Reception

Reception News 26.4.24

This week in Reception we have been reading our story ‘Shark in the Park’. We have written plans ready to write our own story about what else we could see through the telescope in the park. We have also been wondering about real life sharks. We thought of all the questions that we would like to find out about sharks. We are very inquisitive and would like to know if sharks are nocturnal? If they can swim in a storm? We are also wondering how long they are? And how strong they are? We will become shark detectives next week to find out all the answers to our questions. We have been learning about real life sharks too. The whale shark is the biggest and the dwarf lantern shark is the smallest. We were also surprised to learn that sharks grow over 20,000 teeth during their lifetime. Next week we will be writing our new found facts in our very own information books about sharks.

In maths we have been learning how to double. We have been using the mirrors to see the numbers doubled in the reflection.

Have a lovely weekend, and see you on Monday.

Reception News 19.4.24

Welcome back Reception! It has been so lovely to see you all again after our long break. The children have come back beautifully, slipping straight back into their routines. This week we have been exploring our new story “Shark in the park”. We have been enjoying learning new facts about sharks and noticing the difference between fiction and non-fiction stories. We have also been learning some actions to accompany our story about Timonthy Pope and his telescope. We have also been enjoying our new topic under the sea, and we have been painting a sea background ready to add more detail to next week.

The children have continued to impress us with their phonics and this week we have been learning ‘ng’.

In PSHE we are continuing our topic about being healthy. The children have so many good ideas about how to stay healthy and this week we focused on sleep. We enjoyed telling each other our bedtime routines, and what a clean class we are! So many of us have baths and showers before bedtime.

Have a lovely relaxing weekend, see you next week.

Reception News 22.3.24

This week in Reception we have been completing an investigation. We have explored runner beans and compared the beans we found inside the runner bean to the bean seeds we plant. The children described how the beans were different. "The seeds from the runner bean are white, soft and slippery." "The bean seed that we are planting is very hard and smooth. It is pink with black sprinkle patterns." The children predicted how many beans seeds they would find in each runner bean; they were very close in saying the right amount. They also ordered the bean seeds that they found in size order. The children also talked about what their seed needs to grow into a healthy seedling.

Nursery and Reception are visiting the care home next week and have planted some sunflowers to take to the residents. We wonder whose sunflowers will be the tallest?

We finished the week making some delicious soup. We used garlic, onion, vegetable stock and butternut squash. The children helped chop all the vegetables and we blended and tasted the soup together. We thought it smelt like vegetables and tasted quite bitter.

Reception News 15.3.24

This week we have been exploring the story of the Little Red Hen. We have been making sweet treats out of salt dough (which we have mixed and made ourselves, just like the Little Red Hen). We have then been selling them in our bakery which we have set up outside. The children have impressed us by writing their own story maps and three sentence stories based on this story. We have also been practising our cutting skills using knives to slice and chop runner beans and cucumber. We spoke about safety rules when using a knife. In maths we have been learning about subtraction and the children have explored many different ways to take away using cubes and counters. In PSHE we have explored how to keep ourselves healthy. The children have enjoyed doing some exercise to make their heart beat really fast and thinking about all the different ways we can keep fit and healthy. The children had some excellent ideas, including scooting, yoga and hockey.

We finished the week with Red Nose Day and enjoyed exploring the Bluey resources and admiring everyone’s red accessories.

Reception News 8.3.24

This week in Reception we have been helping the 'Big Bad Wolf' from The Three Little Pigs to make the right choices. We talked about the reasons why we thought the big bad wolf blew down the houses and then thought about how we could help him to make the right choices. Some of us thought that he wanted to be friends with the three little pigs. So, he should use his words to talk to the three little pigs and ask them if they wanted to play.

We have also been designing the three pigs' new houses to protect them from the big bad wolf. There have been some fantastic designs, a castle with no windows or chimney so that the big bag wolf can't look in the windows with his beady eyes or climb down the chimney. There was even a design with a zip wire escape root for the three pigs to use! We had to remember that our designs needed to be stable, sturdy and safe.

We had lots of fun on World Book Day. We have enjoyed sharing our costumes and favourite stories in Reception. We also joined a live zoom with the famous author, Guilherme Karston who wrote 'Are you a monster?' and we then learnt how to draw the monster from the story. We greatly enjoyed the Masked Reader in assembly where we had to guess which teachers were reading a story in disguise.

Reception News 1.3.24

We have had a lovely week in Reception. We have continued our learning about bears, and have been experimenting in our art area about how to paint the most realistic bear. We decided that using forks in the paint, helped the paint look like fur. We have also continued our work on Goldilocks and the Three Bears and we have been writing our three sentence stories. Our letter formation keeps getting better and better. We have also experienced what it was like to be Goldilocks sneaking into the bears cottage as we have made and tasted our very own porridge! It was delicious! We have written some instructions on how to make porridge so Goldilocks can make her own instead of eating all of baby bear’s porridge.

This week we have also conducted our very own science experiment. As Winter changes to Spring we have been looking at different bulbs. We have two plants in Reception and have been guessing what plant will grow from them. We can’t wait to monitor their growth and see what they are. Stay tuned!

Have a lovely weekend and see you next week.

Reception News 23.2.24

This week in Reception we have been reading the traditional tale Goldilocks and the three bears. At the beginning of the week the children were set a challenge. Can they find out what type of bears are in the story? We had different photos to look at and recognised a brown bear, a polar bear a black bear and a panda. There was one bear that we had not seen before. We decided to go and ask all the grown ups and classes in school to see if they knew. Mrs Jones was very interested in finding out the name for the bear we didn't know. We had some great ideas honey bears, grizzly bears and black bears. We found out that the photograph was of a sun bear. We have begun to collect facts about the bears and look forward to sharing them with you. We think that the bears from the Goldilocks story are brown bears. We have also been painting bears and adding texture to their fur by using big paint brushes and forks to make them look furry. We ended the week with a tasting extravaganza. We have been learning about the difference between fruits and vegetables, and how fruits grow from flowers and have seeds, and vegetables grow under the ground. We tasted peas, runner beans, broccoli, lettuce, mango, kiwi, lime, pepper and persimmon. We were so impressed with how many children were willing to have a go and taste some new flavours. Well done Reception.

Reception News 9.2.24

In Reception this week we have been busy learning about the Lunar New Year which is celebrated around the world. We have learnt that the Lunar New Year is a celebration of the arrival of spring and the beginning of a new year. The children have been talking about all the celebrations that are important to them and how there are a lot of similarities. Having special food, receiving and giving presents and having fireworks! We have been learning about how the Chinese celebrate Chinese New Year. The year is the year of the dragon and all the children have been captivated by making dragons out of cubes, blocks, gems, and testing their dragon wings outside. The wind did make flying conditions very tricky! The children have been making dragon puppets, writing our numbers in Chinese and learning about the Great Race story. We ended the week on a high, performing our assembly to the whole school and our grown ups. What an amazing job we did remembering all our lines and when it was our turn to speak. We are so proud of Reception. Well done, and enjoy the half term holidays.

Reception News 2.2.24

This week in Reception we have begun to think about the ingredients we will need to make a gingerbread man. We have written down our ingredients in preparation to write our instructions next week. We have been working very hard with our letter formation too.

In maths we have been learning our numbers bonds to 10. We have been singing the number bond song. Can you remember it to teach your grown ups at home?

We have also been exploring the work by artist Piet Mondrian and creating our very own art work using thick black lines and bold, bright colours.

We have continued to practise our Chinese New Year assembly and have been busy constructing our own dragon ready for the assembly. It is looking very fierce! We have also been making some lanterns using our scissor skills, and paper chains to make the dragon’s tail. Wow, what a busy week.

