Reception

Teacher: Mrs Bamfield

Teaching Assistant: Mrs Warner-Smith

Your child’s well-being is at the heart of what we do. It is important to us that they are settled and happy when coming to school, and this is our main priority throughout the first half term. We endeavour to encompass the school rules of ‘Ready, Respectful, Safe’ during this time, so that school can be enjoyed by all. The children love playing and exploring in our stimulating continuous provision and are respectful of this by helping to tidy and maintain the areas. Our classroom environment supports and encourages independence. Being willing to give things a go is encouraged, along with fostering a growth mindset and developing resilience.

Story times and nursery rhymes are valued within our setting. We prioritise communication, language, and vocabulary development. We aim to provide a successful balance between accessing continuous provision and more formal learning opportunities. This is designed to impart specific knowledge and understanding, enabling the children to learn new skills which they can transfer into their own learning and play. Our focused learning sessions are gradually progressed over the course of the timetable and include phonics, maths, reading, and topic-based inputs. We maintain open communication with parents through the online learning journal, Tapestry. This is used to document learning throughout the year, along with some recordings in books.

The Little Wandle Letters and Sounds revised scheme is used to support your child in learning to read and write. We deliver a phonics session for parents to offer guidance on how best to support their children at home, as well as hosting ‘Book and Brioche’ mornings. We are keen to foster a love of reading and regularly promote this through pyjama days, favourite book days, trips to the library, visits from the mobile library, daily story times, and reading buddies.

There is a wealth of information available to parents regarding the Little Wandle phonics scheme, which can be found here: For Parents | Letters and Sounds.

Children are celebrated within our class through the PATHS (Promoting Alternative Thinking Strategies) “Child of the Week” accolade. This also supports the development of confidence and emotional intelligence. We have strong links with the local church, with Father Paul regularly visiting for our collective worship. We also participate in Harvest, Christmas, and Easter services, as well as the Nativity.