Reception
Welcome to Reception - Early Years Foundation Stage
Mrs Cullum - Candytuft Class mcullum@gordon.greenwich.sch.uk
Mrs Beattie - Bluebell Class mbeattie@gordon.greenwich.sch.uk
In Early Years, we have created a happy, secure and stimulating environment in which the children can develop as unique individuals and where they develop emotional, social and academic skills needed to become independent, motivated learners and responsible members of the community.
Learning takes place both inside and outside the classroom. We also have a Forest School site where the children develop their awareness of nature, the environment and skills such as collaboration and enquiry.
The Early Years curriculum is designed to meet the needs of the youngest children in our school. Delivery of the curriculum is led through adult-led activities that introduce new skills and extend learning. There are also planned purposeful play opportunities and enhancement of provision, where adults observe and intervene with higher ordering questioning and engagement to extend the learning taking place.
Communication with parents is a strength in Early Years. We communicate with the parents on a daily basis and use an online platform called ‘Interactive Learning Diary’ which enables us to inform parents of their child’s weekly learning through observations, photos and videos. It also allows the parents to contribute to their child’s learning as we are all instrumental in ensuring that our children’s development is outstanding.
Spring Term 2025 Learning
This term, we have many exciting things planned under our topics of 'Wonderful World' and 'Healthy body/Healthy mind'. Some of the texts which support these topics are:
In Communication, Language and Literacy, the children will:
- extend vocabulary (e.g. icicle, translucent, polar, nutrition, vitamins, cavity, germs) through the topics and use these in conversations
- continue ‘talk partners’ to develop speaking and listening skills
- use sentence stems to promote correct sentence structure
- develop social phrases - "please", "thank you" and "excuse me"
- develop language through play, for example, re-enacting stories
In Personal, Social and Emotional Development, the children will:
- discuss the different factors that support overall health and well-being
- further develop skills needed to manage the school day successfully - lining up/queuing/personal hygiene, etc.
- talk about their home and community
- continue to develop positive attitudes about the differences between people
In Physical Development, the children will:
- continue to develop overall body strength, coordination, balance and agility through outdoor play as well as specific PE sessions using large apparatus
- develop ball skills with the Sports Coach
- develop the foundations of a handwriting style which is fast, accurate and efficient
In Literacy, the children will:
- read a few common "exception" words matched to the school’s phonic programme
- re-read books to build up confidence in word reading, fluency, understanding and enjoyment
- blend sounds into words – phase 3, digraphs and trigraphs
- read simple sentences containing taught graphemes
- write words containing taught graphemes
- enjoy an increasing range of non-fiction books
In Maths, the children will:
- investigate 2d shapes
- practise subitising
- compare quantities and the language of ‘more than’, ‘fewer than’ and ‘equal number’
- develop understanding of number composition to 5 – parts and whole
- be counting, ordinality and cardinality - and
- explore verbal counting to larger numbers
In Understanding the World, the children will:
- make maps
- compare and contrast different environments and how they might differ to the local area
- learn about Lunar New Year
- explore Easter traditions
- understand some important processes and changes in the natural world around them, including the seasons and changing states of matter
In Expressive Arts and Design, the children will:
- experiment with different textures - looking at African art / snowflakes
- explore colour and effects
- respond to music - echo / body percussion
- take part in imaginative play in the outdoor area
General Information
Reminders:
- Your child should read or be read to for 10 minutes every day. Please talk to your child about the book and check their understanding by asking questions about events and the characters’ actions. Please also explain new or unfamiliar vocabulary. Their bookbag should come into school every day.
- Little Wandle books will be changed on a Wednesday and a new book will be sent home on a Thursday or Friday. Phonics homework will be sent home in the children’s wallets on a Friday.
- Your child will have PE on Thursday for the first half-term. After the half-term break, Bluebell will have PE on a Tuesday and Candytuft will have PE on a Thursday. The children should wear PE kit to school on the days they have PE.
- Your child needs to bring in a named water bottle every day.
- It is getting colder, so remember appropriate outdoor clothing. Please name all items of clothing. Thank you.
- We are a 'Healthy School'. Please do not put sweets or chocolate bars in your child’s packed lunch. Please do not send in sweets or other treats when it is your child’s birthday. If you want to celebrate your child’s birthday with their classmates, you could buy the class a book, send in a healthy snack such as boxes of raisins or buy stationery such as pencils, but due to the impact on the environment, we ask you not to send in plastic toys.
- The weekly 50p donation that purchases snacks and other miscellaneous items is collected on a Friday morning. You are welcome to pay weekly, half-termly or termly. Thank you.
- If your child is absent from school, please contact the school office: 020 8850 5486 and leave a message detailing why your child is absent. Please try to book medical appointments outside the school day and note that family holidays will not be authorised.
- If you have any questions or wish to raise a concern, please contact the class teacher in the first instance. Please use the email addresses above.
Diary Dates
Tuesday 28th January - 'Everyone Belongs' Evening 5pm to 6:30pm
Friday 7th February - NSPCC Number Day
17th to 21st February - Half-term break
Tuesday 25th February - Maths Workshop for Parents & Carers 9am
Thursday 6th March - World Book Day
6th to 11th March - Book Fair
Wednesday 19th March - Visit to the Planetarium
Monday 31st March - Open Evening 3:30pm-7:00pm
Wednesday 2nd April - Open Evening 3:30pm-6:00pm
Monday 7th to 21st April - Easter break
Tuesday 22nd April - Summer Term begins