Reception News 26.1.24

In Reception this week we have continued with our learning using the story of The Gingerbread man. We all took part in an experiment to see what would happen to the Gingerbread man if he fell into the river. We talked about the gingerbread man being 'solid' and how different liquids can look the same but can feel, smell and be different colours. We have been talking about making predictions before carrying out an experiment, the children thought carefully about what might happen to the Gingerbread men. Some children thought the Gingerbread men would dissolve, melt, sink, float and get very soggy. The children placed Gingerbread men into oil, vinegar, juice and water. They observed the changes throughout the day the Gingerbread men in the juice cracked, became soggy and his head fell off! The children noticed that the Gingerbread men in the vinegar and water got bigger and the one in the oil looked like it had shrunk!

The children left the Gingerbread men in the liquid over night to see if any more changes might happen.

This week all of the children used their story plans to write their three-sentence story about the Gingerbread man. Mrs Jones was so impressed to see the children's writing and listen to them talk about the story structure explaining what happened in the beginning, middle and the end of their story.

We have been practising our lines in preparation for our Chinese New Year assembly, and we have been impressed with how many children knew their lines already, please can you continue to practise at home.

Reception News 19.1.24

Reception have had another wonderful week; they have been continuing their learning about the Gingerbread man. They have had great fun recreating the story in the small world area, the children built a hill for the little old man and woman's house, a farm and woodland. Gems and pebbles were used to make the river 'shimmer'. We observed brilliant story telling and the children then applied their knowledge of the story language to help them writing speech bubbles for the Gingerbread man.

Outside the children have had great fun transforming the wooden house into a builder's yard. We have seen some wonderful creations, they have made tools out of the construction puzzle pieces, and had lots of fun using the tools.

In Maths the children have been applying their knowledge of addition. They have been using cubes, number lines and addition circles to find the total when two numbers are added together. 

This week we have sent home the children’s individual lines to learn for our Chinese New Year assembly in February. Parents will be invited closer to the date. Enjoy practising the dragon song too.

Have a lovely weekend.

Reception News 12.1.24

Happy New Year Reception! We have all been impressed with how Reception have returned to school after the Christmas break. Well done everyone! This week we have been looking at the text The Gingerbread man to support our learning. We have been painting Gingerbread men, making puppets, creating wonderful story maps and retelling the story in the small world. The children have labelled the characters on their story maps it has been wonderful to see how they are applying their phonic knowledge to their writing.

In maths we have begun to look at addition, we have learnt the addition symbol and applying our careful accurate counting when combining two groups to find the total. We have been counting different groups of objects to practise our adding skills. We all had a go at the addition challenge drawing pictures of groups of objects, using the addition symbol and finding the total.

We impressed Mrs Jones this week, when she came to see us in phonics. She was blown away with our knowledge on digraphs.

Have a lovely weekend.

Reception News 15.12.23

We have had a lovely festive time in Reception this week. We have been making and creating like very busy elves. We have made a ‘When Santa got stuck up the chimney’ card, a named snowman and a Christmas tree decoration. All our Christmas goodies will be coming home next week for you all to enjoy.

We have also completed our design work with our bookmarks, and enjoyed sharing these with Year 1 today to evaluate how well our sewing project has turned out. These will also be coming home next week for you to admire our hard work.

In phonics this week we have enjoyed learning our new sounds as they are two letters making one sound (ff, ll, ss, zz). Can you spot them in any books at home?

Next week there will be a Lace Hill talent show, and Reception have been working hard on a Jingle Bell Rock dance to show to the other children in school. Can you practice the moves at home? We are looking forward to performing again next week in assembly for the rest of the school.

Have a magical weekend and see you next week for our last few days of term.

The Reception team.



Reception News 8.12.23

This week in Reception the children have been the stars of the show performing in their Nativity 'Lights, Camel, Action with Year 1. They all really enjoyed performing to the whole school and to all of their families.

All the staff in Reception and Year 1 are so proud of all the children, well done everyone for singing your hearts out a showing everyone your groovy moves!

Whilst Reception have been busy rehearsing, they have still been eagerly learning all about owls. The children have been finding out very interesting facts and shared them with Mrs Chapman and Mrs Nichols who were really surprised with the facts that the children have learnt and remembered in great detail.

Did you know that an owl has three eye lids? One for blinking, one for sleeping and one for keeping their eyes clean. The children have also learnt about the owls talons and how they different to animals that have claws.

The children have been sewing this week. We have all designed and made our own bookmarks. The children have threaded the needles and created their own running stitch. We have been very impressed with their sewing skills and Mrs Jones even popped in to see our amazing work.

We have also sent home our next sounds we have been learning in phonics.

Reception News 1.12.23

This week in Reception winter has arrived! We have had great fun exploring the ice and the frost. The children had lots of questions we wanted to find the answer to. "Why is some ice clear and some ice have bubbles in?" " How long does it take for water to freeze outside?" 

We enjoyed using the water colour paints to paint the ice and apply our colour mixing knowledge. We practised our letter formation in the frost and had a go a writing our high frequency words. 

We are using the text Owl babies to support our learning this week. We have been learning about owls and we have found out some wonderful facts. Next week we will be using our phonics to help us write fact sheets about our favourite breed of owls. We look forward to sharing these with you on Tapestry. 

This week we have been learning how to thread a needle and sew a line of running stitch. Over the next few weeks we will be sewing our own bookmarks that we have designed.

Thank you for all the nativity costumes handed in this week, we have been practising on the stage this week and can’t wait for you all to see our hard work.

Have a lovely weekend.

Reception News 24.11.23

This week in Reception the Gruffalo has been to visit us. He set us a challenge to find out about animals that live in his deep dark wood. We made a very long list of all the animals we knew lived in the woods. We talked about if the animals were nocturnal and how their habitats are different. Some animals living underground and some in trees. As part of the Gruffalo's challenge, he asked us to learn about 5 woodland animals that were not on our list. We learnt about a water vole, a barn owl, a hawk, a pipistrelle bat and a beaver.

In the Gruffalo cafe the children have been very creative in designing a delicious menu. On the menu you can try mouse muffins, badger biscuits, bat pie and spider soup! The children are all applying their phonics knowledge and having a go at writing complex words.

Our Nativity rehearsals are in full swing and we are learning all the actions, dances and words to the songs. We have a lot of groovy movers in Reception!

Have a lovely weekend

The Reception Team

Reception News 17.11.23

This week in Reception we had the opportunity to perform our current book ‘Funny Bones’ to the nursery. We created skeleton puppets, dark, dark houses and we even made a backdrop for our storytelling. The nursery children loved it, and it was great practice performing to an audience in preparation for our nativity. We have continued rehearsing our nativity this week and we have been learning the actions to our songs. We are feeling so much more confident with the song lyrics.

For Children in Need day the children have loved creating their very own Pudsey bears. They showed excellent cutting skills to cut out all of Pudsey’s body parts out and stick them together using tape or glue.

Something very exciting has happened in Reception this week... the Gruffalo has moved in. He has a Gruffalo house in our outdoor area, and you may even spot some woodland animals hiding out there. Inside the classroom, there is also a Gruffalo café and we hear scrambled snake and owl ice-cream are on the menu! We look forward to exploring ‘The Gruffalo’ story in more detail next week. Have a lovely weekend.

Reception News 10.11.23

This week in Reception we have been continuing our learning around Funny Bones. The children have been drawing their story maps to help retell the story. In the role play area there has been a busy flow of patients waiting for prescriptions, and x-rays. The children have been looking at real x-rays and naming the different bones. It has been wonderful to see the children editing and improving their skeleton models and drawings from last week. They have learnt about how the different bones in our bodies and their positioning.

