Reception
Reception Curriculum Overview 2024-25
Spring 2, week 7.
The final week of this term has been truly memorable. We have been busy finishing lots of assessments in writing and phonics - it has been wonderful to see the progress continuing this term!
We have also been enjoying lots of whole school events such as the St Edward's talent show and an exploration of the stations of the cross led by Mrs Kennett. We also loved being part of the Easter bonnet parade on Thursday. Thank you to all our families who helped your children create such amazing hats - Reception looked egg-ceptional!
Spring 2, Week 6
We have had another fun-filled week in Reception! We particularly enjoyed our Lenten prayer service that we held in our classroom on Wednesday morning. Thank you to the parents and families who were able to join us, it was wonderful to hear such lovely feedback from you all. We are also very proud of Reception’s fantastic reading and reverence throughout, this resulted in the whole class being stars of the week today! Well done all.
Spring 2, week 5
This week has been a week of preparation for our Mother's day event which we held in the classroom today! We loved singing our special Mother's day song for our Parents and getting to decorate yummy cupcakes and plant a sunflower seed together. We were very proud to hand over our handmade cards and a daffodil for each parent. Thank you to all those who came, it was such a special afternoon.
Below is the video that we shared at the end, we have had to remove the children who currently do not have permission to be on the website or social media. If you notice that your child is missing and you would like them to be able to appear on our website or social media, please notify the office and this can be amended, enjoy!
Spring 2, Week 4
Another lovely week in Reception, the highlight being our trip to Mount Pleasant Farm on Thursday! We absolutely loved our visit, and learned so much about animals and how much the farmers do to care for them and help make the food that we eat.
We fed chicken's, stroked lambs, saw some pigs, visited the cow shed (to see all 277 cows!) and then petted the baby calves, all in the glorious sunshine! Nicky, our guide, commented on how well behaved the children were and all staff were exceptionally proud of them. A day to remember, well done Reception!
Spring 2, week 3.
Reception have worked extremely hard this week, we are very proud of the progress they are making in phonics and this is feeding into their writing in drawing club and in our other provision areas too.
Our highlight of the week was the very special One Life Music retreat day we had with Dan and Emily on Thursday. The focus of this was being a pilgrim of Hope during Lent. The Children were so engaged in the new songs and sign language to go along with them. We had some lovely reflective moments back in class and even decorated our own footprint to remind us that Jesus is on this journey of hope with us.
Spring 2, Week 2
Reception have had another incredibly busy week! We marked the preparations for Lent with pancake day activities on Shrove Tuesday. Reception enjoyed lots of pancake themed play and making their own pancakes by measuring out the ingredients needed and then got to add their own delicious toppings and tasted their pancakes!
The next day was Ash Wednesday, we learned all about the beginning of Lent and joined KS2 who had gone up to St Edwards Church via webcam. We then received our blessed ashes on our foreheads from Mrs Kennett. Later, we did some special RE artwork where we drew ourselves and marked where the ashes were using black watercolour paint saying the phrase "Turn away from sin and follow Jesus".
Finally, we celebrated world book day on Thursday! Reception looked great in their costumes and extremely cosy in their PJs. We really enjoyed a 'Drop Everything And Read' session where we were able to snuggle in blankets and with our teddies and enjoyed reading and swapping books with a partner. We also enjoyed world book day Maths through voting for our favourite characters and a scavenger hunt using well known fairy and traditional tales.
Spring 2, week 1
On Thursday this week, the children in Reception finished their topic ‘People Who Help Us’ with a visit from the Bournbrook fire brigade. The children had great fun learning all about the job of a fire fighter and got to have a go squirting the hose across the playground. Mrs Bailey even got to dress up as a fire fighter to see how heavy their equipment is. We would like to say a big thank you to Dave and his crew from Red watch.
We would also like to say thank you to the parents who attended our phonics workshop on Thursday afternoon. The children had lots of fun showing you their learning and we hope you found it useful.
Spring 1, Week 6
Reception have had a wonderful final week of this first Spring term, we truly enjoyed sharing all of their fantastic progress and achievements with you at Parent's evening this week.
In class, we have had so many exciting days to bring our our learning to life this week. We looked at Internet safety day on Tuesday with the focus of using tablets and mobile devices safely.
We then took part in our whole school 'day of action' by collaborating with Year 1 and 2. We used the see, judge and act model to create welcome chairs linked to the story 'When war came' and realised we wanted everyone to feel happy and included, no matter where we are from. We really enjoyed speaking to our visitors, especially learning how to greet them in their own language and using their name.
We rounded off the week with outdoor day! We enjoyed exploring our forest school area with our Year 5 buddies and used the natural environment to play games and made valentines inspired crafts for people we love.
