Reception 2024 Class
Mrs Crosbie Mrs Rowan Miss Daye
Hello Parents/Carers and Children!
Now your child is starting their school journey, we would like to give you a little information about life in the Reception Class. The class teacher is Mrs Crosbie, and I am supported by Mrs Rowan and Miss Daye. We are looking forward to teaching your child and working in partnership with you to support your child’s learning.
Themes
Throughout the year we will plan activities based on themes. For example, some of last year’s themes were Pirates, Knights, Castles and Vets and Pets. In addition to this, we will plan activities based on the children’s interests to optimise their learning across all areas of the curriculum.
Religious Education
This term we will be studying the three themes of Domestic Church (Family), Baptism and Confirmation (Belonging) and Advent and Christmas (Loving). Each class will approach the themes through different topics. The children will also spend a week studying Judaism.
Please click here for further information.
PE
Your child will have lots of opportunities for physical play in our outdoor area. We also have timetabled PE sessions and Receptions PE day will be Wednesday. Children can come in their PE kit on Wednesdays.
Labels
Please remember to label ALL your child’s school uniform, shoes, water bottles and PE kit. I am sure you can appreciate the problems we face when the children take off their jumpers/cardigans at the same time!
Milk and Fruit Time
We are fortunate to belong to the National Fruit Scheme which provides free fruit and vegetables for our infant children. The children enjoy this snack and a drink of milk in the morning. If your child does not like the fruit provided by the school, they are encouraged to bring in their own fruit from home. If you have not signed up for your child to have milk you can do so here. Milk is free until they turn 5. When they turn 5 milk is chargeable. The cost is approximately £7 per half term. If you are eligible for Pupil Premium/FSM school will pay for your child’s milk.
Allergies
We do have a number of children in school with severe nut allergies. People who suffer from nut allergies can develop a severe, potentially life-threatening reaction. If someone has a nut allergy it is not just eating nuts that can cause a severe reaction, just being touched on the skin or smelling the breath of someone who has had nuts or a product containing nuts can trigger anaphylactic shock (which can cause breathing and swallowing difficulties). Therefore, we cannot have nuts in school in any form – we are a nut-free school. Please could we ask all parents/carers to check that there are no nuts or food with traces of nuts in school lunch boxes.
For example,
- Peanut butter sandwiches
- Granola bars
- Cereal bars
- Cakes and biscuits containing nuts
This list is not exhaustive, so please check the packaging of products closely. If you would like to check products with the school, please do not hesitate to contact the school to make an appointment. We appreciate your support in keeping all of our children safe.
Water
School water bottles are supplied for the children in class. They are filled with fresh water each day.
Home Time Routine
The Reception Class children will leave school via the door next to the canopy. We ask that parents stand in the Reception Class outside area at home time. To ensure the safety of the children we will send them out to their parents/guardians one at a time when we have seen that their parent/guardian is on the yard ready to collect them. This can take a little bit of time, so please be patient with us.
School Communication
Communication with our parents
We use a variety of different ways to keep parents up to date with events and information about the school:
- School Website You can find lots of information on our school website; please check it out. You can visit your child’s class page and find out what’s coming up in school via our School Calendar.
- Our School App (School Jotter 2) can be downloaded to your phone, Apple or Android. The app is our preferred method of communication, and it is essential that you download so you don’t miss any information. You will receive Notices and Newsletters via the app. You can easily access the school calendar, view previous newsletters, and find quick links to the school website.
- Studybugs – This is our platform for class registration and absences. You can register without a code or password, but you must wait until your child is added to our SIMS system. We will notify you once this has been completed. If your child cannot attend school due to illness, you can record the absence on Studybugs. This will directly record to the class register. Please provide as much information as possible about your absence. For example, ‘Billy has a headache and feels nauseous’ rather than ‘Billy is ill’. Studybugs is linked to NHS Child Health information and will provide you with real-time health information on any symptoms your child is experiencing. We ask that you report the absence before 8.45 am.
- School Newsletters Our newsletters are distributed at the end of every month. They usually contain information about what has happened in school over the last month as well as information about what is coming up in the next month. We ask that you read this carefully because it contains a lot of information.
- We also communicate via email and text messages. Please can you ensure that your contact details are all up to date.