Reception have also been learning about the festival Diwali. We talked about all of the celebrations that we take part in and looked at the similarities. We have been reading the book Binny's Diwali learning about how she celebrates with her family. The children have been writing Diwali cards, designing rangoli patterns and looking at Mendhi patterns.

We have also been learning about the importance of Remembrance day and why people wear poppies. The children learnt about the different coloured poppies and what they represent. A purple poppy represents all of the animals that have helped in conflicts. Reception have been making poppies out of cubes, exploring creative materials and making a large poppy mural. These will all be displayed in the classroom. 

On Friday we had a very exciting visitor. A policeman came to speak to us all about being safe during the darker months. We discussed riding our bikes and scooters safely, wearing bright clothes so we can seen and using paths with street lights on.

This week we have also been looking ahead to Christmas and have sent home the children’s parts for our nativity. We have been learning the songs in school and have also sent home the song lyrics so you can begin learning the songs at home too. Happy singing and enjoy the weekend.

Reception News 3.11.23

This week in Reception our focus text has been Funny Bones by Janet and Allen Ahlberg. The children have been learning the first part of the story and creating story maps to help remember the order of the story. Mrs Jones and Mrs Harper heard the children retell the story and were very impressed with how much they had remembered after only two days. We wonder if the children can retell the story to you at home?

The book is also helping is learn all about our skeleton, the children have been drawing around each other and drawing all of the bones that make up our skeleton. The children all know where their skull, ribs and spine are and the important jobs they do to protect our organs.

The story maps the children have begun to create this week have been amazing, it has been wonderful to see the children labelling their drawings with initial sounds and words, using all of their phonics knowledge.

Reception have also been set a challenge to build some skeletons this week, it has been a very tricky challenge. We have all seen fantastic perseverance and resilience to not give up and to think about how to use our problem-solving skills. Reception have also been given some real bones to explore. They all predicted what part of the skeleton the bones were from. We found the spine very intriguing especially how it helps us move and stand up.

This week we introduced our new Design and Technology project where we will be learning how to thread and weave materials effectively. The children couldn’t wait to get started and practice their threading skills. Is there any threading you could practise at home too?

Have a lovely weekend.

Reception News 13.10.23

This week in Reception we have been looking at our creative development. We were inspired by our focus text for the week Super Duper You to make ourselves into superhero puppets. We developed our scissors skills, and explored different ways that we can attached different materials together. We found that the PVA glue was the best when attaching fabric to the wooden lolly stick and a glue stick is best for attaching paper together.

Outside we have had conker challenges, the children have created obstacle courses using the guttering and tubes to find out how quickly their conker can roll around the course. We have seen some brilliant problem solving and team work this week.

We have also been practicing our reading and writing. Building words, reading and writing them using our phonic knowledge. Thank you, to all the parents who came to the Phonics Workshop and took part in a phonics lesson!

We were very excited to welcome the Year 6s into our classroom this week for ‘Book Club’ where we buddied up to read ‘Celebrating Difference’ books from our book corner. Thank you Year 6, it was lovely to see how kind and considerate the Year 6s were toward the Reception class. What great role models! Have a lovely weekend.

Reception News 6.10.23



We have had another fantastic week in Reception full of amazing learning. Our focus text for this week is ‘What makes me a me?’ by Ben Faulks. The children have been talking about their likes and dislikes and how we are similar and different to one another. We have discussed what makes us unique, the children have been painting their self-portraits focussing on naming their facial features and mixing paints to get the right colours to match their, skin, hair and eye colour. We were so proud of how the children took their time and focused on adding detail to their portraits. The children have also begun to create their own ‘What makes me a me?’ books drawing and labelling their favourite places to visit, and their likes and dislikes. It was very interesting how some of us are very similar in our likes and dislikes. The beach is a very popular place to visit and mushrooms are our least favourite vegetable.

Outside the children have been very busy designing and building obstacle courses using the wooden blocks. They demonstrated brilliant team work helping each other and sharing their ideas. We talked about making sure our obstacle course was stable and safe before the children tested it. They also had a challenge when travelling around the obstacle course, they had to sound out and blend the words written on the playground. The children have also been impressing us with their performing skills using the stage. We have watched some amazing music shows, Elton John songs seem to be very popular!

This week we began to discuss Harvest and the children have loved exploring runner beans and marrow in the garden, pulling apart the beans to have a closer look. We have also enjoyed creating conker soup! It has been a real favourite this week. In phonics we have learnt new sounds n,o,p and the children have been practising their blending skills to read the words, map, pin, pan, man and sip. It is lovely to hear the children recognising their sounds. What a busy week we’ve had! See you next week.

Reception News 29.9.23

This week in Reception we continue to be impressed with how the children have settled into school life. We have been practising our classroom routines and we are incredibly proud of how the children come into school in the morning and complete their morning work, how settled they are in the lunch hall and how quickly they are getting changed ready for P.E. We are so proud of you Reception. In phonics, the children have been learning some new sounds (a,i,m,s,t) and have started blending these sounds to read words. We have been reading the words, mat, sat, sit, it, at and am. Can you try reading these words at home? In maths, the children have been working on their 1:1 correspondence when counting objects, ensuring they count each object carefully so they do not make any mistakes. Around the classroom the children have been working on drawing a map of Buckingham, we have added in some well-known places including their houses and local places of interest like McDonalds. In the creative area we have been mixing the primary colours to see what other colours we can make and we have been using our collage skills to make some very impressive ‘Colour Monsters’. Lastly, we wanted to say a big thank you to everyone who has bought in their favourite book from home, we cannot wait to read them all and share them with the children. Have a lovely weekend and see you next week.

Reception News 22.9.23

What a wonderful few weeks Reception have had! All of the children have amazed us with how they have settled into school life learning about our values, zones of regulation and our routines. They have been exploring our learning environments and making new friends. This week we have been looking at the text The Colour Monster. We have been talking about all the different emotions and feelings we can have and how we can help each other when we are feeling worried, anxious, lonely, sad and upset. The children all have a brilliant tool kit of strategies that they can use to help each other. We have discussed how infectious a smile can be and have been making sure we pass on our smiles to everyone we see. It has been wonderful to see all of the children with their lovely smiles as they come into school in the morning.

The children have been busy helping empty one of the raised beds, there has been a lot of excitement as the children found pebbles, flint, bulbs and a few dinosaur fossils!! The plants and bulbs have been replanted and the fossils investigated with the magnify glasses. It was a fantastic communication and language opportunity for the children to share their knowledge. A huge highlight was finding a very brightly coloured caterpillar, we researched what type of butterfly we thought it might be. Our predictions were wrong the caterpillar we found out would turn into a moth! 

The children have now completed their second week of PE with Mr O, they have been brilliant at getting changed. Mr O said that they have been a brilliant class to teach.

Thank you to all a fantastic parents and carers for their support in helping the children settle into school. 

Have a lovely weekend

The Reception Team



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Reception 14.7.23

This week in Reception we have been talking about all the exciting learning we have been doing over this year. The children came up with a very long list. They chose their favourite memory and wrote about it and drew a picture. It was lovely to see how all of reception could independently write about their favourite memory remembering their capital letters, finger spaces, letters on the line and ending their sentences with a full stop. Some of the favourite memories were visiting the farm, our Waddesdon Manor trip, learning about insects, playing in the snow and exploring the ice.

