Welcome to Reception - Hedgehogs Class
A special place for precious years
Our school is situated on a large site, in an area of outstanding beauty. Our Reception children have free access to the outside. This includes a woodland area where they can make fairy houses, build dens, hunt for mini beasts and cook in the mud kitchen. They also have a run way for practising physical activities including cycling and badminton, as well as our blue calm area where children can develop their creative skills by painting, creating adventures for small world toys and become project managers and builders, building with duplo, wood and real bricks.
Our Reception Team:
- Mrs Denyssen - Class Teacher Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday am
- Mrs Priestley - Class Teacher Wednesday pm, Thursday, Friday
- Mrs Hudson - Teaching Assistant
- Mrs Constable - Teaching Assistant
- Miss Cannon - Teaching Assistant
The Foundation Stage Curriculum
In Reception we continue the Early Years Foundation Stage which the children begin in Nursery / Preschool. The Foundation Stage Curriculum is divided into seven areas of learning.
The 3 prime areas are:
- Personal social and Emotional Development
- Physical Development
- Communication and Language
The Prime areas are the foundations, underpinning all learning.
The 4 specific areas are:
- Literacy
- Mathematics
- Understanding of the World
- Expressive Arts and Design
In order for the children to reach their potential they need to elicit high involvement in their activities and have a high emotional wellbeing. We endeavour to give each child a happy experience of their school years whilst at Newdigate. Our passionate and knowledgeable team are quick to respond to the children's interests, developing their knowledge and skills whilst identifying next steps. This enables the children to achieve a high level of engagement and high learning outcomes. We also passionately believe in fostering a 'growth mindset' in our children so that they know they can achieve and succeed if they keep persevering and are resilient.
Please click on the following to find out about the curriculum coverage for each term.
READING
We teach phonics using Read Write Inc.
Reading Scheme Book
The children initially bring home wordless books telling the story by looking at the pictures. This helps them to develop their story language.
Once the children can recognise some graphemes (sounds) and they are beginning to blend, they bring home phonetically decodable books with simple sentences. The books will match the phonic sounds that they know. The length of the text and the child's fluency will determine how many books a week are sent home. The aim is to re-read books in order to develop fluency.
High Quality Story Book
In addition to the reading scheme book that each child brings home to read to their parent, they also receive once a week a high-quality book to read to their child. This story book enables the children to encounter and widen their vocabulary, develop their comprehension and create a love of reading. At Newdigate we want all children to experience on a daily basis the exquisite joy of being immersed in a book. Our children will learn how stories start and finish, how a plot unravels and is resolved and learn that books can transport them anywhere
Click here for guidance on how to pronounce the phonemes (sounds)
Communication
If you have any queries or concerns please do come and speak to us or you can ring us. We have regular curriculum meetings, parents evenings, and open the book visits.
'Tapestry'
To keep parents up to date with your child's learning, every parent is given a log in to their child's online learning Journal called Tapestry. Through this site, we upload observations, including photos and videos, which link to the above areas of learning. You can also upload videos, photos and comments to add to your child's learning journal.
How can you help support your child?
Our expectations are that the children read 4 times a week and take part in the home learning tasks. The sooner this regular routine is implemented the easier it will be for you and your child.
We believe that it is very important for the children to see the close relationship between home and school. Therefore Home Learning tasks will be set every week. This allows parents to help their children learn the phonemes (sounds) that they have been taught during the week.
Many parents have found that our school Bee Rules are very useful to use at home as well.
You many find the following links and downloads helpful.
- Starting School https://www.newdigateschool.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/starting-school.pdf
- Read write inc phonic sound mat set 1.https://www.newdigateschool.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Set-1-No-lead-in-lines-Sep21.jpg
- Read write inc phonic sound mat set 2 and 3https://www.newdigateschool.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Set-1-No-lead-in-lines-Sep21.jpg
- Number formation rhymes mathttps://www.newdigateschool.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Number-Formation-Rhymes-mat..pdf
- Curriculum meeting Powerpoint Year-R-Curriculum-evening
- Curriculum letter 2023 Aut Year R- All About Me
- Starfall is a fun website to help children learn their letter phonemes and read simple words http://more.starfall.com/index.htm
- Top Marks provides links to many educational games across the curriculum https://www.topmarks.co.uk/