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.
Living & Learning – 8Rs for Learning
During our Living & Learning lesson this week, we kicked off our learning about the 8Rs for learning. We recapped what each of the Rs stood for and took time to think of an occasion when we had used one of the Rs.
Jemima, Joe and Siana had some great ideas and showed how great they were at remembering.
Daisy, Harley and Leah could reflect well about a time when they had been resilient.
We wondered if there was one R that was more important than another so we ranked them according to importance. The children were all great at respecting each other’s opinions and had a super discussion about why they may have chosen a different R to be the most important than someone else in the class.
Excellent stuff, Team!
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!
Library visit
We had our first school library visit of the year and have all chosen a book to enjoy. (I’m sure many of you will have already seen them in your child’s bag this afternoon!) A few of us too advantage of our school reflection area to quietly enjoy books with friends. Each week we will have the opportunity to change our books so don’t forget to send them back in on a Friday (not tomorrow though!)
Reading at home
Children will be bringing home a reading book this week. These will be changed once a week to minimise books moving between home and school.
Please return books to be changed on Wednesday. We will quarantine books before putting them back in the system.
The ‘practise phonics’ book (sticker on the front cover) is for children to work on their ‘sounding out’ of words.
Please comment on how your child copes with the books as it may take us a little time to adjust and match books to each child. Year 2s will gradually move away from phonics books and have more freedom to be ‘free readers’ – reading whatever they choose.
Children will also choose a library book each Friday. Please bring your library book back each Friday if your child would like a different one.
Help us help your child by reading anything and everything you can.
THANK YOU!
First days in Year 1/2
The children have come back to school full of enthusiasm and excitement. After a few nerves, we’re all starting to get used to the new routines. We are enjoying reading Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers as it has opened up discussions about our feelings and looking after each other. Ask your child about any new friends they have made or old friends they have enjoyed seeing again.
What a fantastic start to the new school year
It has been an absolute pleasure to begin to get to know the children in Year 3/4. They have come into school with smiles on their faces and ready to learn. The children’s attitudes have been positive and their manners exemplary. I’m really looking forward to getting to know each and every child as time goes on.
Please feel free to speak with Mrs Welsby or myself should you need to. We are around at the start and end of the day.
Class Novel
The Legend of Podkin One-Ear
Today, the class were introduced to their new class novel.
Using just the information given in the blurb, the children used their predicting skills to interpret Podkins appearance. Then we created some quick sketches on our whiteboards.
We are all very excited to find out what happens in the book.
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!
Welcome back!
We are really looking forward to seeing all the children tomorrow and to find out what everyone has been doing over summer. It’s going to be a great year with lots of fun learning planned. Here are a few reminders and points about the year ahead:
- This year in Years 5/6, Mrs Valentine will be teaching the class as well as Miss Beatson and Mr Mills.
- We will be starting the school day at 8.50am again and finishing at 3.15pm.
- Our PE days will be on Tuesdays and Fridays so make sure PE kit is worn to school on these days.
- Please remember water bottles and coats.
- Please remember to name all school uniform.
See you all tomorrow!