In maths this week the children have been very creative! The all had a go at designing their own number block and creating a Numicon insect. We looked at combining two insects together two of the most popular were the 'caterfly' and the 'stickider'. Can you guess which two insects the children have put together?

We have spent some time during PSHE discussing the transition to Year 1 and the children are all excited about their move after the summer which is lovely to hear.

Have a lovely weekend and we hope you all stay nice and dry!

Reception 7.7.23

Reception went to explore in Year 1 this week. They met Miss Buckingham and Mrs Weightman. They had a great time in their new classroom exploring all the resources and completing activities about themselves and our school values. A big highlight of their morning was playing on the main playground!

In Literacy this week we have been talking about our Waddesdon Manor trip. The children have written about their favourite parts of the day in their recounts. The rose garden and eating lunch were very popular! We have been blown away with the children's independent writing this week. Well done Reception.

In maths, we have continued our learning about subtraction. We have been making up subtraction stories using our first, then, now vocabulary and then writing the number sentences that match.

Outdoors we have enjoyed searching for snails and writing up what we have learnt on giant facts sheets.

Have a lovely weekend and see you next week.

Reception 30.6.23

This week Reception had the most wonderful trip to Waddesdon Manor. We enjoyed the beautiful setting to enhance our learning about minibeasts and lifecycles. We looked at the lifecycle of many common insects including the ant and ladybird. Did you know that many insects experience a metamorphosis in a pupa before becoming an adult insect? We also had the opportunity to spot their exotic birds in the aviary before hunting for minibeasts in their rose garden. After lunch we headed down to their woodland area where everyone had the chance to build a bug hotel. We had an exhausting but brilliant day and look forward to delving deeper into lifecycles next week. In class we have been looking after two stick insects and a giant land snail. This week we had the opportunity to hold both of these creatures, and we are so proud of the children for overcoming any fears they may have had to give them a hold. Finally we ended the week with our sports day, it was such a fun finale to the week where we had the chance to throw a javelin and compete in the egg and spoon race. Thank you to all our grown-ups who came to support us and cheer us on! See you next week, and we hope the children are looking forward to spending some time in the Year 1 classroom on Tuesday for transition morning.

Reception 23.6.23

This week in Reception we have continued our work on Mini beasts and have used the book Mad about Mini beasts to enhance our learning. We enjoyed reading the poems about the different mini beasts and had to guess which mini beast was being described. All of the children have chosen a mini beast to write a guess who poem about. We wonder if anyone will be able to guess when reading the clues.

Alot of lovely learning has taken place outside this week again with the lovely sunshine. The children have made dinosaur lands with volcanoes, practised their high frequency word recognition, made kites and created tasty treats in the mud kitchen!

We have begun to transform one of the raised beds in to a sand and gravel exploration area. The children have great fun emptying the planter of soils and investigation what they found hidden in the soil. Alot of amazing learning took place, the children looked at the root system on the plants, investigated bulbs and predicted what plant they would grow into. The children have repotted and planted the bulbs that they found. The most exciting find was the children found the real 'Superworm'! He was super long, super strong and super wriggly! Every time we found a new worm, we measured them with a ruler to see if they really were the longest one yet!

We delved deeper into minibeasts and learnt all about ants this week. The children learnt that they live in colonies and there are soldier ants who protect the Queen. We think ants may be just as strong as Superworm as they can carry leaves that are more than ten times bigger than they are.

We are looking forward to our school trip next week to Waddesdon Manor. Have a great weekend.

The Reception Team

Reception 16.6.23

What an exciting start to our week in school! A storm, flood and some new visitors for Reception to explore. Reception have been very inquisitive about the visitors that arrived into our classroom on Monday! A giant land snail, orange woodlice, stick insects and caterpillars have generated a lot of discussion and many questions have been posed. The snail has laid eggs and the baby snails have begun to hatch. The children have been looking at how the stick insects are camouflaged against the bramble branches and counting how many legs they have. The children will get the opportunity to hold the creatures, they have been looking after them very well ensuring they are kept hydrated in the heat by spritzing them with water and feeding them cucumber and lettuce.

In literacy this week the children have been writing their Superworm stories, it has been lovely to see the children writing their stories and then reading them back. Well done, Reception.

In maths the children have been applying their number bond knowledge and we have been blown away by their problem-solving skills.

There has been lots of amazing learning outdoors this week, the children have been exploring different herbs to create fragrant drinks in the mud kitchen. There has been a lot of water play, the children have been showing us their creative skills in building complex structures to support the transportation of the water.

In our creative area we have been designing and crafting some very special cards for our loved ones which the children will be bringing home for the special celebrations. They look fin-tastic!

Finally, thank you to everyone who shared their home learning from when school was closed on Tuesday. It was fantastic to see all of the mini beasts pictures and number bond work.

Remote Learning 13.06.23

Please click on the link to access the remote learning tasks.

Reception 9.6.23

Welcome back Reception, it has been lovely to hear about the children's half terms, we had a lovely 'time to talk' where all the children shared what they did in their week off. The sun began to make an appearance on Wednesday and the children enjoyed spending time on the field collecting the grass and making sculptures. We had a birthday cake for Winne the witch, a castle, a volcano and a bird's nest. The children added flags, decorations and wrote signs to label their models. They have also been experimenting when making gloop, measuring the right amount of cornflour and water to make the right consistency. The descriptions that the children used when playing with the gloop were amazing " it is slippy and runny but crunchy and hard."

Rosie bought in a robin's nest that she found in her garden, this sparked a lot of interest and we found out how long it would have taken the robin to build their nest, and how many eggs robins lay. The children also made a link in their learning that robins and birds are predators for worms.

The children have been busy planning their Superworm stories, they have thought of some amazing ideas and are very excited to share their stories and become authors.

In maths the children have been recalling their number bond facts, they all enjoyed playing the number bond friend game in maths, they had to find a friend who had a number that could be added to theirs to make 10. They were set a challenge, if you had 10 who would be your number bond friend?

With Jigsaw Jennie this week, we discussed why having gentle hands in the classroom is so important and how to look after each other. Children approached the topic with such maturity, it was lovely to see.

Enjoy the sunny weekend and see you next week. 

Reception 19.5.23

Reception have become wormologists this week! We have been researching wonderful facts about worms. The children have been amazed by some of the facts that they have found out, worms have 5 pairs of hearts, they come to the surface when it rains as they need to breathe, and their poo helps keep our plants healthy. We hope that the children have been sharing the facts at home with their families.

The children have been using their creative skills this week using the large junk modelling, they have built planes, trains and houses. They demonstrated brilliant team work, negotiating and sharing their ideas, fantastic problem solving, revisiting and improving their models throughout the day. It was wonderful to observe the children using their developing skills and to see how they have become independent learners. The conversations that were happening were fantastic, they were discussing how to join materials, ensure that models were stable and exploring colour mixing.

A group of children also transformed the wooden house into a space station, they created control panels, collected resources and even used the sun to help them dry the paint and glue that they had used. 

In maths, the children have been exploring repeating patterns. We discussed all the different patterns we can see in the world around us and made our own patterns using items from around the classroom. The children could spot when a pattern had errors in, and knew how to correct them and add what would come next.

Inside the classroom we have been having a great time playing on the party bus. A group of children have set up the bus each day, and made sure everyone has a bag full of goodies for their journey. We wonder where their imaginations may take them next!

Reception 12.5.23

This week in Reception we have been busy talking about the King's Coronation. The children have been sharing how they celebrated with their families. We had a lovely time to talk session. In Literacy this week the children have been authors and have written their own Shark in the Park book. We have been really impressed with how the children used adjectives to make their sentences really intresting and to keep the reader enaged in their story. The children will be choosing a page of their story to edit and improve this week. This is a great opportunity to make their stories even better.

