Welcome to the Autumn term in Reception! 

Reception Class Teacher - Miss Walters and Learning Support Officer - Mrs Strachan

Reception Class Teacher - Miss Hughes and Learning Support Officer - Mrs Davies

We have had a fantastic start to the year and the children have settled in very well. Our unit of work for this term is 'Where do I belong?'. 

The children have spent time exploring their new learning environment and we have discussed our classroom expectations, rules and routines. We will continue to learn about friendships, family and caring for others. The children will develop their social skills by playing co-operatively and responding appropriately to both adults and peers. They will be encouraged to look after their belongings and continue to develop their independence.

This term the children are continuing to develop their reading and writing skills through our Read, Write Inc programme. Through class-based and small group activities, children will show they can listen, respond appropriately and effectively with growing attention and concentration. 

As well as learning phonics, we will begin to follow our Literacy curriculum, a book-based approach utilising high-quality texts to foster a love of stories. During the Autumn term we will focus on two books, 'Super Milly' & 'Look Up'.

Children will be encouraged to respond to more complex instructions, ask and answer a variety of questions. A love of reading will be developed through our book corners, daily stories and later in the term with home/school reading resources. The children will use a variety of instruments and a range of materials to develop their letter formation. Emergent writing will be developed through role-play activities and topic-based work. 

Children will begin to use incidental Welsh through our daily activities and Helpwr Heddiw sessions.  Children will be encouraged to respond and ask questions through stories, songs and rhymes. 

This term in maths, the children will use the number names accurately, matching the symbol to the sound. They will begin to count to 20, reciting forwards and backwards from different starting points. They will read, write, compare and order numbers to 10.  We will be using mathematical equipment such as five and tens frames, where we will be encouraging the children to visualise what they can see and what is missing. We will also be using dice, counters and number blocks. We will be exploring different mathematical concepts through stories, songs and rhymes. Children will explore numbers and concepts through day to day activities and play.

They will listen and begin to use and respond to mathematical language and key vocabulary. We will be introducing the children to sentence stems and a variety of mathematical language e.g. '.... is bigger than', '.... is smaller than', '..... is fewer than', '.....larger than'. We will explore non standard measures including size, height, length, distance. 

They will explore 'Numicon' shapes and investigate these in their play and structured activities. They will recognise and name 2D shapes in their environment and play with shapes by making models and pictures. We will also explore the concepts of addition and subtraction in a variety of practical ways using a range of equipment. 

This term, our unit of work is 'Where do I belong?'. During this unit, we will be learning about ourselves, our families, our school and the wider community.  In Expressive Arts, we will be creating our family portraits using various creative materials. In Health and Wellbeing, we will be learning about who cares for us and how we can care for others in our community. In Science and Technology, we will be investigating materials and designing our own mini-community. In Humanities, we will be finding out about our own histories and making our own timelines of our life so far.

Oldcastle Primary School are fortunate to have adopted ‘Thrive’ a therapeutic approach to help support children with their emotional and social development. Children will take part in group activities and children may begin to take part in Thrive and well-being sessions with Mrs Diehl.

Please ensure children’s water bottles have water in them and not squash.  Bottles need to be clearly labelled with their names. 

PE will be on a Thursday afternoon and children will need to wear their PE kit to school on their PE day. Please ensure all clothing is clearly labelled. We have a fruit snack in the afternoon, so if you wish your child to have a fruit snack, please send in a small tub, with fruit cut up and prepared. 

We do have some children in school with a nut allergy, we aim to be a nut-free school so please do not send in sandwiches or snacks that contain peanut products.  

Please complete this form to provide feedback and comment

To contact your child's teacher please drop us an email via ask@oldcastleprimary.co.uk or call us 01656 815790.  

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