Reception 2024/25

Welcome to Reception 2024-25 - A parents guide.

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Hello! Thankyou so much to those families who were able to join us for our parents meeting. It was lovely to meet you and to share key information about our school with you. We appreciate the opportunity to welcome you and your little one as they start their learning journey with us in Reception. A big change for some, a gradual change for others. Whatever experience your child has had, whether they have been to a nursery, childminder or stayed at home, we hope this page will give you all the information you need about what they will be learning and doing when they join us. It will be updated as new information si ready to be shared. Scroll down to find out key dates and what we do in Reception.

If you were unable to join us you can see the presentation and information shared at the meeting below:

All our pre-visits to our Reception classes are complete and the children all seemed to have a great time. We were super proud of their self confidence when they attended on their own and we would like to say a big thank you for supporting them through this.

This week (wb 15/7/24) you will receive an email explaining whose class your child will be in and whether they will start by attending morning or afternoon sessions. Please contact us if you have not received your email by Thursday. Please see the grid below for sessions and timings.

As explained at our parents meeting please do not worry if your child is not in the same class as their best friend, 70% of the time spent in Reception children will be able to choose where and who they play with. The classes are for morning and end of day carpet times which last upto 15 minutes.

September 2024 Starting Reception - Dates and Times :

Group 1 are morning children, group 2 are afternoon children.

What will my child learn in Reception?

We follow the 'Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum' which includes 7 areas of learning and you can read more details about it here:  EYFS Parents Guide

Between the ages of 4-5 years our key focus for our learners development is :

Communication and Language (Listening, understanding & speaking.)

Personal, Social & Emotional(Self-confidence, managing feelings and behaviour & making relationships)

Physical – (Moving, health, fine motor skills/self-care)

These 'Prime areas' are those most essential for your child’s healthy development and future learning.

As children grow, the prime areas will help them to further develop their skills in 4 'Specific areas'. These are:

• Literacy (Reading - enjoying stories and rhymes and writing - learning to mark make) 

• Mathematics (Learning about numbers and understanding their value, exploring shapes and measures)

• Understanding the world ( Learning about people and how we are similar and different, learning about nature and the world around us)

• Expressive arts and design (creative activities, art, drawing, making, dancing, music and pretend play)

Click on the picture below to look at the Reception part of the curriculum and the skills and concepts they ideally should be working on at this age.

The 7 areas are used to plan the learning for our Reception children ensuring they receive a broad and balanced curriculum. The professionals teaching and supporting your child will make sure that the activities are suited to your child’s unique needs ensuring there is a higher level of challenge so our children make progress and reach for the stars! Our expectations will be higher for them as we encourage them to seek out their own challenges, collect the things they need, and to try to think of different ways to solve a problem using their past knowledge and experience. Children in the EYFS learn by playing and exploring. Being active, being creative and critical thinking takes place both indoors and outside. Teachers plan from the children’s interests whilst ensuring a full coverage of the above areas of learning.

What if my child cannot speak very much English?

The experiences we provide are very visual and practical, and so are very supportive to children developing their communication and language skills as well as to our children who speak English as an additional language. We provide learning in many different ways so children develop skills and knowledge through songs, stories with pictures, lots of physical doing and making so all levels of learner can access what we do.

How can I help get my child ready for Reception?

• Practise sharing a story with your child every day. Sitting together, no TV or tablets so they get used to focussing for 10 minutes. This will help them be able to focus and listen at carpet times and learn more quickly. Go to Story house in Chester to find free books that your child finds interesting eg books about dinosaurs, space or dancing etc.

• Do some drawing and colouring together. Support their grip and encourage them to stay in the lines.

• Practise writing their name - in flour, paint the letters in mud etc. Teach them to just put a capital letter only at the beginning and then lower case letters eg Sofia not SOFIA.

• Set clear behaviour expectations eg ask them to tidy up and make sure they finish the job - don't give in and do it for them. If you are consistent in your expectations your little one will listen to you and also then be able to follow what we ask them to do as they will be used to boundaries and expectations. Unfortunately they wont be able to what they would like all the time so if they are used to coping with this they will have a more successful time in school.

• Independent toiletting - supporting them to do all aspects (including wiping!) for them selves so they will not waste precious play and learning time waiting for an adult to help them every time.

• Sit down for meal times and snacks. In school we have to sit for snack and lunch (to avoid choking incidents and support digestion) so if your child is used to this they will find these times easier in school. If they will be having a hot dinner with us they need to be able to use a knife and fork.

• Lastly make sure they have a consistent bedtime routine. NHS recommends 11+ hours sleep for children aged between 4 and 5 so they are ready to learn the next day. Click here to find some bedtime routine tips : NHS Bedtime tips.