The children have been on worm hunts this week, the excitement was amazing to observe, we have had a lot of discussions about worms and this is leading our learning next week. The children found so many worms we researched and then made wormeries. The children are very eager to see what the worms will do; they hope that they won't escape!

In maths this week the children have been exploring time, they have been looking at activities that take us seconds, minutes or hours to complete. They have a time challenge to complete this week, we wonder who will be able to do the most star jumps in a minute? The children have loved exploring stopwatches and timers on the iPad.

In PSHE this week we looked at feelings of excitement and anger and discussed different strategies we can use within school if we ever did feel angry. The children came up with some wonderful ideas, like finding a friend, or doing some mindful breathing.

Enjoy your weekend and we look forward to seeing you on Monday where we will continue to look at minibeasts.

Reception 5.5.23

This week in reception we have been creating our very own stories based on the story ‘Shark in the Park’. The children have been looking through their very own telescopes to spot what they can see. It has been lovely hearing all the wonderful things the children can see through their telescopes including family pets, and even King Charles. We have also been working on adding adjectives to our writing and we are so proud of all the lovely describing words they have come up with.

In maths we have been investigating odd and even numbers and it has been great to see the children at the maths tables counting out items and checking whether their total is odd or even.

The children have been very creative learning outside this week. They have created a wonderful carriage fit for a King! We finished the week celebrating the upcoming coronation with a wonderful picnic lunch outside and making our very own crowns.

Enjoy the long weekend and we look forward to seeing you on Tuesday.

Reception 28.4.23

This week in reception we have been sharing our Shark facts and creating our own information books. The children have been working really hard applying their phonic knowledge when writing, remembering finger spaces and full stops. It has been lovely to see how all the children are progressing and using and applying their writing skills.

The children have been very busy learning outside this week. They have had a potion station which changed into a drinks shop and a coffee shop in the mud kitchen. We all saw a lot of problem solving when making mud coffee in the mud kitchen. The children experimented to get the right consistency of mud and water so that they could pour their mixtures from the coffee pots. Delicious cakes were also made, a lot of treats on offer for the grown ups to try! 

In maths we have been practising our halving skills by sharing sweets between our teddies. We have been making sure it is fair by checking they have the same number of treats. The children have really impressed us with their confident use of part part whole models to show their doubling and halving facts!

As part of our PSHE learning we have been looking at different emotions, and the children loved playing ‘Pass the Smile’ where we decided if we see someone without a smile, we can give them one of ours. 

As a class we also voted on which sea creatures we would love to learn more about next week, and dolphins and seals won the most votes! We look forward to discovering more about these animals from our oceans in the next few weeks.

Have a lovely weekend.

The Reception Team

Reception 21.4.23

Welcome back Reception after the Easter holidays! A big welcome to Mrs Doherty who joins the reception team this week. It has been wonderful to be back in school, seeing the children and hearing about all of their adventures. On Monday we had a lovely time to talk session where the children shared what they had done on the holidays. This week we launched our topic 'Under the Sea' and begun the challenge to find 5 fabulous facts about sharks. This is linking with our key text Shark in the park. We have found some amazing facts and I have heard from some parents that the children have been sharing the facts that we have found at home. The children have found out that there are 440 different types of sharks, sharks can grow new teeth, they do not have a skeleton and they feel like sand paper. 

In maths the children have been exploring doubling, they have really enjoyed using the mirrors and gems to find different doubles to 10. Outside the children have been drawing their own double bubble machines. It has been wonderful to see the children challenging themselves to find doubles for two-digit numbers and demonstrating super problem-solving skills.

The sun has been shining this week and the children have enjoyed exploring outside, potion making and then writing the ingredients they have used. We had some superhero potions and even a crown potion that could turn you into a king! We have seen a lot of trial and error when building water transporting structures, the children's resilience to keep finding new ways to achieve their goals has been wonderful to see.

As part of our PSHE learning, we introduced the children to Jigsaw Jenie this week, who helps us during calm time to practice our rainbow breathing. Can you practise rainbow breathing at home? We also discussed how unique each of us are.

We can’t wait to start our new week of learning and see you on Monday. Have a lovely weekend

The Reception Team

Reception 31.3.23

Easter has arrived in Reception! We have really enjoyed seeing all the marvellous Easter bonnets that have been made for the whole school competition. In reception this week the children have been busy making Easter cards, we are so proud of how the children can now independently write their messages. They have remembered how to write to, love and from, Mum, Dad, Mummy and Daddy. They are applying their knowledge from when we have written our Diwali, Christmas, birthday and Chinese New Year cards.

Reception have been set some Maths challenges this week, they had to count escaped dinosaurs , show the dinosaurs how to form their numbers and order numbers that were all jumbled up!

The children have also been learning about Easter and why it is an important time for Christians. We made a very long list of all the celebrations and festivals that the children take part in throughout the year. We have compared the celebrations and found that there are a lot of similarities.

All of the children have enjoyed their Easter crafts this week and a big highlight has been making a bunny bowl, a safe place to but their chocolate nest cake in.

Have a fabulous Easter break Reception well done for working so hard this term it has been brilliant to see you all grow.

The Reception Team

Reception 24.3.23

This week in Reception we have been very excited to see our bean plants beginning to grow. We have been observing the bean seeds and how some of them have pushed themselves out of the soil and begun to sprout. We are hoping that we will be able to plant some of the seedlings outside before we break up for the Easter holidays. We have had an exciting time outside completing an investigation about bubbles. We experimented making bubble mixture as we wanted to see which mixture made the biggest and best bubbles! The children enjoyed mixing and measuring out the washing up liquid and whisking it to get it ready for bubble making. Alot of excitement was created when we managed to use a large hoop to make a ginormous bubble! 

In Maths this week the children have been looking at capacity, they have enjoyed using their problem-solving skills to predict which containers would hold the most amount of liquid. The children were surprised with some of the outcomes.

The children this week have been applying their knowledge of letter writing and helped the animals in The Little Red Hen story write a letter of apology to the Little Red Hen. The children thought of some excellent reasons to why the animals couldn't help the Little Red Hen but were very keen to eat her bread once she had baked it. Alot of the reasons were that the animals were too busy riding their scooters!

Have a lovely weekend Reception

The Reception Team

Reception 17.3.23

This week in Reception we have been looking at the Text 'The Little Red Hen' the children have been busy drawing story maps and retelling the story in the small world area. Our focus word this week is ' said' the children have been practising writing the word in their Little Red Hen speech bubbles and finding the word said in books. The home corner has been transformed into a vet's surgery this week and the children have been operating and helping the sick animals better. They have been writing labels so that everyone knows what is wrong with each animal. We have a had a squirrel with a bumped head, a pig with a sore tail and a dog with a broken leg.

In maths the children have been exploring measuring, they discussed why we need to measure and came up with some brilliant ideas like getting your feet measured, measuring ingredients when cooking and making sure you measure your lounge if you get a new sofa so it can fit through the door! The children have been ordering objects by their length and did an investigation 'Who has the biggest feet in reception?'

The huge highlight of the week was Reception's trip to Boughton Farm and The Larder Cafe. The children walked to the farm and enjoyed talking about what they could see on the way. Our journey took us along the school field, past the houses, through the gate, over the road waiting for the green horse light to change, down the hill, along the road to the farm!

