What have we been up to this week?
Maths
This week, we’ve been learning all about repeating patterns. We’ve been noticing patterns everywhere. The children even pointed out my patterned dress on Tuesday! Each day, the children were asked to make a repeating pattern using different objects/resources. They were fantastic at talking about their patterns and spotting mistakes – oops!
Phonics
This week, our daily phonics sessions have been a mixture of phase 1 activities. Phase 1 focuses on listening to different sounds and oral segmenting* and blending* skills. We went on a listening walk, made rhyming silly soups, and played I spy. Next week, we will begin phase 2. By the end of next week, the children will know the first three sounds: s, a, t.
PE
The children loved their first PE session! Mrs. Palmer will be teaching PE every Wednesday morning. The children had lots of fun travelling around the hall like animals. Mrs Palmer was very impressed with their amazing listening skills – well done Reception! Even though we only do one PE session a week, in early years we make sure we stay active throughout the week.
Snacks and Water…
Please make sure your child’s water bottle only contains plain water.
Every day, we provide a healthy fruit or vegetable at snacktime. If your child would prefer to bring their own snack, please ensure this contains only fruit and/or vegetables. Snacks from home will stay in the children’s bookbags until snack time at 10 am.
If your child is having grapes for their snack, please ensure that the grapes are cut lengthways.
Chilli challenges
The children have been introduced to the chilli challenges. Each week, there will be six green chilli challenges in different areas. The children will be encouraged to complete the challenges and tick them off on their chilli challenge card (see below). There will also be some red chilli challenges. These challenges are to extend their learning further.
Home-Link Challenge
*Segmenting – breaking down a word into individual sounds.
Blending – combining all the sounds to read a word.
Early Reading
The session will start at 6 pm and last around 20-25 minutes, plus there will be a question and answer session at the end of around 5-10 minutes.
The link to this zoom session will be emailed to all parents and carers by Monday 27th September. If you do not receive a link and would like to attend please contact the school office.
This week’s bible story
Zacchaeus is friends with Jesus: Luke 19: 1-10
In today’s story, we hear about a man called Zacchaeus. He had always been a loner. He had never had as much as one friend. Not surprising, really. He had lived most of his life as a cheat. It was easy. Just demand more money. That was the beauty of his job as a tax collector. People were a bit afraid of tax collectors. You would not want to get on the wrong side of a tax collector, especially one like Zacchaeus.
He was a small man, was Zacchaeus. Perhaps he was bullied or laughed at. Sometimes people get picked on by others – the tall ones, perhaps, or the short ones, or ones with straight hair, or ones with curly hair, or ones with the wrong clothes. People are certainly not born cheats.
Or perhaps Zacchaeus just thought that money could bring him happiness, or friends. Or maybe he was just a rogue!
One day Zacchaeus was out and about in the streets of Jericho. He heard people talking about Jesus. All excited, they were, that Jesus was going to be passing through their town that day. Read the story to find out what happened to Zacchaeus.
Reflection:
Zacchaeus was a man with a hard heart and no friends. We don’t know why, but Jesus cared for Zacchaeus. Jesus also believed that Zacchaeus had some good in him, if only he could be persuaded to change his ways. Zacchaeus mattered to Jesus, and Jesus’ friendship was able to change how Zacchaeus acted. Think about yourself and your friends. Are there any ways in which you can treat people that might help them to become friends?
Prayer
Dear God,
Thank you that you know us and that you care for us.
Help us to be kind and generous to other people,
like Zacchaeus after he met Jesus.
Amen.
Transition: Week 2
This week, we welcomed groups 2 and 3. It has been lovely to see the classroom full of busy children doing lots of fantastic learning.
Click here to see what groups 2 and 3 got up to this week.
On Thursday, we had a circle time session. We read the story All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold. We talked about the book’s key message. No matter what we look like, we all have a place in our school. The children were asked to work with a partner to spot things that were the same and things that were different.
Miss Marsden introduced the class bear to the children. They were asked to think of some names for the bear – we had a variety of names! We wrote their suggestions on the whiteboard and the children voted for their favourite. We counted the votes and Sparkle Shots won!
Isolation work
Next week, we will start emailing isolation work to your personal email addresses. Your child only needs to do this work if they are self-isolating.
PE
PE starts next Wednesday. Please make sure your child comes to school in their PE kit.
