Starting School at Wouldham All Saints C of E

Starting School at Wouldham All Saints C of E

Information for Reception Parents The following information will be useful for you as your child starts school. The reception year is the final year of the foundation stage. The foundation stage year is about well planned play activities to develop all areas of the curriculum. There is a balance of teacher and child initiated activities. There are set times of the day where the children are involved in planned activities to develop the early learning goals, they are then given the opportunity to develop these independently during child initiated supported play. Much of the planned activities are linked to the key topic for the half term. Topics to be covered during the year:- Bears My Body Space Pets Plant a little seed Buckets and Spades We start the year with the topic, Bears. The children will complete activities learning through stories. We will complete a wide variety of activities linked to characters from he stories. We will be making puppets and creating our own characters. This is a good topic to start school with. During the year we also plan and develop activities linked to the interests of the children in the class, this helps to inspire and encourages the children to learn as we develop their own interests and ideas. Important Dates The children start school on Thursday 10 th September. The children will be finishing at 11:45. From Thursday 17 th September they will stay for lunchtime and so will need picking up at 1:00. Full school days will start from Thursday 24 th September. If you have any concerns please speak to us. Jolly Phonics

Before reading develops they need to be able to pronounce the letter sounds correctly so that they can blend sounds together to make words. We use Jolly Phonics in the classroom because children find it fun and it suits a wide variety of learning styles. I have included a set of actions and how to pronounce and write each letter sound correctly so that you will understand what your child is doing. Reading We follow the oxford reading scheme and Rigby Star. Included in this pack are some helpful ideas for listening to your child read at home... It is important to make reading a positive time in order to encourage their read ing development. They will start with picture books which need to be discussed and encourage their own story ideas. Once they can blend sounds together, for example c-a-t = cat and they recognise all letter sounds, they will start to bring home books with words/ We use action words in the classroom to teach the common words relevant to the reception year. This is similar to jolly phonics as it suits all learning styles. A copy of the action words is included in this pack. At the start of the year the children take home an enjoyment book from the book corner. This is changed on a Friday and so their reading folder must be in school on a Friday. After half term we start group reading in the classroom and they will bring home a reading scheme book to read with you. Your child will have their own reading day and on this day the reading folder must be in school. Your child will have a reading record book for us to comment on their reading and for you to comment on their reading at home and we encourage you to do this. We will let you know their reading day near half term.

Water The children are encouraged to have a water bottle in the classroom which they bring to school everyday but can be filled up with cold fresh water at school. If the children have access to water it improves concentration and learning. We also do brain gym exercises to develop certain skills and attention before learning activities. The water bottle needs to be a small sports style bottle with a lid. It needs to be clearly labelled. Write Dance To develop handwriting we use a program called write dance which involves the children doing large scaled movements, dancing with ribbons and drawing and painting to music. During the first term we focus on developing rhythm and pattern flow in preparation for handwriting and work towards encouraging fine motor pencils control and letter formation. Physical Development The children are entitled to use both the indoor and outdoor classroom during child initiated time therefore durin g the winter we advise that they are sent to school with a warm hooded coat, hats, scarves and gloves(all clearly named) In the summer they will need a school summer cap. We also recommend that they have a pair of Wellington boots t keep at school named and with a named welly peg.

Behaviour strategies We have a number of different strategies in the school that encourage positive behaviour. Positive praise and stickers Team points can be given for good work and collected each week. The winning team will receive a rosette. Each week two children from each class receive a star of the week award from the head teacher. This is presented in Friday Worship. In the classroom we have a sun and cloud system. Each child has their picture on a peg which is positioned on the sun, this is the happy sun. If after a warning they continue to misbehave they are moved to the grey cloud as a warning, if they stop misbehaving then they can be moved back to the sunshine. If they continue to misbehave after being on the grey cloud they are then put onto the black cloud. If your peg is moved then you have 2 minutes time out and also you miss time from Golden Time. Golden Time is a treat time that we share with Badger Class and an activity the children choose and is seen as a reward. The idea is to celebrate good behaviour. Sharing Book Speaking and listening is a very important part of the curriculum. Children need to be able to talk about experiences and also listen and question others. To help with this the children complete a sharing book, this comes to school on a Monday and you can share an activity, learning or experience that they have completed at home. We then include something that the children have been learning in school for them to share with you. This builds up as a record of their first year at school. Learning Challenges Book For each school term the class are set challenges to complete at home. When they have completed a challenge they can bring it in to share with the class. If they complete three challenges then they get a certificate to celebrate their learning.

Reading Challenge Each class in the school has a list of challenge books to try to read during the year. These books are available from libraries, school or may be ones you have at home already. Share the book together and add a comment to the reading challenge sheet. Once completed bring to school for certificate and bookmark. If you need to borrow a book from us just put a comment in the blue book. General Useful Information The children will need a snack which must be fruit or vegetable. Until they reach 5 they are allowed free milk at school, just need to fill in the form available from school. If your child wears earrings then they must be studs only and please can they be taken out for P.E days. A number formation sheet is included so we are using the same formation. Your child will have a contact book which we will check every morning for messages from you about your child. This is an effective way to ask questions or tell us information. If you need anymore information please come and speak to us.

Important days and information for your child First day of school is Thursday 10 th September 9:00 11:45 Bring the children to the class room from 8:50 (Blue contact book, water bottle, snack and reading folder on the correct day to come into the classroom) Collect from the bottom playground where the outside area is. On a Friday your child will need to have their reading folder and enjoyment book in school. Water bottle for school Named Wellington boots to keep at school Please make sure all school uniform and P.E kit is name. If money comes into the classroom please use a labelled and sealed envelope.