The children were amazing on the trip, they learnt about how many animals are on the farm over 400! They saw the ewes and their lambs, the cows and the piglets. The children were very lucky to get to feed the pigs and called them from the field to the fence. The farm cats were very friendly and followed us around the farm. The children learnt about the coloured numbers on the ewes and the lambs. The numbers tell everyone how many lambs the sheep have had and how to keep the lambs and ewes together. A blue number means they have had 1 lamb, red means 2 lambs and green means 3 lambs. 

We had an amazing morning and we are so proud of how the children behaved, asked questions and were intrested in how the animals are cared for. The even got to see a baby lamb that was minutes old.

We must say a magnificent thank you to Eli's family for letting us visit the farm. They were so generous with their time. It is a fantastic farm and I am sure if you visit with your child, they will share all the brilliant facts that they have learnt. And you can end your visit with something yummy to eat from the cafe.

Have a brilliant weekend Reception

The Reception Team

Reception 10.3.23

On Monday this week reception joined the whole school to watch the production of The Secret Garden. They really enjoyed the show and were excited when they heard familiuar songs from Matilda and The Greatest Showman. After watching the show, the children were inspired to build stages outside and perform using the musical instruments. They made tickets, arranged a snack bar and made sure the seats were nice and comfy. We have a lot of brilliant musicians in reception. It was fantastic to be a member of the audience.

This week the children have continued to build upon their skills in subtraction, they have been solving number sentences using the Numicon and number lines. The children have been working hard on their number formation and checking that the 'dizzy spell' hasn't gone into their pens and pencils. 

The children have been looking at writing instructions on how we could capture the wolf in The Three Little Pigs. There has been some fantastic writing and the ideas of how to capture the wolf have been very detailed. One suggestion was we had was to ' lure' the wolf into the trap using a pig toy. What fantastic vocabulary! We have shared our work with Mrs Jones this week and she was so impressed. 

The children have been very excited about thinking of ways to capture the wolf, they have been editing and improving their ideas and thinking about how we can help the wolf make the right choices. We have discussed that the wolf may have felt jealous because he didn't have a house like the pigs did. We also thought about how important it is that the wolf learns about respect. Respecting belongings and people. To the end the week we read The three little wolves and the big bad pig. It was a fantastic story the children really liked how the characters had swapped around.

Have a lovely weekend, and we look forward to sharing all the exciting news from our school trip next week!

Please remember your wellies if they are not already in school.

The Reception Team

Reception 3.3.23

his week in reception we have been continuing with our Three Little Pigs topic. The children have been using their phonics and knowledge of digraphs to write speech bubbles for the wolf. There has been some fabulous independent writing this week. In the role play area, the children have had a lot of fun designing the inside of the pigs' houses, choosing wallpaper, paint colours and furniture. We have some brilliant designers in reception! In maths we have begun to look at subtraction problems. There has been some great partner work this week when exploring what happens to a number when we take an amount away.

Reception have been set a challenge, they have four plant pots with plants that have begun to grow, they have been busy predicting what the plants could be. They have all written their predictions. The children thought of some brilliant ideas, sunflowers, daffodils, green beans, turnips and lilies. The children will be looking after the plants and watching closely to see if their predications are right.

We have also been learning about the artist Kandinsky looking at his famous paintings and using them as inspiration to create our own masterpieces. 

All of reception enjoyed World book day and they shared their favourite books with children from Year 5. A huge thank you to all our families for providing brilliant costumes and helping to promote a love of reading.

Enjoy the weekend

The Reception Team

Reception 24.2.23

This is week in reception the children have been continuing with our learning around traditional tales. We have been looking at The three little pigs, in the home corner there has been a lot of building and mending activity using the tools, hi viz jackets and hard hats. The children have been designing their dream house for the three pigs to build for them. There has been some amazing designs and fabulous labelling. It is fantastic to see the children applying their phonic knowledge in their writing. To develop the children's vocabulary, we have been adding to our star words and we have chosen to look at the words that the author used to describe how the pigs moved when running away from the wolf. We chose scrurried and galllop. The children have been using these words in their play when retelling the story.

In maths this week we have been looking at 2d shapes and the children have been playing the missing shape game and describing the properties of the shapes. There has been some brilliant shape pictures created this week and the children's 2d shape knowledge has really progressed.

In PE this week the children have been using their bodies to create shapes, they have been working in groups supporting each other,, carrying the mats safely and demonstrating their brilliant communication skills.

We have begun to read the children's favourite books from home, we have a lovely selection of books to read and the children are all waiting excitedly for their book to be read.

Reception 10.2.23

This week in reception the excitement around Goldilocks has continued. We received another parcel and a special note. It was from Goldilocks she was asking us to help her say sorry to the bears and asked us to make flapjacks to give to them. All the children will be making flapjack and brining some home! The children have also been writing sorry letters for Goldilocks to send to the bears. We read 'Be ware of the bears' a story all about how the bears don't make the right choice and make a mess of the big bad wolf's house! Eva bought in her book Goldilocks eat your greens it was a great story all about teaching Goldilocks to eat healthily.

In maths this week we have been looking at 2d shapes we all went on a 2d shape hunt around school and we were amazed at how many shapes we found. We have taken photos of all the shapes we found and made our own shape book.

We have taken part in Child's mental health week this week and the children have been brilliant about thinking of ways to keep our minds healthy, getting enough sleep, sending a smile to each other, talking about our feelings and something we have enjoyed each day, being outside and laughing. 

It has also been poetry week this week in school, we had a lovely surprise from nursery who came in and performed their poem. We all gave them a huge round of applause! We performed our poem 'There's dirt on my shirt' in assembly.

Have a lovely half term break we look forward to hearing about all of your adventures

The Reception Team

Reception 3.2.23

There has been an air of excitement in Reception this week and a lot of fabulous learning! The children came into school on Monday and found some clues in the home corner, three spoons, one small, medium and large and a question mark post it note on them. The children all shared their ideas some thought it was from the cleaners maybe they found the spoons and didn't know which hook or pot they go in. Some children thought it was a clue about cooking. They then found that three bears were also in the home corner with a book. The children all then guessed we were going to be learning about the story and the important message from the story about being respectful.

The children have been busy painting bears and adding texture in the paint so that the bears look furry. Building the bears cottage in the construction area, comparing different sized objects and drawing and labelling their story maps.

On Tuesday something strange had happened the children came into school to find the come corner a mess and a note from Goldilocks. The children all worked together to see if they could find Goldilocks. They drew and wrote Wanted posters and visited all the classes in the school asking everyone if they had seen her. They even asked the kitchen staff. Mrs Jones said that she looks a bit like Goldilocks but she wouldn't have made the mess in the home corner. The hunt for Goldilocks continues!

On Wednesday the children received a sparkly red package and a letter, the children had a good guess what could be in the package by feeing the contents and describing what they felt. Brilliant adjectives were used, crinkly, scrunchy, crackly, hard, smooth, cold and bumpy. The letter was from the three bears and they wanted to know how we all like to each our porridge. They had sent the children porridge, honey, syrup, jam and raisins to make their own porridge. The children made a pictogram to show the bears who likes porridge and their favourite toppings.

A fantastic week reception you have all worked so hard and I hope we can help Goldilocks and uses your ideas of helping her to be respectful like our school value teaches us.

Thank you to everyone who has bought in their favourite book from home, keep them coming in. We also have all the teachers favourite books to read too!

Have a lovely weekend, can you see any signs of spring? If you can post a photo on your tapestry for us all to share.

The Reception Team

Reception 27.1.23

In reception this week we have been continuing our work on The Gingerbread man. The children have been using their story maps to write a three-sentence story. On Monday they added actions to the three sentences that we had written as a class, the children drew story maps and then used these to write their own Gingerbread man story. We have been so impressed with how the children are using their phonic knowledge in the writing.