Thank you so much for all of your support this half term, we look forward to seeing you again on Monday 24th February. Have a wonderful restful week.
Spring 1 week 5
Our focus this week was children's mental health week, we explored our emotions through our theme 'know yourself, grow yourself'. We thought about all the things we are so good at and all of the things we want to get even better at! We also enjoyed using clips from 'Inside out' to further discuss feelings during drawing club lessons, with some amazing pieces created!
You should have had a letter in your child's bag about parents evening which is Wednesday 12th February. Please let your child's class teacher know if you are unable to make this appointment in order to reschedule.
Spring 1 - week 4
Reception have had a fantastic week this week! We led our very first Mass with Fr Denis and Key stage 1 in the school hall, based on the theme of people who help us. We were so proud to see the children reading so confidently and being involved in the offertory and singing.
We also enjoyed learning about Lunar new year on Wednesday and understanding why it is the year of the snake in 2025.
We explored some special artefacts, traditional clothing and even tasted a fortune cookie!
The biggest thrill was learning about the dragon dancing as part of Lunar New Year celebrations, we then came together to become two dragons and played the drums to keep to the beat.
We would also like to remind you it is Parents evening for Reception on Wednesday 12th February.
You will have had an email asking you to select a suitable time on this date. Please do this as soon as you are able. If there are any issues with this, please speak to us or the school office.
Spring 1 - week 2
Reception have had a very busy week. We particularly enjoyed our first PE session with Aston Villa Coach, Alex. The children played some exciting partner games where we had to listen and follow commands and instructions, they particularly enjoyed the spiderman web game where some chosen children had the ability to freeze players in a web and other players had to rescue by giving a double high five.
Reception also attended a whole school Mass with 3SM. We look forward to our Mass on the 29th at 9:45. Your child will have brought home an invite today and we hope to see you there. If your child has been given a reading, please help them practice at home. Thank you.
Spring 1 - Week 1
We have been exploring the theme of winter during our first week back in Reception. The children were very excited to see that the small world had changed to polar animals and really enjoyed exploring new non-fiction books to find out facts and match them to their correct images. We also enjoyed ice play in our water tray by rescuing polar animals trapped in the ice. We also explored ice in our creative area by adding water colour paints to them and watching how they reacted together. Finally the children were excited to build snowman using polystyrene spheres and used their fine motor skills to make some wonderful creations!
Autumn 2 - week 6
Reception have had a jam packed penultimate week of Autumn term. Our Nativity being the highlight, thank you for coming to support and celebrate the retelling of the Christmas story with us. We also enjoyed our Christmas jumper day and Christmas dinner this week! We have lots to look forward to next week including our Christmas pantomime on Tuesday and class party on Thursday. Please be reminded that we break up at 1:30 next Friday with no Friday club running. We look forward to welcoming you to the Christmas Fayre this afternoon, please remember to pop into both the hall and Reception classrooms for games and Santa's grotto!
Autumn 2 week 5
Reception have been busy this week preparing for our Nativity and we can’t wait to perform it for you all on Tuesday next week
In RE lessons we have started to learn about Advent by making our own Advent wreaths and thinking about how we can prepare our hearts for Jesus on Christmas day.
In phonics we have learnt the final Phase 2 sounds and will be assessing the children on them next week. Please review these sounds with your child at home in preparation for this.
In maths we have begun learning about how a ‘whole’ number is made of different ‘parts’.
Dates to remember next week:
Tuesday- Nativity Performances in the hall 9.30 and 2.30. All welcome
Thursday- Christmas dinner and Christmas Jumper day- please send in a £1 donation for Edward’s Trust.
Friday -Christmas Fayre in the school hall. Please collect your children as normal at 1.30
Autumn 2 - Week 4
Reception have continued to work hard this week in all of their lessons and even attended their first Phase Mass in the hall with Father Dennis, we were so impressed with their respectful behaviour and beautiful singing. We have also begun to think about preparing for Advent in our RE lessons and we are well underway with our nativity singing practice - please use the links below to practice at home too. Thank you for your generosity with the donations of chocolates and biscuits for the Birmingham Shelter charity today too. Please be reminded it is also own clothes day next Friday, we are asking for donations of bottles (cordial etc) to support advent charities and the PTFA. Thank you in advance.
Away in a Manger with Lyrics |
Little Donkey 🎄
O Come All Ye Faithful with Lyrics | (Chorus only)
Autumn 2 - week 3
Reception have continued to impress us with their fantastic behaviour and learning this week. We have focused on road safety throughout the week, looking at how to cross the road by always holding an adults hand and being safe in our car seats, having lots of practical activities in our patio area. We have also explored celebrations within our RE lessons and throughout our provision, making birthday cards, cakes out of playdoh and setting up a party in our home corner, along with a few weddings in our role play area. Well done Reception!
