Welcome to Reception. Your class teacher is Mrs O’Brien. Mrs Metcalfe, Miss Lloyd and Mrs Norman are your teaching assistants. Your midday supervisors are Mrs Mehan and Mrs Metcalfe.
Starting full time school in Reception can be a big change, but we try hard to make the transition as smooth as possible. In the autumn term we work with the support and guidance of an adult and we focus on developing the core areas of communication and language, physical development and personal and social education. This will be through topics children are familiar with, for example ‘family’ and ‘people who help us’.
As children get older and are more used to the routines of the day, we introduce more whole class and small group literacy and maths activities alongside topic activities. However, it is still very important that the children have time each morning and afternoon for self-initiated activities in which to play and practice their skills and to follow their own interests.
Throughout the year we maintain electronic Learning Journals for each child in which we record their achievements and interests in the form of photos, observational notes and examples of work. These Learning Journals then help us to make assessments against the Early Learning Goals at the end of the Reception year. Parents have access to these via an online app and can add their own comments and observations.
Topics vary during the year, according to the children’s interests, however we tend to cover seasonal changes and celebrations every year such as autumn, Fireworks night, Diwali, Christmas, winter, spring, Easter etc.
There’s lots to learn during Reception, but we have fun doing it!
Learn how to pronounce all 44 phonics sounds, or phonemes, used in the English language with these helpful examples, from Oxford Owl.
RECEPTION CLASS 2025-2026
15/12/25 - LI: To write a caption. Reception are beginning to write captions in phonics using phase 2 and a few phase 3 phonics.
10/12/25 - LI: To learn about the Jewish celebration of Hanukkah. The children learned all about the food, games and activities that are part of the Hanukkah celebrations. They made cards, Menorahs and pictures.
3/12/25 - LI: To make gingerbread people. Linked to our story, The Gingerbread Man, we made our own gingerbread people biscuits. We mixed the ingredients, rolled the dough and used a shape cutter. We talked about what would happen to the biscuits once they went into the oven and we observed the changes.
27/11/25 - LI: To write a letter. We have been reading The Jolly Postman and we wrote letters to our families. We then walked to our local post box to post them. We also had a visit from Debbie, who worked at the Royal Mail, and she told us all about how our letters get from the post box to their houses.
20/11/25 - LI: To explore freezing and melting. The children were thrilled at the amount of ice we had in Reception playground this morning. We had a lot of discussion around what ice is. Robert said "it's solid water" and Thomas said "the snow freezes the water then it melts".
13/11/25 - LI: To build / write CVC words. The children are loving learning Monster Phonics and enjoy challenging themselves. This week, we have been building and writing words.
3/11/25 - LI: To find 4 and 5. This week our focus is the numbers 4 and 5. Today the children sorted cards and objects representing 4 and 5 into the correct piles.
22/10/25 - LI: To move in different ways. Reception class had a visit from Luke at Stevenage Sporting Futures today. He delivered a session called 'Wild About Nature' where the children stepped into the wild to become little explorers. Through a fun an imaginative PE adventure, the children moved like animals (sprint like cheetahs, leap like frogs, crawl like bears), joined in a journey through the forest, rivers, and meadows, worked in “Nature Teams” to complete simple movement games and learned how to be strong, fast, and calm – just like the animals around us.
13.10.25 - LI: To understand our feelings. For 'Hello Yellow' we introduced the children to the Zones of Regulation. We reflected on different feelings and why we have them. We looked at what we can do to help us when we feel a certain way.
9.10.25 - LI: To understand the jobs that people do to help us. We were lucky enough to have a visit from a PCSO and a train driver to talk to us this week about their jobs. The children had lots of questions!
2.10.25 - LI: To create AB patterns. We have been exploring pattern in Maths and today we created our own AB patterns using a variety of resources. Some children challenged themselves to an ABC pattern and even a recurring pattern.
26.9.25 - LI: To talk about our family. This term our topic is 'All About Us' and the children have loved sharing all about their families. We are learning about how different families can be and also similarities within others.
