Dear Parents and Carers,

A very warm welcome to all our new Reception families! We are absolutely delighted that you are joining our school family and are so excited to welcome your wonderful children into our care.

Starting school is such a special milestone, and we understand how important it is that your child feels safe, happy, and secure from the very beginning. Our dedicated team is here to ensure that every child feels nurtured, valued, and supported as they take their first steps on this exciting learning journey.

This half term, our key focus is to settle your children confidently into their new environment, help them to build strong relationships with their teachers, and to help them make lots of new friends. We are committed to creating a warm, caring learning environment  where each child is valued as an individual and can thrive and grow.

We also want you to know that we are here for you, too. We believe in working closely with families and building strong partnerships—together, we can give your children the very best start to their school life.

We look forward to getting to know you all and to sharing a happy and successful year ahead.

With our very best wishes,

The Reception team

Dear parents/carers,
We hope that you have all had a lovely weekend. We are very much looking forward to welcoming your children into school full-time this week.
Please see below for an overview of our weekly learning. Every two weeks, we will send home photos of your child's writing and maths learning in school, with simple next steps for them to practise with you at home. This will ensure that you are continually updated about the progress your child is making. 
Please could you 'like' this message so that we know you have seen it? 

An overview of your children's learning - week beginning 15.9.25

My learning this week
Writing
This week we will share the story 'Pancake, Pancake' by Eric Carle. We will discuss the key events in the story and will talk about our favourite breakfasts. Then we will practise writing our new phonics sounds - m,a,s, and draw a picture of a delicious pancake!
Vocabulary to practise using at home
Pancakes, recipe, ingredients, mix, stir, cook

Phonics
In phonics we will be learning the new letter sounds d, t, i. We will practise saying and writing the sounds, sounding out words with these sounds in, making words with the sounds we know with magnetic letters and having a go at writing words too. Please continue to practise saying the sounds and writing the letters at home too.

Maths
In maths we will match pictures and objects and identify a set. We will also count, order and find a total. We will read the book Seaweed Soup by Stuart J Murphy and watch Numberblocks episodes 'Series One-Three' and 'Series One-One, Two, Three' to support our learning. We will play memory games such as 'pairs' and sort and order objects as we play e.g. setting the table in the role-play area.

Continuous and enhanced provision
Continuous provision means that children always have access to carefully planned areas and resources that support learning through play, throughout the whole day. For example, in the role-play area, children act out real-life experiences, building language and social skills. In the construction area, they explore shapes, problem-solving, and teamwork while building and creating. These spaces are always available and help foster independence, curiosity, and a lifelong love of learning. Alongside this, we regularly enhance this provision; new resources or challenges linked to current learning themes are added to keep the children engaged, curious, and to ensure progress. This week we will enhance our provision with resources linked to our current project 'Let's Explore' and to our new book 'Pancake, Pancake.' 

We are going to have lots of fun this week! 😊

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

School start and finish times:

Children should arrive at school between 8.30 and 8.40am

School finishes at 3.05 pm for children with surnames beginning with A-M and at 3.10pm for children with surnames beginning N-Z

Any concerns

Please use Tapestry to let us know about any concerns or questions you might have; however small they might seem; we are always here to support you. If you need to speak to us, then please either catch us at the end of the school day or contact the school office - 783876 - and we will either take your call or ring you back as soon as we are able to.

Meet the Reception Team

Mrs Llewellyn - Deputy Head, Early Years Lead, Class teacher 

Mrs Mitchell - Class Teacher

Mrs Wait - Class Teacher 

Mrs Williams - Teaching Assistant

Miss Caroline- Teaching Assistant

Mrs Quinn- Teaching Assistant

Mrs Mc.Grath - Lunchtime Assistant

Miss Evans- Lunchtime Assistant

Jigsaw (Personal, social, health, and emotional education) 

This half term, the Jigsaw puzzle piece is 'Being me in my World'. In Reception the children will learn about-

• Self-identity
• Understanding feelings
• Being in a classroom
• Being gentle
• Rights and responsibilities

CHICKERELL PRIMARY ACADEMY EARLY YEARS FOUNDATION STAGE

OUR PHILOSOPHY 

At Chickerell Primary Academy and Chickadees, our teaching staff and Early Years Practitioners deliver an EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage) curriculum through high quality teaching and through interacting with children in ways which facilitate their learning, alongside an engaging and enriched environment. Our philosophy is to nurture every child’s curiosity and enthusiasm for learning within a safe and secure environment. We aim to develop their skills and confidence so that they are ready to take those important next steps towards a lifetime of learning.  

INTENT 

The intent for our children is to enter the next stage of their education, Year 1, with a secure foundation in learning and well-prepared to tackle new challenges with confidence and a positive mind-set. 

