Welcome to our Reception Class!
Our teaching team in Reception look forward to welcoming our children on their learning journey at Mary Exton Primary School. Mrs Hay is the class teacher supported by Miss Brown and Miss Andresen.
You can contact our team on YearR@maryexton.herts.sch.uk
In Reception, we all work with our families to get to know your children as individuals and help them settle into school life at Mary Exton. We have a nurturing, caring ethos helping your children to thrive in our setting. We follow the school values of 'inspirational, creative, caring' to grow life-long learners.
We use the EYFS framework to plan carefully for our environment and ensure progression in skills. Our curriculum is built around the children’s interests, so do let us know if there is anything in particular that your child enjoys! The children will develop these skills through adult-led sessions, as well as using the continuous provision inside and outside during 'play and learn' time. The children have an hour of uninterrupted learning in the "play and learn" environment every morning and afternoon.
Please see below for our curriculum maps. These documents outline the learning that will take place in each subject across each area of learning. These doucuments are sent out at the beginning of each term.
PhonicsWe use the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds scheme at Mary Exton. You can find out more information on their website here: https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/Children have daily phonics lessons and guided reading sessions three times a week. The book they are reading then comes home so they can share it with you too!Literacy
Drawing club allows the development of children's creativity and imagination to show them that they are extraordinary.This also then builds onto a Talk for Writing approach, learning favourite stories together as a whole class, building a story map with actions and symbols to help us. Children then explore, adding their own ideas to stories by introducing characters and settings. Children are also encouraged to express their ideas and explore a range of non-fiction and poetry.
Reading
Even before a child can read, it is important to share books. The website 'School Reading List' has compiled a great starting list of books to share with your young learner. You can find the link for the Reception page here.
MathsAs a school, we use Herts for Learning's Essential Maths which ensures small step progression in the learning sequence, working towards the Early Learning Goals. Maths learning is very practical and we use a wide range of resouces and models to help children secure their understanding of the value of a number, and subitise to see amounts quickly. We learn to manipulate numbers up to ten. Building the language of maths is vital.In Reception, we also have weekly adult-led sessions to cover the other areas of the curriculum as well as opportunities to explore these in the environment. We carry out our learning both inside and outside the classroom and get to explore and investigate the resources that have been introduced into our learning environment.
Supporting your child at homeYour child has a library book that is changed weekly. This is for an adult, older sibling etc to share with them and encourage discussions about the book and a love of reading.Your child will take home their phonics book at the end of the week and bring it back on Mondays. Please read this as many times as you can with them and record in their Reading Record.Each week, your child will bring home a sheet showing what they have been learning in phonics. It will include new sounds and how to say them as well as words to read with the new sound in. Tricky words are also included to practise recognising by sight.Counting, singing, cooking, weighing, measuring, etc are all wonderful activities to enjoy with your child and help them hugely with their development. You can also practice their independence with dressing, zips, buttons and shoes to support them.Half termly home learning grids give a range of activities to do with your child at home should you wish. They are linked to learning we will be doing at school and should be fun, practical things for you to enjoy together. Any home learning can be added onto Tapestry.TapestryWe use the online platform Tapestry to record your child's learning and progress at school. This will include their play as well as teacher-led sessions. You are able to see this and share it with your child at home as well as make comments. We would love you to include their learning and experiences at home as well, whether it's a milestone they've achieved, a club they attend or a special event.UniformReception uniform has been designed to enable your child to play, unrestricted, in our environment. As well as the blue polo shirt and school jumper or cardigan, they should wear black joggers and black velcro trainers every day. Trainers are better than open school shoes with exposed socks. We ask them to have wellies for playing in rain or mud, but trainers are best for playing, running, climbing, riding bikes etc. They do not need to get changed for PE lessons as this uniform will also be suitable.Your child needs a spare set of clothes at school and a water bottle every day.Please can everything be named!