19.9.25 - LI: To explore Forest School. The children have enjoyed exploring Forest School. Mrs Hunter taught them all about what we can and can't do in order to keep us safe. They had a wonderful time discovering what they could find.
Reception class have had an incredible first week. They have visited Forest School, took part in a Healthy Eating Workshop, danced with scarves, played on the bikes and climbing frame, went to Mini OPAL, won the lunchtime cup and much, much more. Well done to everyone for such a successful start.
8.7.25 - LI: To describe positions. We have been focussing on positional language and today we drew pictures of our bedrooms, adding detail, then describing where items are. For example, "the teddy is on top of the bed".
3.7.25 - LI: To illustrate the future we want. Today was Arts Morning which we also linked to the environment. We drew pictures of the ocean with clear water and healthy fish as that is what we would like for the future of our oceans.
26.6.25 - Reception class have been making their own version of Dear Zoo. In DT, they created pictures with a flap to list and evaluated their work. In Literacy, they wrote sentences to match to their pictures.
17.6.25 - LI: To explore pattern rules. We have been exploring pattern this week and today we made our own pattern rules using a variety of resources.
9/6/25 - LI: To visit a farm. Reception and Nursery visited Standalone Farm and had wonderful time meeting the animals, playing on the park and going on a coach. We had a picnic in the barn and played on the tractors too.
4.6.25 - LI: To learn all about our school house teams. The children have been learning all about who represents their house teams; Farah, Picasso, Hawking and Rowling. We are now using house points in Reception, ready for Year 1.
8.5.25 - LI: To celebrate VE Day. This week we celebrated 80 years if VE Day by throwing a tea party. We made jam tarts, cheese sandwiches, flowers, flags and bunting and invited our grown ups to come and join us for a party.
28.4.25 - LI: To create a superhero. This week we have used collage resources to create our own superhero
25.4.25 - LI: To notice change. Today at Forest School we walked through to notice signs of change over the Easter holidays. We noticed the bluebells and all the new growth on the trees. We did pond dipping and found tadpoles, snails and bloodworms!
3.4.25 - LI: To perform physical theatre. It was our last dance session with Mr Sapsed today and we performed physical theatre to The Lion King. The children were put in groups and acted out their animal to the music.
24.3.25 - LI: To understand the lifecycle of a bean. We planted beans and we have been watering them and making sure they get enough sunlight. We will continue to observe them over the next few weeks.
18.3.25 - LI: To learn about the story of Easter. This week we began learning about Easter. We thought about what it means to Christians and that their special place to worship would be a church
10.3.25 - LI: To identify signs of Spring. This week in reception we went on a walk around the school grounds looking for signs of Spring.
7/3/25 - Today was World Book Day and we came to school dressed as our favourite book characters. We did lots of creative activities based around our 5 best reads in Reception and used them to decorate our door. Lots of parents and grand parents came in to share books with us.
24/2/25 L.I. To follow instructions.
This week we have been reading the story Mr Wolf’s Pancakes. We have talked about what we would need to make the pancakes and written shopping lists. We then followed the instructions and made our own pancakes which we enjoyed with orange and lemon juice as part of our snack.
29/1/25 - LI: To perform a traditional dragon dance. This week we celebrated the Lunar New Year. The children created a dragon head during CIL and then used material to create a dragon body. They enjoyed dancing to the traditional music and played instruments too.
23/1/25 - This week we had a visit from Stevenage Library. Michelle showed us a lovely variety of books and read to us. We learned all about how to join the library, borrow books and all the wonderful sessions and events that are free at our local library.
14/1/25 - LI: To act out a story. This term, Reception are doing Helicopter Stories. Today the focus was 'The Three Little Pigs' and the children acted out the story with the children choosing what or who they'd like to be. That could be a tree, a pig or the wind!
8/1/25 - LI: To develop skills in rolling and tracking a ball. This term, our focus in PE is ball skills. Today the children worked on using their bodies to bend and move in order to control the ball, using their fingers. They also worked on rolling the ball and receiving it to a target.
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