Download Links & information
School Jotter App – Download now – Registration codes will be sent to parents during the first week.
SCOPAY (Online Ordering/Payment) – Log-in details will be sent over Summer – once received, please register, and select School Meals up to the October Half Term.
Studybugs – We will notify you when you can register over Summer.
Register with Cool Milk – Milk is given to children at morning break times.
SIMS Parent Lite App – This app allows you to check if the details we hold on our records are up to date. You can amend any changes via the app. You will receive an invitation email in September. (Apple store) (PlayStore)
KIRF'S (KEY INSTANT RECALL FACTS)
LEARNING LETTERS
What have we been up to this week?
Friday 7th February
We have been working hard in maths this week. Measure has been our theme and we have been using all the vocabulary. Long, short, tall, short, wide, narrow, heavy and light. First we have been comparing long and short items, them we wanted to know how long they were so we measured them with our crayons to find their number. We did the same when we compared children's heights - we drew around our friend's bodies and laid crayons from the top of their heads to the bottom of their feet to see how many crayons long they were.
As well as measuring height we compared the weight of items from the classroom. We used some balance scales and talked about how they are a bit like a seesaw at the park. When one side is heavier than the other it tips down and the lightest items tip up, to the top.
On Wednesday morning we walked to Christ the King Church with our gardeners for 9.30am mass. The Reception children were so good at following their gardeners with standing, sitting and kneeling at various parts of the mass. They listened attentively to Father David and we had some very enthusiastic singing! Members of the parish approached staff to say how impressed they were by the respect shown in church by all of our pupils.
Friday 31st January
This week we celebrated Chinese New Year. 2025 is the year of the snake. We opened a small, but stylish Chinese restaurant serving delicious noodles, some of us tried hoisin sauce with our noodles too! We also wrote Chinese numbers up to 10 and we made our own mini dragons for a dragon dance.
We decorated the body of a Chinese dragon and even did a parade around the classroom!
We also began learning about The Coldest Places on Earth - the Arctic and the Antarctic. We found out why the polar regions are so cold and we looked at animals you will find here. We painted pictures and made some lovely polar bear art.
Friday 24th January
The update on the giant poo! We received a letter from the laboratory, here it is.
Please keep your eyes peeled in the mornings, maybe we will find a nest if the dragon comes back.
How lovely it was on Tuesday afternoon to have a visit from Deacon Theo. We had just started our RE lesson talking about the job of a priest when he arrived. The children welcomed him warmly and noticed that Theo was dressed differently. He explained that he now wore his "dog collar" because had been ordained as a deacon over the Christmas holidays and was a step closer to becoming a priest. He told us that there had been a parish celebrating when he was ordained too.
Before he left Deacon Theo gave us a class blessing.
We carried on with our model castles today. There was many a tiny tongue sticking out in concentration as we beavered away. Checking the design we drew last week we used cereal boxes and cut battlements into the top.
We added a drawbridge and stuck the castle to a piece of card that will be the moat eventually.
We painted them too.
Update - On Thursday morning Mrs Crosbie found a giant, red egg in our outdoor area in the middle of a bushy plant. She brought it inside and wrapped it in a blanket to keep it warm - we couldn't believe it when we saw it. It looks like we're getting a dragon in class.
We began researching how to take care of baby dragons so we know what to do when the egg hatches.
On Friday morning we continued with our Castle and Knight theme by holding a royal jousting tournament. It was so windy outside, we held the tournament in class.
The King and Queen were present. We had imaginary horses and we completed a jousting competition. Later in the morning we completed some Literacy work with a tournament theme too.
Friday 17th January
After the visit from Dantastic, last week we have been inspired to make our own model castles. We spent time researching castles in non fiction books and then , working in pairs, we drew a plan of what we would like our castles to look like. Watch this space!
What a shock we had on Wednesday morning in our playground. There was an enormous poo! We had no idea where it had come from so Mrs Crosbie bravely took a sample of it and posted it off to a laboratory to find some answers..........
Friday 10th January
Happy New Year! It has been lovely to welcome the children back after our Christmas break, I think 2025 will be amazing in Reception Class. We have hit the ground running (or should that be skidding!) this week, after our closure on Monday due to the snow.
