Reception

Wow! What a great start to school life.

We have made a great start learning lots of phonic sounds and some early number skills, for example subitising. We have been working to name 2D shapes and to identify sides and corners. We developed our gross motor skills through daily dough disco sessions.

We experience a full curriculum: Jigsaw (personal, social and emotional education), RE, History, Geography, Science,Music, Art and Design and Technology, PE and physical development sessions, Maths and English. We follow the Early Years curriculum guidance to cover this and work hard to bring it to life for the children.

The children are able to put on their own wellies and later change back into their shoes for our weekly welly walks. These are adventures in the grounds to learn about the world around us. We planted bulbs and learnt about where it is safe to play at lunch play and what it is safe to play with. We are learning simple risk assessment skills and talk about the risk and the benefit of different outdoor activities.

We have had a community afternoon to explore engaging ways to help your child love maths. Children and carers had a go at a variety of games and activities, including scarf dancing to write numbers.

Our lantern lit pyjama story time was enjoyed by Nursery and Reception families. The children made their own lanterns and watched a simple performance of Goldilocks and the 3 Bears (by staff) and enjoyed stories read by their teachers. It was lovely to watch the families going back home in the dark lit up by their lanterns.

At the end of the term the Reception class performed songs and a simple dance while dressed as angels as part of the Nativity performance at school.  What a great start to Christmas.

Spring Term 1

We have started the New Year with enthusiasm and have been enjoying some great learning. The children have set themselves targets to achieve. Many children decided to learn to zip up their coats. We are now better at doing up our own coats than many of the children higher up the school.

Our outdoor adventures have continued for example, playing hide and seek to learn to keep safe and begin to risk asses for ourselves, exploring giant ice cubes, observing the effect of wind on evergreen and deciduous trees (we had an exciting session when we tried to catch the wind)  and learning about hedgehogs and hibernation. We even made our own tiny hedgehogs and then found a good place for them to hibernate in the grounds. More recently we learnt to recognise some common birds as we prepared for the Big School Birdwatch.  The children used collage to create some fabulous 3D birds to display in class. We have spotted nests in the grounds and fed the birds and watched them as they eat.

The New Year was also a time for some new activities to start in class. We began our Big Brush daily toothbrushing at school and this should help us reinforce good habits for healthy teeth. We also introduced regular 'drawing club' sessions in class where the children invent new parts for stories. Lots of the children are now confidently writing simple words like peg, hen, cat and red. Some children are feeling ready to start using the sentence stems displayed to write simple sentences such as, 'It is a ____________' and 'I see a__________'. They use simple words to complete sentences or challenge themselves to use their phonics. One child worked hard to use phonics to try and write 'tickle machine' - this was how the main character was going to get rid of the monster in the story!

We were very pleased to welcome in our Reception and Nursery community to a 'Help your child read and write ' afternoon of activities. Parents and children shared games and provision that is regularly available in class while the children proudly showed off their phonics skills and shared their writing books with their parents. We were delighted by the feedback:

' Perfect ideas , so much fun learning.'

'Brilliant! Keep on doing what you're doing.'

'Such helpful activities - not just for kids but for parents too.'

'I think the open afternoons are really great! Might be nice to have more 121 meetings with teachers.'

'Today is an amazing day, it's more than a professional way of how to encourage our kids to read and write. I really appreciate them. Many thanks for your effort.'

'It was wonderful. I loved seeing my daughter's development.'

'It was amazing to see all the activities that kids were engaging with. So much appreciated and pleased. Your efforts are so clear and even reflected in every kid's education.'

'Really good afternoon to see what the children get up to and how reading and writing is taught.'

'Very pleased with this afternoon and to see all the activities they are taking part in.'

Spring Term 2 2024

Our Reception children have had a fun packed time in class, working super hard on their reading, writing and maths. They have spent time exploring and developing their imagination through their topic of Travelling.

Drawing Club is offering fantastic opportunities for the children to apply their phonics learning from Read Write inc, linked to some wonderful stories. They have been writing for all sorts of purposes across the provision, such as making signs for the car wash, creating books about transport and making up their own stories.

We love reading in Reception and jumping into the world of stories. A fabulous time was had during World Book Day where the children dressed up as their favourite book characters and went on their own ‘Magic Train Ride’.

