Meet our Reception team:

Miss Robinson – EYFS/KS1 Phase Lead and Class Teacher
Mrs Elstone; Ms Aijaz – Teaching Assistant

 

We are all looking forward to the upcoming year and cannot wait for the children to start their `Journey to Excellence’ in Audley Primary School.

In the Early Years Foundation Stage children learn best when they experience learning first hand, through meaningful interactions with others, through physical activity and through play. The Early Years curriculum emphasises three prime areas of learning:

• Personal, social and emotional
• Communication and Language
• Physical

The curriculum breaks down into four further areas of learning:

• Literacy
• Maths
• Understanding the world
• Expressive arts and design

Teaching in Reception is organised through a range of approaches and provides a balance of child initiated and adult-led activities:

• Planned focused activities where adults work with a small group of children at a time. Teachers will differentiate the activity to meet the needs of every child participating.
• Small group teaching of early reading and writing through a phonics based programme called Little Wandle Revised Phonics.
• Whole class teaching for short periods of time such as shared story time, direct teaching (for example of maths), songs and rhymes, discussions and sharing work.
• Opportunities for teachers to work alongside children as they develop their own interests in particular areas of the curriculum.

In our Reception class the children have access to a rich learning environment, which provides them with the opportunities and conditions to flourish in all aspects of their development.

Each area of learning and development is implemented through planned, purposeful play and through a mix of adult-led and child-initiated activity. Play is essential for children’s development, building their confidence as they learn to explore, to think about problems, and relate to others which values children’s efforts, interests and purposes as instrumental to successful learning.

The children learn by leading their own play, and by taking part in play which is guided by adults. Teachers make a judgement with regard to the learning opportunities provided. As the children grow older, and as their development allows, it is expected that the balance will gradually shift towards more activities led by adults, to help children prepare for more formal learning, ready for Year 1.

Key information

• PE will be on a Thursday morning. We recommend that P.E kit is left in school and available at all times. As we occasionally have different sports `taster sessions’, which are led by outside coaches. These sessions could fall on a different day from our scheduled P.E slot. It would be a shame for children to miss out on these extra special lessons.
• Homework will be set on Google classroom every Friday to be returned the following Wednesday. This will involve a Homework Challenge linked to what the children have been learning about that week in school.
• Please don’t forget to label all children’s school uniform and P.E Kit.
• I appreciate that parents/ carers are extremely busy, but please try to read with your child as often as possible. As they say the practise makes perfect! By reading more the children will become more comprehensive and confident, which will help with children’s phonics knowledge, understanding, speaking and listening. Reading books will be changed on Monday and Thursday.

Should you have any concerns or wish to discuss anything, please do not hesitate to come and speak to me. I am always happy to be around for a quick chat in the mornings, or alternatively we can arrange an appointment after school. In addition to this, you are always welcome to write a note and pass it to me in the mornings, and we can arrange a time to discuss it further at a later date.

Thank you!

The brilliant Donaldson team

Home Learning Tasks and school closure.

It is important that whilst children are off school they maintain a routine of learning as far as a possible, in order to ensure positive mental well-being. The school has created some creative home learning packs that can be accessed through Google Classroom.