On Thursday we were excited to begin our Knights and Castles topic with a visit from Dantastic the knight. Dan, being a real knight knew all about the middle ages, the life of a knight and what it was like to live in a castle. He brought in lots of real artefacts for the children to see, touch, smell and even try on.
We felt how heavy a chainmail helmet was - imagine wearing a whole chainmail suit! Some of us tried the suit on.
We felt how heavy the broadsword was and pulled it in and out of the scabbard.
On a different, but lovely note, Dan complemented the children's behaviour saying they were the best behaved and most polite reception class he had taught in over 10 years. Well done children,
we know how wonderful you are but it is lovely to hear it from visitors to our school.
On Wednesday, after school, Mrs Rowan held a yoga class for us. The children listened carefully and practised some poses, stretches and finished with a guided meditation. I'm sure they slept well that night.
Our new roleplay area is proving a great hit. We have opened a hairdressers in class so if you are in need of a trim, a perm or your roots need doing - pop in! The staff are ever so friendly and can book you an appointment by phone if you wish. The prices are reasonable and they will even make you a lovely cup of tea
while you are in the chair.
Friday 20th December
And.....that's a wrap! Well done to all Ks1 and Reception Class for entertaining us with the true meaning of Christmas in our wonderful nativity play - Wriggly Nativity. We are so proud of the children's efforts learning the songs and actions and remembering the stage directions. It was wonderful.....well done everyone.
Another amazing effort from reception class with their Learning Challenges for this half term. Today we enjoyed a KS1 assembly with Mrs Webster and the children were so proud to show off their hard work. Thank you parents and grandparents for helping the children with these, they truly are special. We love to see all the different ideas - no two are ever the same and the children are delighted with their purple star badges.
Christmas Dinner
We hardly recognised the school hall on Wednesday lunchtime! The tables had been decorated with red tablecloths, crackers and table decorations. All of the staff helped to serve and clear the tables to ensure the children had a traditional Christmas dinner with their friends. Thank you to the kitchen staff for a delicious and special meal.
Friday 13th December
On Wednesday morning, the whole school enjoyed a festive treat ............ oh yes we did!
We enjoyed the pantomime Robin Hood in the school hall. There were lights, song and dancing galore - I'm sure the children told you all about it.
The children have been practising their writing too as they have written and posted their own Christmas cards to friends this week. We always focus hard on getting our letter formation just right - it is so important. They did a great job.
On Friday morning Reception class made their way outside to the Prayer Classroom where we held our class Celebration of the Word. We listened to the gospel and talked about how Joseph and Mary must've felt left out when there was no room at the inn. The children talked about how they feel if they are ever left out. We promised to try not to leave anyone out of our games, especially in the season of Advent as we are getting ourselves ready for Christmas.
On Friday afternoon we welcomed parents and some grandparents to spend an afternoon with us as we completed some Christmas crafts. We made an Advent Wreath and a reindeer bauble. There was a lovely atmosphere in the hall as Reception and their gardeners from Year 6 chatted away as they crafted together.
Friday 6th December
Now that we are in the season of Advent, it is a time of preparation in school. school. We have calendar in class from Christ the King Church and we are enjoying the countdown as we open a new door each day. We have started rehearsing for our Nativity Play, Wriggly Nativity, which we cannot wait to share with you all. There was great excitement on Tuesday afternoon when we tried on our costumes for the first time.
Also, the Travelling Crib has been to a few homes already - this is such a lovely way to share the true meaning of Christmas with our families.
Not everything has been tinsel and glitter though, we are still working hard on our Maths and Phonics too. We have been learning how to add two numbers together this week, using blocks to help us.
We have a new role play area in the classroom - it's Santa's workshop! We can put on our elf hats and help Santa to prepare all the toys for the children who have been good all year. We are hammering and painting, writing name tags and wrapping the gifts too. It's hard work but we are enjoying it and it will all be worth it on Christmas morning.
In our Art and Design lesson this week we have tried some sketching; we only used pencils and no colours. We tried to sketch a plant and a lemon. We had to look very closely and only sketch what was there. We noticed the lemon had little holes all over it and the leaves of the plant got bigger further up the stem. It was tricky, but we know we can do hard things in Reception.