There has also been a lot of excitement this week as we had a delivery of our new outdoor construction blocks. The children have been busy building castles, traps for the gingerbread man and car obstacle courses.

The children also been cloud surfing looking at the sky and noticing the changes each day. The children really enjoyed cloud surfing and discussed what they could see, hear and smell. We were very excited to see a red kite circling in the sky above us! They have also been exploring the field and deciding which is the best location to set up their bird feeders. They placed some on the raised beds, on the back fence and a few in one of the trees in the field. We will check the bird feeders next week and see if there are any signs that the birds have been eating the food.

A huge thank you to all children who are bringing in their library books each week. It is a big highlight of our week. We will now be changing library books on a Thursday.

Have a lovely weekend reception.

Reception 20.1.23

This week in reception the children are been learning about Chinese New Year and comparing it to how we celebration special occasions and of other celebrations we have already learnt about. We have read the book Lanterns and Firecrackers and learnt about the traditions Chinese families prepare for their new year. We have also learnt about why each year is named after an animal; the children really enjoyed the book 'The race'. We discussed the illustrations and how they made us feel as we read the story. We looked at the traits the animals in the race might have. Some of the children thought that the rat was very clever as he rode on the back of the ox. The children have been making Chinese New Year cards applying their knowledge of writing to, love and from, from when they wrote their Christmas cards. We have been really impressed with the how the children have learnt to write their numbers and count to 5 in Chinese. 

On Friday the children performed their assembly, a huge well done to all of the reception children, we are so proud of you all, learning your words and using the microphone for the first time.

On Friday the children were all given a gift bag by Ethan to celebrate Chinese New Year. We would like to thank Ethan and his family for their kindness and wish them and their family a very Happy New Year.

Have a lovely weekend.

The Reception Team

Reception 13.1.23

Happy New Year to all our reception families! All the children have returned after the Christmas break ready to learn and explore our new topics. This half term we are looking at traditional tales. We have started looking at the tale of 'The Gingerbread man' this week and the children have enjoyed joining in with the repeated phrases from the story and using expression when retelling the story. We have all been applying our phonics knowledge to help us write speech bubbles for the Gingerbread man.

The children have also been thinking about what would happen to the Gingerbread man if he swam across the river, we had some excellent ideas from being eaten by crocodiles, dissolving and sinking to the bottom of the river.

 We have also been taking part in a science investigation 'What will happen to the Gingerbread man when he tries to swim across different liquids?' We have been looking at the difference between solids and liquids and we have been applying our knowledge when completing the experiment.

In maths this week the children have been exploring addition problems, they can all recognise the add and equals symbol. They have been applying their one-to-one correspondence and number recognition skills to solve the problems.

Next Friday 20^th January is our assembly in Chinese New Year, all the children have a speaking part and they are excited to share with you all we have learnt about the special celebration. On Friday the children can wear red clothes and do not need to wear their school uniform.

Have a lovely weekend 

The Reception Team

Reception 16.12.22

Wow what an exciting and busy week in Reception! On Tuesday we were very lucky to have a little furry visitor. Judith one of our governors bought in her Yorkshire Terrier puppy Tink to show us. She was only 9 weeks old. We thought of lots of interesting questions that we would like to find the answers to. It was lovely that Nursery joined us to come and meet Tink. Tink was very small and we were all very quiet so that she did not get frightened. She let us all give her a stroke. We found out that she can't go outside yet because she hasn't had her injections. She is still having some puppy milk and puppy food. She likes snuggling with her hot water bottle.

The children have been busy completing Maths challenges this week, they had a domino challenge linked with applying their addition skills. In the Numicon challenge the children had to choose a Numicon piece and find two numbers that add together to create the number they had chosen. The children had remembered a lot of their number facts. Well done! Their recall is becoming very quick and secure.

On Wednesday we had our Christmas dinner which was delicious! Santa also came to visit us and we were very surprised when we returned to our classroom to find he had left us presents!

The children have been busy completing Christmas crafts and they are looking forward to sharing these with you. On Monday please send your child into school with a carrier bag so that they can bring home all of their lovely creations.

Have a lovely weekend I wonder if we will get any snow?

Reception 9.12.22

This week in Reception the children have been authors and changing the Owl Babies story. The children have been thinking of animals they can use as characters in their story. The ideas have been amazing, the children have written story maps about the 'Mole Babies, Bat Babies, Snow leopard Babies and Ladybird Babies.

The temperature has dropped this week which has helped with some amazing investigations outside. The children have been very excited to explore the frost and the ice, they have been looking closely at how the frost forms on the plants and leaves. We were all amazed by the spider webs that were sparkling with the frost. The children have been creating frost and ice potions.

The children have been busy practicing for their Nativity and on Thursday the children performed to all parents and carers. We were all extremely proud of all the children they were so confident and it was a joy to see them perform. 

All nativity photos have been sent out to your child's Tapestry account.

Have a restful weekend reception your have all been superstars this week.

Reception News 2.12.22

Following on from the Gruffalo's challenge last week to find out about animals who live in the woods and forests the children have been looking at the story Owl Babies. The children were interested in owls and have been busy finding out some amazing facts. In the role play area this week we have a vets. We have been caring for the animals, checking their teeth, bandaging their legs, checking temperatures and writing prescriptions. Also, this week the children have been showing how their painting skills are developing, they have painted some beautiful owls from the story Owl babies and it has been a joy to watch how the children are now adding detail, self-selecting the finer paint brushes and mixing and using appropriate colours. The children have also been improving on creating story maps. It has been wonderful to see the progress they are making. When we first began creating story maps when we looked at Funny Bones the children were drawing the parts of the story. Now on their Owl Baby story maps the children have been labelling their drawings and having a go at writing captions from the story. Well done reception.

In maths this week the children have been applying their understanding of how to make numbers up to 8. They have been using 10 frames, Numicon and creating their own number lines using post it notes.

The children are still busy practicing for 'Whoops and Daisy angel' they performed on the stage for the first time this week and they were all super stars!

If you celebrate Christmas and have a tree or any decorations in your house, please can you upload a photo of your child with their tree or decorations onto Tapestry so that we can share it with everyone.

Have a super weekend, we look forward to seeing you all with your Christmas trees and decorations.

The Reception Team 

Reception News 25.11.22

This week in reception we have had a challenge sent from the Gruffalo to find out about all the animals that live in a forest. The children begun their challenge by working together and writing a list of the animals that they already knew lived in the forest. They could name 10 animals that can be found in the forest. The children then begun their research, they found out facts about some very interesting animals, one of the favourites was a stout. The Gruffalo has also asked the children to create their own Gruffalo story changing the animals that he meets in the deep dark wood. 

We were really impressed with the children's ideas and how they have begun to label their drawings and using their phonics could independently write 'bat'.

In maths this week the children have been busy making their own numberlines, the number lines were very long! Some children wrote number lines to 30. We have been working hard at learning the position of numbers on a number line and the children have even been having a go at finding missing numbers.



It has been a very wet week but the children have still explored outside. The Gruffalo kitchen has been busy with the children creating conker and rose petal cupcakes, conker soup, and pancakes. We wondered if the Gruffalo would be pleased with our culinary creations!

All the children have been busy learning our nativity songs and they have begin to rehearse in the hall with Year 1. We are so very proud of all the children. We are very excited to put on the show for you!

In PE the children will still be going outside, please can you make sure your child has PE trousers, and PE jumper as the weather becomes cooler.

And finally, a huge, huge well done to everyone who is reading at home with their families. Keep up the amazing work!

Have a fabulous weekend!