Parent Partners
This half-term, we’ll be learning about different families, where we live, and autumn changes. Alongside the main themes, we try to plan other areas of learning according to the children’s interests. To help us with this, Parent Partners are key in this process! Throughout the year, we really encourage that you send photos of any ‘WOW’ moments or new interests your child has at home. You can bring these moments into school or send them to stjameseyfs@speherefederation.org.
Reception Zoom session
Thank you to everyone who has attended our recent Zoom sessions to help you support your child at home. Watch the phonics session and the Early Years introduction. (And apologies for the distracting cursor in the latter – maybe that’s a nervous habit of Mr Roundtree!
Home-Link Challenge
Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA)
The Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA) is statutory for all schools from September 2021.
It is a short, interactive and practical assessment of your child’s early
literacy, communication, language and mathematics skills when they begin
school, using materials that most children of your child’s age will be familiar with.
All Reception children will be participating in the reception baseline assessment (RBA) within the first 6 weeks of starting school.
The purpose of the assessment is to provide the starting point for a new measure that will help parents understand how well schools support their pupils to progress between reception and year 6 / the end of key stage 2.
For further information about the RBA, please see this guide.
Introduction to Reception – Zoom session
We’d like to welcome new Reception parents to our school by inviting you to a short Zoom session on Wednesday 15 September at 6pm. This session will be a 30 minute introduction to Reception at our Sphere Federation schools.
The sessions will outline the recent changes to the EY’s Framework and the introduction of a Reception Baseline Assessment. It’ll also offer you a few top tips on how you can support your child at home.
The session starts at 6pm. It will last around 20-25 minutes, plus there will be a questions and answer session at the end of around 5-10 minutes.
If you’re interested in attending this Zoom session, please either send us a message on the School Gateway app or email the school office. We’ll then email the Zoom joining details out to all those who have expressed an interest.
Watch out for further workshops relating to both English and Maths on your child’s class website page in the coming weeks.
Transition: Week 1
This week, we welcomed our first group of Reception children. It was lovely to see all of you in your new uniforms! They’ve settled so well and have already started to show us what amazing things they can do! As always, the Reception classroom is a busy learning environment.
Click here to watch what we’ve been up to.
Every morning, we will encourage your child to be independent when doing their daily jobs. The jobs include: hanging up their coat, finding their name, choosing their lunch, and voting for a story. When you drop off your child, a member of staff will always be available for a quick chat.
Things to remember…
- PE will be every Wednesday – your child should come to school in their PE kit. Our first PE session will be on Wednesday 22 September.
- A pair of wellies are essential in Foundation! We go outside to play in all weather!
- Your child will need a labelled water bottle each day. Please ensure the bottle only contains water – no juice, please!
- The school day is 8.50 am – 3.15 pm.
- Don’t forget to encourage independence when your child is getting ready for school!
Don’t forget to attend the Reception Zoom session next Wednesday.
It will provide an overview of some of the key aspects in early years.
We look forward to welcoming group 2 and 3 children next week!
Welcome!
I hope you’ve all had a happy and healthy summer. I’m looking forward to seeing you all and welcoming you into your new classroom.
Below is a list of key points to remember:
- You will wait with your child in the Reception playground until the classroom door opens at 8:50am.
- PE will be every Wednesday. Your child should come to school in PE kit every Wednesday. However, PE will not start straight away. We’ll let you know when we’ll be starting PE.
- The school uniform policy is on our website. Please check if you are unsure about any items of clothing or footwear.
What does my child need?
- A waterproof coat
- A pair of wellies
- A water bottle
- A small bag containing a full change of clothes (including a top, trousers/leggings, underwear and socks)
- A sun hat on sunny days
Please make sure all of the above things are NAMED.
If you have any questions, please ask at the start or end of the day.
See you soon!
Thank you!
I can’t believe it’s the last day of school!
Even though the school year has been a bit of a crazy one, this video highlights what a fantastic year you’ve all had!
I just want to say that I am so proud of all of you and how you’ve persevered with all of your learning both in school and at home.
Thank you to all the F2 children for being such an amazing class! I sure will miss you next year.
I will make sure I pop my head into your new classroom to see how you’re all getting on.
On the other hand, I am excited to welcome back our F1 children and continue their learning journey in Reception.
Have the best summer Foundation!
Our trip to the park
Click here to see how much fun we had at the park!