Friday 22nd November
The weather has definitely turned this week with much excited talk about snow in Reception Class. We found a lot of ice had formed in our outdoor area, much to the children's delight. This led to some interesting discussions about where ice comes from when one child wanted to put a piece in their bag and take it home! Thank goodness we have all be wrapped up with our scarves, hats and gloves.
We have also been looking a sources of light in our Light and Celebration topic. We made a huge shadow puppet theatre in class and the children enjoyed working out how shadows were made and playing guessing games about whose shadow they could see. We noticed that when the object when closer to the light source the shadow became bigger and when the object was moved further away from the light the shadow was smaller.
On Friday afternoon we held our second Seeds and Gardeners Tea Party. The children have been learning about welcoming in our RE lessons and it was time to put it into practice. We had already sent invitations to our gardeners, we decorated special cups and plates and made welcome banners for the classroom - we wanted to make our guests feel great. On the day we all pitched in to prepare the classroom; laying tablecloths and cake stands, putting out biscuits and getting ready to welcome our friends.
A lovely afternoon was had and reception class took welcomed their gardeners warmly and took such good care of them, they didn't want to leave.
Friday 15th November
The children looked great this morning dressed up for Children in Need, thank you for your donations which have been passed on to the school office - no doubt a final amount we be revealed soon.
On Friday afternoon we held our first Seeds and Gardeners Tea Party. The children have been learning about welcoming in our RE lessons and it was time to put it into practice. We had already sent invitations to our gardeners, we decorated special cups and plates and made welcome banners for the classroom - we wanted to make our guests feel great. On the day we all pitched in to prepare the classroom; laying tablecloths and cake stands, putting out biscuits and getting ready to welcome our friends.
A lovely afternoon was had and reception class took welcomed their gardeners warmly and took such good care of them, they didn't want to leave.
Friday 8th November
Another busy week completed here in Reception Class. What have we been up to? On Wednesday we were visited by a group of veterans who told us about their time in the military. The children were proud to show the veterans that some of them were wearing poppies to remember those who had died in the wars. The children asked very sensible questions and were so respectful to our visitors. Well done, children!
We also learnt about why we celebrate Bonfire Night each year in Understanding the World. We all climbed aboard Mrs Crosbie's flying carpet and went back in time to London and the Houses of Parliament. We pretended to be part of Guy Fawkes gang plotting against King James. We rowed our boat across the River Thames and carried heavy barrels of gunpowder down into the cellar of the Houses of Parliament. We were seen by the guard though and thrown in jail, but thank goodness King James was safe!
We painted bonfire pictures and added Guy Fawkes to the top.
In Maths lesson this week we have been looking at different ways to make 7 and measuring how tall some superheroes were with our cubes.
Friday 1st November
It was lovely to welcome the children back to school on Tuesday of this week, and although it was only four days we managed to pack a lot in! Our topic for this half term is Celebration and Light and so have been learning about the Hindu festival of light, Diwali. So many celebrations include lights; candles for birthdays, fairy lights on a Christmas Tree and fireworks to light up the night sky. Diwali means row of lights. We learnt about how Hindus prepare and celebrate this special time by making Rangoli patterns outside their homes from flower petals or coloured sand. We also learnt about the beautiful art of Mehndi, a skin decoration - we loved watching the patterns being drawn there are so may different ones.
In our RE lessons we have been learning about the importance of "Welcoming." Especially the way in which we are welcomed into God's family at Baptism. We baptised one of our dolls in class. Mrs Crosbie showed us what happens at a baptism. We watched as special Holy Water is poured over the baby's head and the priest says, "I baptise you in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen." Now the baby is part of God's family.
The family are given a candle to keep the Light of Christ with the baby. We enjoyed looking photos of when we were baptised, some of us were babies and some of us were a little bit older. We had a go at baptising the baby with Holy Water too and we held the candle to show that Christ's light is always with us.
In our maths lesson this week we have been learning about shape. Shapes with straight sides and shapes with curved sides, we were even looking at vertices! (the pointy bit where two sides meet.) As it was Halloween we put on our witches hats (and our special shape finding glasses) and took Bertie the Bat with us on a shape hunt around the school - we found so many shapes. We realised shapes are everywhere!