Lots of opportunities have also been had to help the children master their understanding of number and different mathematical concepts. The children have thought about key mathematical vocabulary such as ‘taller’, ‘shorter’, ‘longer’, 'full', 'half-full' and 'empty'. They have been learning how to sequence events and days of the week. They have also started to explore words associated with time, such as 'later', 'tomorrow' and 'today.'

We also love to adventure and invent in Reception! Children work together to build giant models and make up games. They work to invent big and small creations including food shooters, pirate ships and costumes, applying lots of practical skills taught in class. In addition, our weekly welly time sessions explore the possibilities for adventures outdoors and help us to learn more about our planet and how to care for it.

The have also enjoyed a wonderful trip to Exeter Library where they go to experience a visit away from school.

Summer Term 1 2024

Our Reception children have had a fun packed time in class, setting off on daily learning adventures in our adventure land and working super hard on their reading, writing and maths. They have spent time exploring and developing their imagination through their topic of Minibeasts.

Welly Time has been used to help the children's learning all about Minibeasts. They have been learning key facts about the minibeasts discovered in the school grounds, for example slugs and snails only have one foot and snails blow bubbles to scare predators away! They have also been learning about how plants grow, learning about roots and shoots, and watering the plants to make sure they have what they need to grow and be healthy. They are waiting for their potatoes to grow a tasty snack.

During Pond Dipping in our nature area, the children did a net sweep for minibeasts.They found all sorts of wonderful creatures, including an owl pellet! In addition to finding beetles in the pond they caught five newts that they were able to observe and compare to the other creatures seen in previous Welly Time sessions. First hand observations and individual curiosity were powerful motivators during the session.

To support with their topic learning, the children have been watching newly hatched chicks grow and caterpillars making cocoons to turn into butterflies. This has initiated lots of discussion around the lifecycle of a caterpillar and how animals and creatures grow and change. The children are looking forward to releasing the butterflies into nature when they are fully grown.

Drawing Club continues to offer some fantastic opportunities for the children to apply their phonics learning from Read Write inc, linked to some wonderful stories. A recent focus has been on developing the children's letter formation and developing their ideas into writing short phrases and sentences. There is always a strong focus on using ambitious and powerful vocabulary in the children's speaking and writing.

In maths, the children have been learning about pairs of numbers that make 10. We call these 'Number Bonds to 10'.It is important that children explore, learn about and remember all the different pairs of numbers to 5 and 10, ready for Year 1. As always, maths in Reception is very practical, enabling children to explore number and different maths concepts through a range of practical resources.

During their PSHE lessons, the children have been learning about different types of families and how Jigsaw's families all fit together. They have also been very creative, making some 'Comfort Boxes' with their friends. These were then filled with some lovely things to given to somebody who is sad, to help cheer them up. What a kind and thoughtful thing to do! They have learnt what makes a good friend and are trying to live this out. This has included sharing ways to calm down when things do not go the way you want.

In History the children have learnt about 'Why does a king or queen wear a crown?' and inspired by their learning, some children even set up their own coronation. In RE the children have thought about whay makes a real live superhero which has linked well with our PSHE work. To crown (!) an amazing term the children set off on a trip to the museum, following a map to build on geography skills and to develop curiosity about amazing city.

It has been amazing to see how well our Reception children have settled into school this half-term. They have been very busy learning the routines of school as well as exploring their learning through their different adventures.

Thank you to those of you who joined mrs Hallett for her parent workshops which are aimed at further supporting you with developing your children’s reading, writing and maths skills at home. It was great to see so many of you there!

The children love exploring the outdoors and have used their ‘Welly Time’ this half term to harvest apples and potatoes, plant bulbs, and spend time reflecting and thanking God for all we have.

As part of their science learning the children planted their bulbs and then painted their plants on the fence to brighten up the outdoor area. The children were encouraged to paint the seeds, bulbs, stems, shoots, leaves and flowers. These paintings will definitely cheer everyone up over the coming winter months!

Learning how to love and care for animals is important, and so we were very grateful when Molly from our Reception class brought in her baby guinea pigs for every one to hold and look after. What a wonderful opportunity! This also supports our science learning about naming the parts of the body of people and animals.

At St Sidwell’s, it is always a pleasure encouraging the Nursery and Reception children to play and learn together. They love collaborating both indoors and outdoors, making obstacle courses and playing with the building blocks where they use their negotiation skills to make decisions and problem solve.

We are welly ready!