Week beginning 12th October 2026

What a busy week we have had! Our learning focus this week has been about pets and learning to use our phonics skills to start writing words independently. Using the story "The Great Pet Sale", each child had the opportunity to draw a picture of a pet and write CVC words and initial sounds to label their drawings. In phonics, we have progressed further and introduced the sound's ck, e, u and r and the tricky words I and to. Everyone has made an excellent effort to practice each sound in class. 

Our daily maths lessons have focused on subitising, using practical objects and visuals. The children enjoyed looking at amounts in different ways and being able to say how many there were without counting. This was lots of fun! 

               

In our creative lessons, the children enjoyed painting a variety of pets and creating fruit baskets linked to Handa's Surprise. Forest school was full of mud and imagination, creating stories and food from around the world in our mud kitchen. In small groups, we have also explored the story sack Handa's Surprise, thinking about different cultures and homes as we explored a familiar story. 

     

Next week is our final week of our first half-term together. We will be consolidating all our learning about families and recapping out phonics sounds so far.  We will also continue to explore numbers to 5 and beyond to embed our understanding of subitising. 

 

Week Beginning 5th October 2026 

The Reception children have really impressed us this week with their learning. In phonics, they have been learning about and using the sounds g,o,c and k in their reading and writing. Reading and writing simple cvc words containing each sound. Owl Babies has been our focus story this week. The children enjoyed reading the story, retelling it, making puppets and creating their own owl pictures. 

 

 

In Maths this week, our focus has been based around looking at and creating patterns, using size language and exploring the capacity of different containers. Can the children create their own patterns at home? For example, sock, shoe, sock, shoe.  

The children have started to observe some seasonal changes and enjoyed using the conkers to create their own autumn leaves, rolling the conkers through a mixture of autumnal coloured paints to create their own pattern.

Thank you to everyone who has posted pictures of their families. The children loved sharing them with their friends. There is still time for you to upload your pictures to Tapestry for us to share with each other.   

Next week we will be focusing on the letters' ck, e,u and r and the tricky words I and to. 

The book fair is arriving at school on Wednesday 14th October and will be leaving on Friday 16th October. 

We have a Drama workshop on Friday 16th October.   

Reminders 

Reading books will be changed on Monday if you have signed your child's reading record. 

Forest School is on Tuesday 13th October. Please ensure your child has waterproof clothing.  

We are looking for lots of conkers for our practical maths lesson next week. If you find any when you are out and about, please can the children bring them to school.    

 Week beginning 28th September 2026  

What a wonderful week we have had in Reception! Forest school Tuesday was full of fun and imagination when Sneezy the dragon came to visit the forest school area. The children loved working together to use natural materials to create fairy houses in small groups. 

 

Our learning this week has been focused on our families and homes. All the children loved drawing their families and labelling them using familiar letter sounds. In maths, we have been sorting objects into groups and exploring shapes to create homes, reinforcing our shape vocabulary. We have also been exploring colour mixing. Identifying colours and creating new colours when we mix them together. This was lots of fun! 

   

   

 

We also completed our Kandinsky-inspired artwork. Creating circular patterns using a range of different colours. 

The children are enjoying their daily phonics lessons. This week they have explored the letters i, n,m and d focusing on their letter formation and beginning to build cvc words using the letter sounds so far. 

Next week we will be learning about the letter sounds g, o, c and k and thinking about why our family is special to us.        

Week beginning 21st September 2026. 

This week we have introduced our first set of letter sounds, s,a,t and p. The children have enjoyed learning how to write each letter correctly using our alligator grip and learning how to say the sound correctly using our Bug club phonics scheme. Thank you to all the parents who attended our parents meeting on Monday 21st September. The PowerPoint can be found on the school website.   

In maths this week we have been learning all about how old we are. Looking at the numbers 4 and 5, we have created beautiful birthday cake paintings, made cakes using play dough and candles, and sorted our friends into 4 and 5 year-olds. Speaking about more and less and looking at how we can make 4 and 5 using a range of counting equipment.   

  

Next week we will be learning the letter sounds i,n,m and d and exploring who lives in our homes. 

 

 

Week beginning 14th September 2026 

This week the children have been very busy! We are so pleased that everyone has settled into their new school routines. 

Forest school was a real success. Both classes loved meeting Mrs Lovell and exploring the forest school area. The favourite activity was exploring the slide and big swing.   

 

To continue our learning about ourselves, each child has painted a self-portrait, thinking about the colours and shapes they needed to use to create their paintings. These have been proudly displayed in our classroom windows.  

 

 

We also introduced our My Happy Mind characters, Betty and Berty. The children enjoyed listening to a story all about perseverance and trying when things are difficult. We then spoke about our brains and how they help us to remember new learning. We will be building on this in the coming weeks.  

Next week we will be introducing our twice-daily phonics lessons and your child will be bringing home their first reading book. 

We look forward to seeing you all at our parents' meeting at 2:30 pm on Monday 21st September to explain our reading scheme to you all. 

Week Beginning 7th September 2026 

The children have settled in really well to Reception, and we are very proud of how well they are engaging with their new environment and activities. 

Our topic this term is ‘All About Me’. As part of this learning, the children have been making pictures of themselves, including one where they had to think about what they want to be when they grow up.

The children love being outside and are making the most of the climbing frames and swing.

The children also had their first music lesson this week, when they had fun singing and moving around like different animals. They have also enjoyed playing the drums and instruments in the garden this week too!

Next Tuesday, the children will be taking part in their first Forest School session, so please make sure they have their wellies and waterproofs in school on that day. Thank you.  

Reminder – PE days are Tuesdays and Thursdays; children come into school wearing their PE kits on those two days.  Please make sure all hair is tied back, and earrings are taken out on those days.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

          

 

 

 

 

                                     

 

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