Welcome to Reception

A very warm welcome to Reception.

Reception is a really important and exciting year where the children develop skills that will hopefully stay with them for the rest of their time in school and beyond.  We support them to become independent learners through encouraging their own ideas and curiosity about the world around them. We go on an incredible journey together in learning to read and write and develop the building blocks of mathematics. We plan topics throughout the year that emphasise different areas of the curriculum.

All children in Reception follow the Early Years Foundation Stage framework that is divided into the seven areas of learning. They have a mixture of adult led activities and child initiated learning, where the children learn by doing things for themselves.

We work together with parents to ensure all children are, ‘Growing and learning together, as part of God’s family, to be the best that we can be.’

Mrs Serban Class Teacher

Mrs Mansfield and Mrs Joyce Support Staff 

Reception Timetable, Summer Term

This half-term, we are learning:

Summer Term theme in Reception is Seaside.​

The children were listening to a range of stories about sea creatures, pirates, people or animals living by the sea or ocean. ​

They have been travelling around the world with the Snail and the Whale  and wrote postcards from the Snail to his family and friends.

The children learned how to form sentences to describe a seaside scene.  What can you hear on the beach?​

Our last story was  Clean up!  We read about a girl who was visiting her grandparents in Jamaica. ​

There, she saves a baby crab tangled in plastic. ​

The girl realises how much rubbish people can leave on the beach.​

So, we were thinking how to help her, too.​

The Reception children have created posters to make people aware that we all need to work together to keep our planet’s waters clean.​

…and because on the 4th July we visited Ruislip Lido Beach, we thought it is a good opportunity to display our posters.​

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It was a wonderful day! ​

At St. Teresa’s Catholic Primary School, we aim to open the children’s eyes to the world, through a wide range of experiences and through a language-rich environment. We aim to build on the wealth of knowledge and skills children already have when they arrive at the school, and we recognise parents as the first educator in their child’s life. We also recognise that all children are unique, so celebrate and welcome differences within our school community. Therefore, our curriculum is child-centred forming the core of our pedagogy:

At St. Teresa’s Catholic Primary School, we provide our children with a broad and balanced curriculum which is developed through the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum.  There are seven key areas of learning and development that shapes our educational programme. 

• Communication and Language
• Physical Development
• Personal, Social and Emotional Development
• Literacy
• Mathematics
• Understanding the World
• Expressive Arts and Design

We recognise the importance of giving our children the best possible start to their education by planning and implementing teaching and learning opportunities across all seven key areas in our indoor and outdoor environment. Our curriculum supports curiosity, wonder and awe through learning. We encompass and support the unique needs and interests of each child, enabling them to learn new skills and acquire new knowledge, recognising children’s prior learning and experiences which are built upon as they move through our school.

What to expect in Early Years

What to expect - Parents' Guide 

COMMUNICATION AND LANGUAGE

The development of children’s spoken language underpins all seven areas of learning and development. Children’s back-and-forth interactions from an early age form the foundations for language and cognitive development. The number and quality of the conversations they have with adults and peers throughout the day in a language-rich environment is crucial. By commenting on what children are interested in or doing, and echoing back what they say with new vocabulary added, practitioners will build children’s language effectively.

Reading frequently to children, and engaging them actively in stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems, and then providing them with extensive opportunities to use and embed new words in a range of contexts, will give children the opportunity to thrive. Through conversation, story-telling and role play, where children share their ideas with support and modelling from their teacher, and sensitive questioning that invites them to elaborate, children become comfortable using a rich range of vocabulary and language structures.

PERSONAL, SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Children’s personal, social and emotional development (PSED) is crucial for children to lead healthy and happy lives and is fundamental to their cognitive development. Underpinning their personal development are the important attachments that shape their social world. 

Strong, warm and supportive relationships with adults enable children to learn how to understand their own feelings and those of others. Children should be supported to manage emotions, develop a positive sense of self, set themselves simple goals, have confidence in their own abilities, to persist and wait for what they want and direct attention as necessary. 

Through adult modelling and guidance, they will learn how to look after their bodies, including healthy eating, and manage personal needs independently. Through supported interaction with other children they learn how to make good friendships, co-operate and resolve conflicts peaceably. These attributes will provide a secure platform from which children can achieve at school and in later life.

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

​Physical activity is vital in children’s all-round development, enabling them to pursue happy, healthy and active lives. Gross and fine motor experiences develop incrementally throughout early childhood, starting with sensory explorations and the development of a child’s strength, co-ordination and positional awareness through tummy time, crawling and play movement with both objects and adults. By creating games and providing opportunities for play both indoors and outdoors, adults can support children to develop their core strength, stability, balance, spatial awareness, co-ordination and agility. Gross motor skills provide the foundation for developing healthy bodies and social and emotional well-being. Fine motor control and precision helps with hand-eye co-ordination which is later linked to early literacy. Repeated and varied opportunities to explore and play with small world activities, puzzles, arts and crafts and the practise of using small tools, with feedback and support from adults, allow children to develop proficiency, control and confidence.

LITERACY

It is crucial for children to develop a life-long love of reading. Reading consists of two dimensions: language comprehension and word reading. Language comprehension (necessary for both reading and writing) starts from birth. It only develops when adults talk with children about the world around them and the books (stories and non-fiction) they read with them, and enjoy rhymes, poems and songs together.

Skilled word reading, taught later, involves both the speedy working out of the pronunciation of unfamiliar printed words (decoding) and the speedy recognition of familiar printed words. Writing involves transcription (spelling and handwriting) and composition (articulating ideas and structuring them in speech, before writing).

MATHEMATICS

The Power Maths approach

Everyone can!

 Founded on the conviction that every child can achieve, Power Maths enables children to build number fluency, confidence and understanding, step by step

Child-centred learning

Children master concepts one step at a time in lessons that embrace a concrete-pictorial-abstract (C-P-A) approach, avoid overload, build on prior earning and help them see patterns and connections. Same-day intervention ensures sustained progress.

Whole-class teaching

An interactive, whole class teaching model encourages thinking and precise mathematical language and allows children to deepen their understanding as far as they can.

UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD

Understanding the world involves guiding children to make sense of their physical world and their community. The frequency and range of children’s personal experiences increases their knowledge and sense of the world around them – from visiting parks, libraries and museums to meeting important members of society such as police officers, nurses and firefighters.

Listening to a broad selection of stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems will foster their understanding of our culturally, socially, technologically and ecologically diverse world. As well as building important knowledge, this extends their familiarity with words that support understanding across domains. Enriching and widening children’s vocabulary will support later reading comprehension.

EXPRESSIVE ART AND DESIGN

The development of children’s artistic and cultural awareness supports their imagination and creativity. It is important that children have regular opportunities to engage with the arts, enabling them to explore and play with a wide range of media and materials. The quality and variety of what children see, hear and participate in is crucial for developing their understanding, self-expression, vocabulary and ability to communicate through the arts. The frequency, repetition and depth of their experiences are fundamental to their progress in interpreting and appreciating what they hear, respond to and observe.

Class email address for parents to use if you need to contact Mrs Serban directly about your child's learning Reception@stteresas.herts.sch..uk

All other communication should be directed to the school office admin@stteresas.herts.sch.uk