Welcome to Reception Class!

We hope that you and your child will soon settle in and feel happy and confident in being part of our school. We understand that school can be an overwhelming place for a new Reception child, so this page of our website will hopefully give you as much information as you need to help your child settle in and feel comfortable. 

Please make sure your child always has a coat as we go outside in most weathers. 

We have P.E on Wednesday afternoons. Weather depending, we may use our hall inside or our outside playground/field, so please make sure your child has full P.E kit in their PE bag to keep on their peg. Children should arrive to school on Wednesdays dressed in their school uniform, and will get changed for PE in school. This promotes independence when dressing which is a key life skill, as well as an extra opportunity to develop their fine motor skills through the practice of using buttons/ zips and laces etc.  PE kits will be sent home at the end of each half term, when dirty or more regularly upon request.

Library time is on Friday morning and this is when children will have a chance to change their library book. Please ensure that your child has their library book with them in order to change their book. 

Please make sure your child has their book bag everyday in school containing their library book, reading book and reading record as we will be reading with the children every week after October half term. We will write in reading records once we have read with the children and we encourage you to do the same at home so that both you and we can see how often children are reading, when books are being changed and how well your children are doing. 

Please do not hesitate to contact a member of staff on the gate, or through the school office if you have any worries or concerns. 

School Readiness:

In Reception Class we encourage children to be as independent as they possibly can, developing an array of skills throughout the year. In order to give your child the best possible start from September we encourage parents to think about how to prepare their child ready for school.                                                  

At Renhold, we consider school readiness to be:

• Can use the toilet independently.                                                                                                                                   
• Can recognise their own name.
• Able to eat independently (ideally using a knife and fork).                                                                                             
• Can write the initial sound of their name, if not their whole name.
• Can dress themselves as independently as possible, e.g putting on coats, shoes and socks etc. 

Links to Ready to Learn leaflets are available on our parents page for extra support if needed or additional can be found on our Pre-school class page. 

In phonics, we use the Read Write Inc scheme. The children get used to the Read Write Inc style of learning phonics very quickly and each sound is taught in a similar way. The children follow a series of activities within each session which helps them to embed their learning and recap previously learnt sounds. They particularly enjoy the fun ways of praising each other and themselves; it really does bring their learning of reading to life and brings smiles to everyone's faces. Fred the frog also makes regular appearances throughout phonics sessions and we use him to help break down words in their sounds. As Fred can only speak in 'Fred talk' and not in words, the children use Fred to help segment words into their individual sounds before blending them back together to form words. Please note that children learn all sounds from Sound Sets 1 and 2 whilst in Reception. They move on to learning alternative sounds from Sound Set 3 in Year 1. 

In Reception, children are expected to be able to read and spell to first 45 High Frequency Words by the end of the Reception year. If children are able to master these confidently, we are then able to move them on to other words from within the first 100 HFWs. 

In number work we use White Rose. This is a learning scheme designed to reinforce the learning of maths skills through physical tasks, including skills such as addition, subtraction, shape, pattern and measure as well as developing a higher level of thinking through early reasoning skills. 

Twice a half term we share a learning leaflet, designed to inform parents and carers of the learning that is going to be happening throughout the half term, and then a round up and celebration of the achievements that have been made over the weeks. This way you can talk to them about their time at school.  Each child has their own ‘Learning Journal’.  This is for everyone to share their achievements while in Reception.  We all add to this- the children, you and the teachers.  It shows the levels your child is working at in relation to the Early Years Foundation Stage and has examples of their activities and achievements.  We share this with you every half term.  We will have a time for you to come in and share this with your child or you may take it home to share with other  members of your family.

We are always talking about our Golden Rules in Reception class. 

When we follow the Golden Rules we get to go on the rainbow, pot of gold or unicorn. You can also go onto the rainbow for trying really hard with your work, doing something amazing or impressing one of the adults. If we need to think about the rules we go to the thinking cloud, where if we make good choices can go back to the sunshine. However, if we don't make a good choice in our behaviour we have to go to the sad cloud. If we are on the sad cloud, we lose five minutes of our choosing time before returning to the sunshine to have a fresh start. 

We have two awards given out each week to children who have followed the Golden Rules and impressed the adults; they are 'The Gold Box' and 'Poppy the Bear'. The Gold Box goes home to be filled with things that are special to the person who's turn it is. This can be wrappers from their favourite foods, pictures of family and friends or toys. Poppy the Bear also goes home for the weekend with the chosen child. She comes in a backpack with a diary for you to fill in with entries all about the weekend. Some children like to stick photos into the diary too, which is a great way to bring it to life. The children get to talk to the class about both the Gold Box and Poppy on their return to school on Monday; it is a great way for them to share and practise their speaking skills. 

Five to Thrive

Five to Thrive is an attachment-based approach to support positive parenting. It's aim is to support parents to be able to 'tune in' to their children and share nurturing experiences together in the comfort of your own home.
 
The Five to Thrive approach has 5 "building blocks" that count equally towards parenting a healthy brain: Respond, Cuddle, Relax, Play and Talk and we have adopted this strategy both in Year R and in Pre-school. 

We have a series of 'block bags' that link to each of the 5 stages. Each bag is filled with age appropriate activities and resources to explore each building block with your child at home. 
Parents can sign these bags out to take home for a week at a time on a first come, first served basis. 

If you are interested in getting involved with the Five To Thrive strategy, please get in touch and we will begin to sign out the bags for your use :-)

5 to Thrive - COVID 19 Adaptions 

In order to continue the use of our 5 To Thrive scheme, we have made some adaptions to ensure the safe delivery of the activities designed to support and encourage the 5 building blocks of connection and attachment. 

Where we can no longer send home physical resources to help develop each block, we have put together a virtual/ online pack which provides online resources, ideas and stories which can be used at home between child and parent. 

50 things has just launched in Bedfordshire. 
It helps parents develop their home learning environment so that far more children thrive by the age of five. As a result, more children develop the skills, language and resilience needed in school and beyond. 

The initiative is based on the simple notion that access to life-changing, fun, low or no-cost experiences with your family, indoors and outdoors, is a great way to support young children’s development.

The app is free to download and gives you a range of low or no cost activities to get involved in across our local area. You can download it from the app store, or scan the QR code above! 

It's perfect for the summer holidays!! 

You can find out more on the Facebook page
 https://www.facebook.com/50TTDBedfordshire