Reception Class
Welcome to Reception!
Hello and a very warm welcome to Reception!
We are so excited to begin this special journey with your child and look forward to sharing what promises to be a wonderful year full of fun, friendship, learning and new adventures.
Throughout the year, we will encourage the children to be curious, confident and independent, while making sure they feel happy, safe and cared for every step of the way. We want every child to have fun, work hard, try their best and, most importantly, enjoy coming to school each day!
Your Reception teacher is Mrs Anderson, and she will be supported by our wonderful teaching assistants, Mrs Moore and Mrs Hall. Together, we are looking forward to getting to know your children and watching them grow and flourish throughout their Reception year.
Please make sure your child has access to their class Seesaw app and that parents/carers have downloaded the Seesaw Family app. This will allow us to share important information, updates and special moments from your child's learning with you throughout the year.
If you have any questions or need any help accessing Seesaw, please don't hesitate to contact Mrs Staveley, who will be very happy to help.
We can't wait to get to know you and your children and make lots of happy Reception memories together!
School Day Checklist:
- All uniform and PE kits clearly labelled
- Labelled water bottle
- A book bag that can hold their reading diary, book and lunch (unless they order a hot dinner- no backpacks please).
- Reading diary and books to be in bags every day
- Wellies and puddle suit to be left in school
- Spare clothes bag to be left in school
School Uniform:
Please can all children come to school with correct uniform and suitable school footwear. On days when your child has PE, they should come to school already dressed in their PE kit. Please remember that for safety reasons, no jewellery, including earrings, should be worn at school, as well as long hair should be tied back. Thank you for your cooperation in helping us maintain a smart and safe environment for everyone.
Snacks and Water Bottles
Children can bring a healthy snack to school for their morning break. Snacks should be things like fruit, vegetables, or a healthy cereal bar. To help promote healthy habits, we also offer toast and milk for purchase. Please ensure that children only bring water in their water bottles to school. Alternative drinks are permitted only for medical reasons. We also provide the children with a piece of fruit during the afternoon, if you would prefer to provide your child with a particular piece of fruit for the afternoon, this is also fine.
Communication between school and home
We are here to support both children and parents and the main form of communication within this academic year is via the office as we would hate to miss anything important. This way we can ensure that we get the message in a timely manner and can act on it e.g. pick up arrangements. We also communicate through SEESAW so please ensure you have downloaded the family app on Seesaw. Through the app, you will also be able to see your child’s learning journey and all the exciting things happening in the classroom.
Rules, learning behaviours and rewards
Within our school all children are taught to follow 3 key rules to always be kind, safe and ready. They are also taught to follow 3 School Values, kindness, tenacity and integrity. We are helping the children to develop skills and attitudes that will help them be successful in the future. Daresbury’s Learning Behaviours are: Collaborating, Active Listening, Showing Curiosity, Being Independent and Reflecting. We consistently give out pom poms (team points) for their teams when school rules and learning behaviours are demonstrated. We will also celebrate successes on a Friday within our whole school celebration assembly. Your child could be chosen for:
- Special Mentions
- Mathematician of the week
- Read of the week
- The Wall of Success
In addition to recognising achievements and positive reinforcements of our school rules, we do have systems in place for when our school rules, behaviour expectations and learning behaviours are not followed.
Step 1: a reminder of the rule that they have broken
Step 2: children will receive a verbal warning (this will be done 1:1 and not in front of others
Step 3: a 2 minute reflection time with an adult
Step 4: a reflection based on your age with an adult. Parents will be informed and the incident will be logged onto the school monitoring system.
Step 5: Follow up-repair and restore. Class teacher to discuss the behaviour with child/children and consider collaboratively how to best repair the problem/behaviour. For example, this could be completing work missed in their own time like at break times.
Reading expectations and Reading diaries
Reading is really important as it provides children with pleasure, enjoyment and the ability to expand their vocabulary and open them up to a world of imagination and adventure. It is also highly beneficial for other areas of their learning, including their wider knowledge of the world and other subjects they learn in school.
All children are expected to read at least 3 times a week at home and have their reading diary signed by a parent/carer.
Please encourage your child to discuss the text and answer questions about it afterwards.
You will receive a half–term update about your child’s reading progress via SEESAW. In their daily reading session, each child will have the opportunity to read aloud.
Homework
All children are expected to read at least 3 times per week.
Optional: We may send extra homework throughout the year to strengthen skills in key areas.
PE
Reception will have two sessions of PE a week. PE lessons for reception will take place on a Wednesday and Friday.
Children are required to come into school wearing their PE kits on their PE days. We request the children to wear a school PE kit with a logo or a plain white t-shirt with plain black shorts/bottoms. A school hoodie can be worn as a jumper on PE days as part of the PE Kit.
Academic planner
Please find our Reception academic planner for the first term below. This outlines what Reception will be learning over the Autumn term.
Birthdays and Treats
We will ensure when it is a child’s birthday it is recognised and celebrated in school including birthdays that fall on weekends and holidays. Due to our Healthy School Policy, the distribution of cakes and sweets in class is not permitted. Thank you for your support with this.