We engage our pupils in a stimulating environment led by the children yet carefully organised and managed by adults. We provide a text-based curriculum which is progressive and builds on children’s prior knowledge. It is an ambitious, challenging and inclusive curriculum which is responsive to children’s individual needs, fascinations and interests. We encourage our children to take the lead in their own learning, this helps to develop their confidence, to explore new ideas, to solve problems, to take risks, to make links and to seek challenge; we aim to foster their personal development from the very start. We develop children’s language and communication skills in a range of ways and we introduce and use new vocabulary with them to further develop their speaking skills. We develop high levels of engagement, curiosity, collaboration and cooperation. We encourage our children to manage their own behaviour in the classroom and in social situations. We encourage our children to express themselves with confidence in a meaningful way and to respect the opinions and values of themselves and others. 

IMPLEMENTATION 

Our approach is influenced by the work of educationalists, researchers, psychologists and practitioners who have guided our knowledge of how young children learn and how adults can support their learning.  At Chickerell Primary Academy and Chickadees, provision is underpinned by a complementary relationship between adult-led, adult-initiated and child-led learning, alongside high-quality adult-child interactions. We use a continuous cycle of observation and assessment, which informs our planning and teaching, alongside structured and systematic lessons and guided group work. In addition, summative assessments are carried out for phonic development, the stable order principle in number and an assessment of each child’s stage of development for each of the seven areas of learning. These take place every half term and are used to inform the planning of subsequent teaching and learning.

*Please refer to our curriculum overviews for Chickadees and Reception. These will show you how our curriculum progresses across the Early Years Foundation Stage, building on prior knowledge in a sequential way and using the Read, Write Inc. phonics scheme, the White Rose Maths scheme and Cornerstones to support the progression of key skills and knowledge. 

IMPACT  

The impact of our EYFS curriculum is reflected in having well-rounded, happy and confident children transitioning into Year 1. Our children enter Key Stage 1 well-prepared to begin the next chapter of their educational learning journey. They are equipped with a broad range of knowledge and skills that provide them with the right foundations for their future learning.  Our children make very good progress from their starting points; the vast majority of our children make better than expected progress with us and achieve outcomes that are at least in line with national data. Our teaching and pedagogy are reviewed and evaluated regularly through EYFS team meetings, through meeting regularly with EYFS colleagues from other schools and through meetings with Key Stage 1 staff.  We ensure that the areas we discuss and develop are reflected in changes and developments in our classroom practice. 

The Early Years provision is highly valued by school leaders, it features in all areas of our school development planning.

PLEASE READ OUR EYFS POLICY TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT HOW OUR CHILDREN LEARN AT CHICKADEES AND IN RECEPTION. TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT CHICKADEES, PLEASE TAKE A LOOK AT THE 'CHICKADEES PRE-SCHOOL AND CHATTICHICKS WRAP-AROUND CARE' PAGE. 

Our EYFS curriculum

Our EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage) curriculum for both Chickadees and Reception has been guided by the EYFS Framework, Development Matters and early years pedagogy, whilst being personal to our school; it embraces the contextual learning and the cultural capital that comes from our community and our children’s home lives. It has been designed to engage and enthuse the young minds of our children, through carefully planned, play-based learning experiences. Our curriculum is rich and well-sequenced; it ensures that the skills our children require for the next stage in their education progress throughout the EYFS, so that they are ready for school after Chickadees and for Year 1 after their reception year. In reception, there is a key focus on transition to Year 1 which continually evolves throughout the year. For example, whilst teaching the children about the past and the present (Understanding the World), we will introduce the concept of a timeline and introduce some historical vocabulary such as – new, old, ago, past, order, time. In this way we teach children the foundational knowledge, and develop concepts and vocabulary, that prepare our children for their history lessons in year 1.  

Developing a good pencil grip

We continually focus on helping your child to develop an effective pencil grip; this helps them to form their letters correctly when they are writing.

Suggested Activities to help develop your child's fine motor skills, which will help them to grip their pencil and form their letters correctly.

Activities;

1. threading - beads, pasta etc.
2. tearing paper to paste onto a large picture 
3. making snips in paper using scissors and then extend to cutting in a straight line
4. making papier mache
5. using play dough to create different shapes
6. making marks in playdough using small tools
7. grating vegetables or fruit 
8. playing musical games involving fine hand control (‘open, shut them’ etc.)
9. using finger puppets to tell a story or join in a play
10. drawing faces onto fingertips then making the faces ‘kiss’
11. finding hidden small items in a bucket of rice or beans
12. hanging washing onto a clothesline - you could make one at child-height