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Reception

Welcome to Reception

The Reception Staff are as follows:

  • Mrs McLeish – EYFS Lead
  • Mrs Cutler – Class Teacher
  • Mrs Shenton – Class Teacher
  • Mrs Mills – Class Teacher
  • Mrs Follows – Teaching Assistant

 

 

What is the Foundation Stage?

The Foundation Stage begins in the Nursery and continues through to Reception. We help children to learn through playing, exploring and being active. This means children will take part in a range of fun, practical activities; some of which are adult-led, some guided by adults and some will be child-initiated. 

7 Areas of Learning

Your child will be learning skills, acquiring new knowledge and demonstrating their understanding through 7 areas of learning:

Prime Areas

  • Personal, Social and Emotional Development
  • Communication and Language Development
  • Physical Development

Specific Areas

  • Literacy
  • Mathematics
  • Understanding the World
  • Expressive Arts and Design

Reception Times:

 8.45am - 3.30pm 

The Den – Before and After School Provision:

If you require wraparound care before school and after school, we offer our Den provision, which is run by our staff at St. Johns. Please ask at the school office for further details about how to book a place. 

Dropping off and collecting your child

When dropping off children at reception, please wait on the pavement outside the reception gates. When the gates open, please accompany your child to the gate. 

A teacher will be standing by the door at drop off and collection times. Please give us any messages at this time. If your child is being collected by someone other than you, we will then write it down. If you are stuck in traffic or need to make a last-minute change to your collection arrangements, please call the school office on 01543 452197. If you haven’t told us of any changes, we will not let your child go home until we have spoken to you. 

Reception Expectations

  • We are kind to our friends.
  • We use our walking feet and our quiet voices inside.
  • We choose it, use it and put it away.
  • All of our expectations link to our school values.

A Day in Reception

  • We start each session with ‘Fabulous Fingers’ from the range of activities set up in the classroom. This settles the children into the school and allows them to develop their fine motor and writing skills.

  • We then go to the carpet for our Winning With Numbers Maths session to help the children become fluent and confident with numbers.

  • We have a movement break and then split into groups for phonics (RWI). 

  • After phonics, the children have a snack, which is a choice of fruit and milk or water. 

  • Once the snack is finished, we share our topic story and share knowledge through circle time activities before choosing time. We then discuss our activities for the day, and the children choose. 

  • At a learning time, the children are able to access activities both inside and outside. 

  • Once learning time is finished, we come back to the carpet to do our Write Away session, which is based on a book. During this session, we complete a shared writing task. 

  • The children then get ready for lunchtime. 

  • After lunch, the children have a Little Big Maths session, which has a different focus each week. The children will complete a range of related activities throughout the week. 

  • We then provide ongoing experiences and activities, some of which will be related to our topic, for the children to access throughout this time. Children make their own independent learning/play choices

  • We end the day with snack time and Drawing Club, which combines storytelling, drawing, and writing to foster creativity and language development.

     

  •  On Wednesday, we have a slightly different timetable to include PE, Music, RE and Forest School. We also attend Worship on this day. 

Uniform

We ask that the children wear a school uniform.

  • Navy or grey trousers.
  • Navy skirt.
  • Blue Shirt.
  • Navy jumper or cardigan.
  • School tie. 

All children need sensible shoes for playing outside and climbing. Children will need a coat every day, and we also ask that you provide them with a waterproof all-in-one suit and a pair of wellingtons. Can I also ask that you provide the children with these items in a drawstring pump bag? Please do not send your child with a large backpack as we cannot get them onto the pegs, and they can then become a trip hazard in the cloakroom.   

 

Information:

Lunch Bags

All children in reception are eligible for a free hot meal from our kitchens. However, if your child is bringing a packed lunch from home, we ask that you clearly label the outside of their lunch bag.

Book Bags

These are an important part of school life as they help to bring home books, pictures and letters. Please provide your child with a named school book bag. These are available to buy from our school office on your child’s first day. We would like them to have their book bag in school every day. Please check it regularly for letters. 

Snack Time

We have fruit daily, and will encourage all children to try different fruits. We also have a selection of crackers, biscuits, rice cakes and toast at a cost of £1.00 a week.  Please let us know about any food allergies.  Children also have milk or water. We monitor who has had their drink and snack every day. 

Magic Moments

We are really keen to know about anything exciting or any achievements that occur for your child outside of school. They can share these with us and the class. We will provide a section on the parent prompt sheet for you to add your child’s Magic Moments.

Toys

Please do not bring toys into school as they can easily get lost or broken. The children may, on occasion, be asked to bring in a toy as part of a topic. Again, to avoid their toys getting lost or broken, they will be shared with the class but not played with during choosing time.

Topic

We will send home termly topic information and how to access further information links.

Dojo

You have a ClassDojo invite attached to your welcome email, please sign up! We use ClassDojo at school as a means of communication between school and parents. You can message me directly, and I have a class news feed where you will be able to see all the lovely activities that the children are doing at nursery. I also use ClassDojo to keep you up to date with events and meetings. Please download the app and sign up!

Staff Carpark

Please do not use the staff carpark when dropping off or collecting from school.  Thank you.

Holidays

Please apply to Mr Mills in writing if you would like to request a holiday.

Illness

If your child is unwell and cannot attend school, please inform the office on tel: 01543 452197.  

We hope that this page has answered some of your questions, but if you would like any further information –  we will be very happy to help. Please tel: 01543 452197 or email: office@st-johns.walsall.sch.uk