunity to connect with other parents and carers via Zoom and learn about topics relevant to families and children aged 0-5 and share ideas in how to support children’s early education and each other.
Please see the link below for lots of videos on youtube related to supporting your child.
You tube Videos from EY alliance
Speech and Language UK
Our progress checkers will provide short questions you can answer to see how your baby or child is getting on with their talking and understanding of words. It's based on what we know about how talking and understanding of words develops in babies and children. It’s not the same as a standardised measure a specialist would carry out but it should give you an idea of how your baby or child is developing and whether you need some support or advice to help you and them
Speech and Language UK's “TALK” Parent Webinars
This exciting addition to our family support offer consists of four webinars aimed at parents of children aged 18 months to 2 ½ years who are concerned about their child’s language development.
They also have the option to book a free 30 minute slot with a speech and language therapist.
Family hub timetable
Better start family hub timetable is attached below with lots of blackpool based activities, support sessions and information.
Communicate Blackpool
Communicate have lots of easy to watch videos on their website giving lots of handy tips and training videos. I have attached a few of the videos to this post!
https://communicate-slt.org.uk/information/social-value/
Videos to watch
Top tips for talking - Sharing books
Top tips for talking - Questions & Comments