Reception 2024 - 2025
With Miss Vaughan, Mrs Bristow, Miss Griffiths and Mrs Williams .
A big, warm welcome to all of our new and existing children and families. We are delighted that your child will be starting full time school with us and we hope that you find this page useful. Over the next few weeks we will support your child in developing their personal, social and emotional development along with well being and behaviour and learning expectations, in order to ensure maximum progress can be made across all areas of learning. Here at Highfield, our aim is to make sure that you are included in your child's education, every step of the way, and we put your child at the heart of everything we do. We really look forward to working with yourselves and your children as they begin their exciting learning journey at 'big school!'
From September 2021 a new framework has been introduced into Early Years. To find out more about this framework and how we use it to create our curriculum and assess how the children make progress, please see the files below named 'New EYFS framwork- Guide for families' and 'EYFS Areas of Learning.'
At Highfield we have an over arching theme, each term, which runs through the whole of the school. This term it is ‘Wildlife Connections: Conservation in Action’. In Reception, we explore each theme through a 'Narrative Immersion Curriculum'. Each term the story box gifts us a new text. As we enter story world we learn how the plot of the story unfolds and we get to know each character well, often helping the different characters to overcome problems along the way! This term we will be reading the book 'Lost and Found' by Oliver Jeffers. Through this story we will explore the themes 'belonging and friendship,' 'helping others' and 'problem solving'.
Together we will meet a sad, lonely penguin who appears at the door of a young boy. The boy decides he must be lost, so he sets off to find his home. Can we help the penguin to find where he belongs? Maybe we can ask the Lost and Found Office, some birds, or even a rubber duck to help us? We will learn that penguins are from the South Pole, and working together we will problem solve to help him get back there. Off we will set out across the sea, rowing through bad weather and good, but when we reach the South Pole, I wonder what we will discover? Will we discover that sometimes what you're looking for is right in front of you all along...
If you do not have a copy of this book at home then click the link to listen to a copy of the story here: Lost and Found By Oliver Jeffers I Read Aloud (youtube.com)
The planning for this narrative can be found below in the 'files to download' section.
Reading and fostering a love of books is an integral part of the Early Years Foundation Stage. Your child will bring home two books a week. One book will be a library book which is to be shared between yourself and your child. The other book will be from our reading scheme 'Big Cat Collins.' It is expected that your child reads this book to you. As your child's phonics skills and knowledge progress, they will be able to 'wow' you with their early reading skills. Books will be sent home on a Friday and should be returned to school the following Friday.
Here at Highfield, we use an online learning journal called 'Tapestry' to record your child's learning. This will allow you to see any observations, pictures and videos that we have made of your child in the learning environment. It is used as a communication tool between school and home and so we very much encourage you to add your own observations to your child's learning journal as much as you can. We absolutely love to see what your child has been learning at home. We have added a guide to the files below named 'How-to guide for creating observations' which tells you step-by-step what to include in your observations.
Things to note:
PE is on a Tuesday. On this day, please send your child dressed in their PE kit to school.
School book bags should be in school each day.
Reading books are handed out on a Friday and changed the following Friday.
Some useful websites:
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/Search.aspx?Subject=37
https://new.phonicsplay.co.uk/resources
http://www.crickweb.co.uk/Early-Years.html
https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/shows/numberblocks
https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=cosmic+yoga
https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/school-radio/nursery-rhymes-songs-index/zhwdgwx
https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/grownups/help-your-child-with-maths