Autumn 2 - Week 2
Reception have been busy learning the meaning of lots of new words this week, including remembrance for the 11th of November and respect as part of anti-bullying week. We were very proud that reception were able to attend both of these important assemblies and show excellent listening throughout. Well done to Oscar and Nancy who won the anti-bullying competition posters but we had so many amazing entries from reception, thank you! We have also sent home a reading book for every child in reception this week, please read with your child over the weekend and encourage them to use their blending to sound out words from the images or text. We would ask they come back on Monday ready to start a new one. If you could ensure that your child has a blue school bookbag to keep these books safe, that would be much appreciated.
Autumn 2 - Week 1
We were delighted to welcome the children back after a deserved half-term rest this week.
And we've had such a busy first week back! We had lots of opportunities for oracy as we discussed celebrations such as Diwali and Bonfire night and shared special stories linked to these Autumnal occasions and the children especially enjoyed making their edible sparklers with Mrs Curtis!
We also celebrated our blessing in the church with Year 5 this week. Thank you to all the parents who walked with us to Church and joined us for this special blessing, we know you will as proud as we were to see Reception being so involved; acting, singing and praying with the help of their wonderful buddies in Year 5.
Next week we will be focusing on Anti-bullying week, looking at choosing respect and Reception will join in with their first KS1 assembly. Don't forget your odd socks on Tuesday too!
Reception - Week 6
Reception have had an another very productive week. We have completed all of our phonics learning for this half term and will begin our assessments next week, the results of which we will share with you during Parents evening (Wednesday 23rd October). We have continued our R.E. lessons based on creation and celebrated our first prayer service together in class. Reception were given the challenge to draw or make their own picture symbolising their favourite part of God's creation, we can't wait to see them! We have also made a craft to practice doing the sign of the cross in the correct order, please encourage your child to show you at home.
We look forward to the final week of Autumn 1 half term next week, please be reminded school is closed due teacher training on Friday 15th October.
Reception - week 5
This week in Reception we have continued to work exceptionally hard. We have learned the sounds CK, u, e, r in our phonics lessons and explored the number 4 in Maths. We have also been continuing to orally retell the build up bear section of our story 'the something' and worked hard to write initial sounds and some short CVC words. We rounded off our week with RE lessons on creation and celebrating St Edwards day with some fantastic crowns. We are also continuing to work hard on doing the sign of the cross, please continue to practice at home! Thank you.
Reception - Week 4
This week in Reception, we began our R.E lessons with the story of Creation. We listened to the story from the Bible and recalled all the things that God created and voted whether they were made by God or man-made. We then went on a nature walk and explored God's creations in our environment. Using this inspiration, we then used paints and collage to express one of God's special creations, including ourselves!
In R.E. we also began to use the sign of the cross and will be using prayers throughout the day such as morning, before and after lunch and the home time prayer, please support your child in learning these at home. We also began sending home our prayer bag, which will happen every Friday. We were very impressed with Reception's respect and curiosity for R.E lessons - well done.
Reception - Week 3
This week Reception have continued to work incredibly hard on their phonics this week and began blending using new sounds including m,n,d,i such as d-i-p. Please continue to work hard on these sounds and working with your child at home, especially their weekly homework. In Maths, we have been successfully subitising to the number 3 and been able to recognise it through lots of outdoor games. We also began to discuss the season of Autumn and thought of some questions we would like answered about the changes we can see around us. Perhaps when you are out over the weekend, you might spot some seasonal changes to show Autumn has well and truly arrived.
Reception week 2
Reception have continued to be superstars this week. Their teachers are so impressed with their hard work in phonics, we have learned the graphemes and phonemes for s, a, t, p this week! Keep practicing writing these letters and identifying words with these sounds at home. We also worked hard on our number of the week - number 1! We looked at all the different ways one can be represented and played I spy to find number one in all of its forms. We also enjoyed starting our Ready Steady Write lessons and learned the story 'Dan and the Ball.' Our story friends helped us learn it off by heart using actions and we explored our outdoor area to find Dan's missing red ball in the deep dark hole.
We look forward to exploring the story further next week...
Reception - Week 1
Reception have had an absolutely amazing first week in school. All of their teachers have been so impressed with the way they have settled in and adapted to learning new routines. It has been a joy to see them make new friends and become much more confident in their new classroom environments. This week we gave the star of the week to every single child in R1 and R2. Keep being fantastic, Reception!
We discussed lots of highlights from our first week but our overall favourite had to be meeting Millie, our school dog. She came into our classroom for the first time and reception asked so many interesting questions and stroked her gently. We cannot wait for her to come back and visit soon!