Friday 18th October
That is our first half term in Reception Class....done! We could not he happier with the way that they children have settled into our school family. Already, we have a seen a huge change in some children who have gained in confidence from day one and now arrive every day with a cheery "good morning" ready to begin their learning. Today we had a special assembly with Mrs Webster to show off our amazing Learning Challenges which came in every shape and size. The children were so proud of their efforts and were rewarded with a sparkly star to wear proudly on their school ties (different colours to collect over the coming terms!)
We also enjoyed looking at different instruments in our music lessons including the violin, flute, electric piano and a trumpet.
As we couldn't find a trumpet we found the closest thing, a bugle. We enjoyed playing a few notes and all I can say is when we need musicians for the Christmas Nativity we won't have to look too far.
Friday 11th October
Reception class enjoyed a lovely Autumn walk this week, around the school grounds, We talked about the four seasons and in particular the changes we can see in Autumn. We found lots of coloured leaves that had fallen from the trees, acorns, toadstools and conkers too!
As this month is Back History Month we have also had the opportunity to try some Bollywood dancing. Jenny came into school bringing selection of colourful scarves and some Bollywood music - she taught us a dance and we loved dancing to the beat.. Some children got a Bindi jewel to wear on their foreheads.
Friday 4th October
Can you believe we are in October already? As October is the month of the Holy Rosary we have added the Hail Mary to our daily classroom prayers. We have also added some rosary beads to our holy area in class and are teaching the children how to use them.
If an apple a day keeps the doctor away Reception Class will be fighting fit! We have been testing our sense of taste this week as we continue with our All about Me topic. Tasting 3 different types of apple and deciding which one was our favourite. We tried red apples, green apple and even yellow apples.
For our sense of sight we also designed a pair of snazzy glasses. We looked fabulous!
Our number of the week was number 3 so we have added this to our Numberland display and been finding 3, making 3, counting 3, painting 3 and writing 3!
Thank you for your Harvest donations of cereals, we will be collecting all next week too so you're not too late if you would like to donate. The school council will be organising all donations and they will be taken to the local food bank. Reception class were so proud to bring in their cereals and help other people, we love to help others when we can.
Friday 27th September
As we continue with our "All about me" topic we have been learning about the five senses. We have been testing our sense of hearing with Miss Daye, recognising the sounds of different instruments. We have also been using our sense of smell in a mystery smell game. Mrs Crosbie put different smells in a cup and covered it was so that we couldn't see, we had to use our sense of smell to work out what we were smelling.
We have also been enjoying our music lessons where we have been listen=ng to different kinds of music (this week Peggy Lee!) and we have been finding the beat and also clapping back some rhythms. We have been learning a new version of the nursery rhyme Pat-a Cake, Pat-a-Cake in a rap style. We have learnt that rapping is when you talk to music instead of singing. Mrs Crosbie said rappers can often look quite serious , so we practised our rap faces too.
Thank you for your contributions of cakes and money towards our MacMillan Coffee Morning. The children were so excited to see their parents and grandparents in school - it made it a really special event for them and the extra sugar made the morning lessons go with a bang!
After enjoying our story of The Boy Who Hated Toothbrushes we had some enthusiastic children who couldn't wait to practise their letters on giant teeth! And judging by the amount of tiny tongues sticking out concentration was at an all time high. Good work Reception.
Friday 20th September
A busy week in Reception Class! The children are coming in so nicely in the morning and saying goodbye to parents happily, ready to start the day. We are so proud of them.
The weather was so beautiful this week, we decided to take advantage and take our learning outside with a number hunt for number 1. The children were set a challenge to find all ten of the number 1's hidden in our outdoor area. They didn't hang around, they were off like rockets!
This week our children were also paired up with a special friend from Year 6 to be their gardener. Reception children are the seeds and the gardeners take care of them and act as role models for them throughout the year. They spend time together on Friday afternoons and also sit together in our Friday afternoon assemblies.
After reading Silly Billy by Anthony Browne we also had a go at making worry dolls of our own. The story explained that if you have anything that you are worried about, you simple tell the worry to your doll, pop the doll under your pillow and they will worry for you leaving you to have a peaceful night's slumber.
Friday 13th September
We have had lots of fun welcoming our new Reception Class to Christ the King. They look smart in their uniforms and are full of enthusiasm . I have put together a few photos of their couple of weeks at school for you to enjoy. I try to update the website every couple of weeks, it's the best place to find out what is going on in class.
Mrs Crosbie