Reception – Whitmore Park Primary School

The Reception Year is an exciting time for children and also one of the most important. At Whitmore Park your child will begin an exciting journey of learning important life skills, such as reading and writing, in a stimulating, caring environment amongst new found friendships!

We have three Reception classes. Each class is led by an experienced class teacher and has teaching assistant support.

Throughout the day children receive a mixture of adult-led teaching and independent learning time. Our stimulating Indoor Reception area is divided into different areas for independent learning. These include:

Writing area
Numeracy area
Reading and ‘Read, Write Inc’ areas
Investigation area
Construction and Small World area
Creative area
Fine motor/Scissor Skills Areas
Role-play area/Home Corner

The children are encouraged to independently explore all of these areas and access the resources and challenges that are provided for them. We also have an exciting outdoor Reception classroom that is accessible to the children during the day. The outdoor classroom contains different areas of learning, similar to the indoor classroom, with different resources and activities.

The adult-led teaching sessions that children participate in include: Literacy; Numeracy; ‘Read, Write Inc’; PE and Music.

This year the general themes for each half-term are as follows:

Autumn Term: ‘Magnificent Me!’ and ‘Celebrations’
Spring Term: ‘Terrific Tales’ and ‘Our Wonderful World’
Summer Term: ‘Amazing Animals’ and ‘The Great Outdoors’

Times of a typical day in Reception:

08:45 Reception doors open, Practise time for children

09:00 Read, Write Inc Lesson

09:30 Learning Time 1 (Independent Learning and adult-led small groups)

10:30 Break Time (on main playground)

11:00 Numeracy Lesson

11:30 Lunch

12:30 Literacy Lesson

13:00 Learning Time 2 (Independent Learning and adult-led small groups)

14:45 Snack Time and Story

15:15 Songs and Home time

Letters to parents

Letters that have been circulated to parents are available for you to view and download here.

Reception Booklet 2021

Punctuality

Please click here for our times and expectations of punctuality with arrival & collection of your child.

Teachers

Miss Blower – Beta class teacher
Miss Moss – Beta teaching assistant
Miss Ridgway – Delta class teacher & Early Years Leader
Miss Parnell – Delta teaching assistant
Miss Mosey – Gamma class teacher
Mrs Burton – Gamma teaching assistant
Miss Wykes – Apprentice teaching assistant
Mrs Halima – Additional teaching staff (Thu, Fri)

PE (Physical Education)

Children are still required to wear their school polo shirt and school sweatshirt on PE days. They will also need to wear either black jogging bottoms or black leggings suitable for PE. They can bring black PE pumps to change into or they can wear trainers.

Trips

Parents will be informed about details of any school trips throughout the year.

Reading

Children are sent home with two reading books per week. One is a reading book for them to read to you (it may be a picture book to begin with) and the other is a ‘choosing book’. This is a book chosen by your child for you to read to them.

Your child will be given a reading book with words when they are at the stage of blending sounds together in words to read them. Please also still encourage your child to retell the story in their own words through looking at the pictures. Remember to ask your child lots of questions about the simple sentences that they read, this will really help to develop their comprehension skills.

We recommend listening to your child read little and often. Just a few minutes every night is much more effective than a long period once a week. Remember to sign and date your child’s reading diary when you have read with them. If your child reads at least five times per week they will receive a special sticker for their bookmark!

Curriculum information

At our school we follow the ‘Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage’ (EYFS). It sets standards that ensure children learn and develop well and are kept healthy and safe. At the end of the year the children’s development is assessed against a set of early learning goals. We will complete a profile for your child to indicate whether children are meeting expected levels of development, or not yet reaching expected levels (‘emerging’).

Other Information

Please ensure all items of your children’s school uniform (especially jumpers, coats and hats) are named. This prevents them from getting lost when taken off. Please note that jewellery is not allowed to be worn in Reception.

Fruit and Drink

The children are offered a drink of milk and one piece of fruit every day. Water is also available throughout the whole school day (please ensure that your child has a named water bottle in school everyday).

Parents as Partners

You are your child’s first educator and we enjoy building partnerships with parents throughout the year. Parent’s meetings are planned throughout the school year but you are always welcome to arrange informal meetings with your child’s class teacher after school at any time.

Seesaw

Seesaw is a secure online platform that is used in Reception to store children’s learning and enable it to be shared with parents. Seesaw is used to record photos, observations and comments to build up a record of children’s learning and experiences during their time in Early Years. This system allows information to easily be shared with parents and carers, and record the children’s play and learning both in and outside of the classroom. Parents are also invited to add to the online journal from home.

Parents can either download the Seesaw Class app or access it online. They will be given a unique code for each child that can either be typed in or scanned. Once logged in, they will see their child’s observations on their home screen in a list – selecting any one of these will open up the observation to look at. Parents have the option to ‘like’ their child’s work or they can add comments in the box at the bottom of the observation. Parents are encouraged to do this. The system will automatically send parents an e-mail when their child’s online learning journal has been updated. 

If you have any queries please contact the school and staff will be happy to answer any questions that you may have. Reception teachers are available to meet with parents at the end of the school day.