Reception

Welcome to the start of an exciting and wonderful year in Reception.

At Dorridge we provide the children with a safe, secure and enabling environment with adults who are warm, kind, engaging, caring and nurturing. Children are encouraged to explore the environment and independence is promoted throughout their time with us in the Early Years. All members of staff are dedicated to supporting the individual needs of the children, coupled with high quality teaching and leading to outstanding progress being made from their starting point with us.

 Welcome to Reception September 2023

Information for parents -Reception baseline assessment

Meet The Team

Autumn Term 2023

To start off this brand new school year we will be busy learning lots of things. Our learning this term will be based around ‘Celebrations’. We will be celebrating our differences and how we should be proud of our own achievements. Throughout this term we will be focusing on working as a team, sharing and considering each other’s feelings. We shall also be looking at how to manage our emotions.

We will be exploring an exciting range of books, such as ‘Elmer, The Dot and Press Here and the Colour Monster’. Each day there will be a phonics sessions and activities, where the children are developing their understanding and development of sounds. In our Mathematics sessions we will be developing our number recognition and counting skills. We shall also be doing lots of learning through play.

We will begin our Forest School this term. Forest School, is delivered outdoors in which children visit our natural spaces to learn personal, social and technical skills.

During this term your child will be exploring, experimenting and investigating the world around them. We will therefore be using a variety of materials such as paint, sand, water, mud etc. So please do not be upset if your child returns home a little messy (we will of course be wearing aprons, but sometimes we get carried away in the fun) it just means we have had a busy day learning.

Phonics 

The scheme that we use to support the teaching of phonics is  ELS (Essential Letters and Sounds). 
In order to give children the best chance of becoming fluent readers within their time at school, we teach them to use synthetic phonics to work out what unknown words are. Your child will be encouraged to learn letter sounds, as well as the sounds of groups of letters, in order to use and apply them to read different words.

ELS Parents Information 

To support learning in Phonics we also send sound packs home weekly, these will work alongside the sounds being taught. Your child may already be familiar with some of these sounds, but we will be securing this knowledge with using the sounds to blend and create words, form the letter correctly and begin to use and recognise the letter. ‘High Frequency Words’ (HFW) and ‘Tricky Words or Harder to Read Words’ will be sent out in phases and each week on the weeklies notices we will notify you of which words we are focusing on.

For more information on how we teach Phonics, visit our Phonics page.

Reading 

Reading in EYFS  consists of two dimensions: Word reading and Comprehension (both listening
and reading). It is important to develop both aspects. Good language comprehension, necessary for both reading and writing, draws from linguistic knowledge and knowledge of the world. By listening and talking about stories, rhymes and poems, and non-fiction books, children develop knowledge of themselves and the world in which they live. Skilled word reading involves both the speedy working out of the pronunciation of unfamiliar printed words (decoding) and the speedy recognition of familiar printed words. It is also crucial for children to develop a life-long love of reading.

For information on how we teach and deliver reading please click HERE      

For an update on our reading scheme and some tips and advice to support you at home, click HERE

Mathematics 

Children in the EYFS learn by playing and exploring, being active, and through creative and critical thinking which takes place both indoors and outside. We recognise that children learn through routine, continuous provision and incidental learning opportunities, as well as planned sessions and activities. Mathematical understanding is developed through stories, songs, games, routine, questioning, imaginative play, child-initiated learning and structured teaching.

During Mathematics sessions we shall continue to develop number recognition and counting skills. We shall continue to count objects to 10 and beyond and practice writing our numbers correctly. Using shapes we will be exploring patterns and positional language.

Handwriting

We will be beginning to introduce the children to forming their letters correctly. It is very important that children are using the correct formation of letters all the time as it can become very difficult for a child to change their formation once they have formed a style.

Please click for more information on our handwriting scheme.  

Other Curriculum Areas

For Understanding of the World we shall encourage the children to develop inquisitive minds and ask questions about what they see and how things work. We will be using atlases to look at the world and investigate other countries. We shall also be doing some cooking and observing the changes in ingredients.

Outdoor Provision

As part of the EYFS curriculum the outdoor area will be available to the children throughout the year and in all weathers, lots of excellent and fun learning can take place during rain and snow. Can you please ensure that your child has a waterproof coat and wellies that can be left at school all year round. For the colder months, please ensure your child has a hat, scarf and gloves. Please make sure all items are clearly named to stop any confusion or lost items.

FootieBugs

‘FootieBugs’ will continue in Reception, developing ball skills and coordination skills based on stories and adventure. Each class will have 6 weeks at a time on a rota basis.               

VIPs

This term we will be encouraging the children to become VIPs (Very Independent People). To help them, please encourage your child to dress independently at home ready for school, this will really support them when they need to get ready for PE. Please also encourage your child to come into school by themselves and put their belongings away.

 A Plea!

We are making a plea to parents and carers. We would love to receive donations of any outdoor equipment that you no longer want, along with junk modelling e.g.washed out squirty bottles like ketchup bottles, milk bottles, soap liquid bottles or washing up liquid bottles that you have finished with.  

This will really help us to be creative.

Other Bits and Bobs

 PE Kits and School Uniform

Please ensure that everything is labelled. The children are becoming more independent now and we do change for PE weekly and have our coats on and off throughout the day. Children’s clothing can sometimes be mixed up.

Messy Play

During the year your child will be exploring, experimenting and investigating the world around them. We will therefore be using a variety of materials such as paint, sand, water, mud etc. So please do not be upset if your child returns home a little messy (we will of course be wearing aprons, but sometimes the fun can get away with us) it just means we have had a busy day learning.

Assemblies

The children attend assembly every day and we all have a Celebration Assembly on Friday mornings. This assembly is very special as we share the children’s achievements with all of Key Stage 1. One child from each class is chosen every week for their achievement.