A warm welcome from myself (Miss McCann), Mrs McGrath, Miss Schofield and all the pupils of Reception M!

Autumn 1 has been a wonderful start to the school year. The children have not only impressed staff with their hard work and enthusiasm for learning, but also with their lovely manners and their care and concern for one another.

Our daily routine in Reception features many important aspects of early development, including a noticeable focus on speaking, listening and attention. We encourage all the children to tune into classroom conversations and to look directly at the person who is speaking to them. The best way to do this is to model to the children and shower them with praise when they get it right!

Here is a video of the children listening carefully as a class member gives a daily weather report. (The children love taking turns to do this each morning!)

Every morning, pupils start the day with fun, hand strengthening activities, which develop the children’s fine motor control – great preparation for forming letters and numbers using a pencil! Sometimes Mr Deane even stops by to have a practice himself!

Each day includes learning opportunities both inside and outside; these are often linked to our current learning theme, but also link to children’s own current interests and ideas. So far children have explored the theme of ‘growing and changing’, where children have talked about and described their transition from Nursery to Reception, and looked back at their journey from being a baby to being a primary school pupil! Recent role-play areas have included a baby clinic and an ASDA themed supermarket. Children were able to explain what they can do now that they couldn’t do as a baby, and also learnt about the importance of keeping healthy.

Every day in Reception is a busy one!

Take a look at our daily timetable, which is designed to enable all children to enjoy and achieve. It allows maximum opportunities for children to develop and gain confidence in all areas of our Early Years curriculum.

Last Friday, children were surprised when my four-month-old Labrador, Georgie, popped in for an afternoon visit. The children used gentle hands to stroke her and were excited to leave out biscuit treats for her to find!

At circle time, the children asked many inquisitive questions about how I care for Georgie and what she needs; I was so impressed that it seemed logical to transform our indoor role-play areas to have a new animal theme. The Reception M classroom will therefore soon be hosting a ‘Vets corner’, where children can learn about the importance of caring for a pet and keeping them healthy; and the Reception P classroom will soon be creating a woodland hideaway, where children can learn about animals in our local environment.

As a school, we celebrate ‘Black History Month’ every October - an international celebration recognising and valuing inspirational individuals. This year Reception children looked at the life and work of a photographer named Seydou Keita. Visit the school dinner hall to have a look at our class display, plus many more inspiring individuals who were studied by other year groups across the school.

Seydou often photographed people with their favourite things. In Reception, we talked about things that are important to us. We brought in a special object from home and had our photo taken holding it.  Then we talked to our friends about why it was important and special to us.