I wonder where our learning will take is next week...

The Reception Team

Reception News 18.11.22

Someone with terrible tusks, and terrible claws, terrible teeth, orange eyes, black tongue, a poisonous wart, purple prickles and knobbly knees was hiding in reception this week. We had to search high and low and we found the Gruffalo! In the house outside we have the Gruffalo cave and his kitchen. We have had a lot of fun making food for the Gruffalo using the conkers and rose petals. He really liked our rose tea! The children watched a clip of Axel Schiffler draw the Gruffalo this inspired them to become illustrators and have a go at drawing the Gruffalo like Axel Schiffler. The children explored the water colour paints and using their colour mixing skills to help them draw then paint a Gruffalo. Next week the Gruffalo is going to help us learn lots of interesting facts about all the animals that live in the deep dark wood. He is also going to be helping us make Gruffalo crumble! Yummy!

The children took part in Anti bullying week assembly this week and it was fantastic to see so many different odd socks!

They also took part in the Children in Need charity day well done you all looked amazing!

A little reminder our PE days are Wednesday and Thursday, please pop a spare pair of socks in PE bags if your child wears tights. 

Have a great weekend. 

Reception News 11.11.22

WOW what a busy week in reception this week! Our big highlight this week was our Funny Bones performance to nursery. All the children have been working hard painting back drops, creating scanary and making tickets for our show. They rehearsed and rehearsed. Nursery were so impressed and really enjoyed our performance and gave us a big round of applause!

Building upon our story maps from last week they children decided that they wanted to change where the skeletons would visit in the story. Everyone shared their ideas the children thought of 30 differnt ideas. Reception then improved their story maps from last week adding in their new ideas to the Funny Bones story. We used two of the children's ideas in our performance to Nursery. The skeletons went on a dark, dark train ride and they went to the dark, dark swimming pool.

This week Reception took part in the Remembrance assembly and have learnt about the poppy and what is represents and how we remember everyone who has fought in the wars. The children creates some lovely art work and made poppies using the cubes.

In maths this week we have been looking at the number 6. The children are working really hard on finding all the different ways we can make 6. We have also been looking at finding one more and more less than 10 using the 10 frames. Well done reception lots of careful counting this week.

Have a super weekend!

Reception News 4.11.22

This week in reception our book of the week has been Funny Bones. The children have really enjoyed listening to the story and retelling it in the small world area. They built the dark, dark house and the dark, dark park. We have been learning about our skeleton, the children have been practising their topic vocabulary and have been brilliant when describing how our ribs, skull and spine protect our organs and help us move. On the writing table the children have been creating 'Funny Bones' story maps it has been wonderful to see how they are beginning to label their illustrations. In the creative area the children have been making skeleton puppets. They will be using these next week, when we perform our Funny Bones show to Nursery. We are all very excited!



Outside we have been creating obstacle courses which challenge our balancing skills, and looking closely at how our joints and muscles help us jump. In the water area there has been a lot of problem solving using the pipes, funnels and creates. The children displayed great resilience and perseverance when trying to get the water to flow through the pipes and guttering.

Thank you to everyone for returning library books on Wednesdays the children really enjoy looking at the books in our class library and choosing new books each week.

Have a lovely weekend!

Reception News 14.10.22

This week in reception we have been looking at the book All kinds of families and how all families are unique. We have been building on our knowledge of what makes us individual and unique and how this can transfer to our families. Some of the reception children chose to draw their families and described why they are unique and special to them. We were very impressed with the children's drawing skills and were blown away with how some children labelled their family members writing the first sound in their names.



We learnt alot of intresting of animal facts from the All kinds of family book. We were all surprised to learn that grown up leopards adopt cubs who are on their own and that leopards can't roar like other members of the big cat family, and how the grandma elephants tell the teach and tell the heard what to do. We all agreed that the clown fish family are the biggest and busiest as they can have up to 1000 babies at a time!

Outside we have been busy planting acorns to see if we can grow oak saplings. We had a discussion about the position of the acorn when we planted it in the compost. The children wrote their names on lolly sticks so that we know where their acorn is in the plant tray. 

The whole of the reception team have been commenting on the kindness the children show towards everyone on school. We are all extremely proud that the children are showing us different ways in which they can be kind. Well done reception!

Reception News 7.10.22

This week in reception we have been looking at what makes us unique and reading the book ‘What makes me a me?’ The children have worked really hard on describing how they are unique. We have been painting our self portraits looking closely at our facial features and adding detail to our paintings. We have a lovely display of everyone’s self portraits in the classroom. Outside we had the road signs and people who help us dressing up out with the bikes. The children really enjoyed using the road signs to get the cyclists to stop, not overtake and be careful on the crossing watching out for school children crossing. We were impressed with the children and how they knew lots of the road signs and their meaning. We even had some police with their speed cameras, issuing speeding tickets!! Another fantastic week in reception lots of fun with our phonics reading and writing words and learning about number 3 investigating how many ways we can make 3 using the numicon. 

Please remember our PE days are Wednesday and Thursday and that we are going outside for Pe so children will need a jumper for PE. 

Reception News 30.9.22

Another busy week in reception. We have continued our work on our feelings and have used the book Colour Monster goes to school reading about how he feels in different situations. The children are using the Zones of Regulation to help them express how they are feeling. Well done to all of the reception children for confidently sharing how they feel at different times of the day. We have started our daily phonics and maths lessons and got changed for the first time this week. We have been very impressed with all of the children's independent skills when getting changed and showing great resilience and not giving up. When getting changed the children were talking about using resilience, I was lovely to see them demonstrating one of our school values so early on in the term.

In phonics this week we have been learning the letter sounds s,a,t,m to help us to read and write words. The phonics water activity was very popular and the children really enjoyed squirting the sounds with the spray bottles. 

We have nearly read everyone's favourite book. Wow what an achievement! The children have really enjoyed this challenge and it has enabled us all to experience such an amazing range of books. 

A huge well done to all the reception children for another super week, we are all so proud of you all.

Reception News 23.9.22

This week in reception we have been looking at the book The Colour Monster, we have enjoyed helping the colour monster talk about his feelings. We have also been painting our own colour monsters and talking about the colours we have used and the feelings they represent. Well done to Chester and Charlotte for adding detail to their colour monsters. The children this week had the idea to make the house outside into a shop. They showed excellent team work setting up the till, making a sign and selecting the food they wanted to buy and sell. The children have continued to explore the activities inside and outside of the classroom. Freddie explored the maths table completing a number line using the counters demonstrating great patience and Esmae showed resilience when counting out the beads when using the tweezers. Well done to all of reception for another brilliant week!

Reception News 16.9.22

Wow! What a week in reception, all the children were in school for their first full week and what a busy week it has been. The children have been sharing their holiday magic moments and their achievement stars with each other. A huge thank you to all the children for bringing in their favourite books. We are really enjoying reading a wide range of books. We have a very large pile still to read. This week all the children have been writing their names, exploring repeated patterns using their favourite-coloured paints and exploring emotions and learning how to talk about how they are feeling in different situations. A huge highlight of our week has been doing our first PE lesson, the children were very excited. Mr Kean said that they were amazing at listening and following instructions. Well done reception for an amazing first week!

Reception News 9.9.22

This week in reception we have been welcoming all the new children and their grown ups into school to come and explore together. On Thursday the children started school, everyone has been amazed with how independent they are. Outside the children have been taking turns on the bikes, building cars, transporting water, and finding the dinosaurs that had escaped!! 

Inside the classroom the children have been busy making kites, working together in the role play area, investigating the writing station and building a super train track! 

Reception Gallery