Reception

Spring Term 2025

We’ve been busy so far this term, we have had a visit from Bernie the Fire engine, and two Stay and Plays!

Literacy

We started off 2025 by looking into space. The children thoroughly enjoyed looking at texts like, ‘Look Up’ by Nathan Byron and ‘Astro Girl’ by Ken Wilson-Max. We made posters to encourage other children to ‘look up’ at the night sky to observe the planets and stars. Following on from this, we looked at transport and different ways of moving. This linked in with our learning in music where we replicated the sounds of cars, boats and trains. 

As the weather is warming up, we are reading texts revolving around the outdoors and growing fruit and vegetables. Over the next coming weeks, the children will have the opportunity to plant their own seeds and watch them grow. 

In phonics, we are consolidating our knowledge of letter sounds and digraphs. We are using this knowledge to read some longer words and short sentences independently. We are then using this learning in our writing, writing short labels, codes and sentences to describe our drawings.

Maths

In Maths we have looked at weight and capacity, enjoying using the sand pit and water tray to consolidate our mathematical understanding and language. We have used words like, ‘heavier, lighter’ to compare objects.

We have also looked at subitising amounts from 6 - 10. Subitising is being able to look at a small set of objects and knowing how many there are without counting.

Understanding of the World

We had a visit from Bernie the Fire Engine who came to talk to Reception about fire safety and even squirted them with its water hose! We have enjoyed some cooler weather too where we have had a few mornings where our water tray froze over! We are looking forward to Guernsey Recycling, The Police and a team from Road Safety visiting us in the next few weeks. We also learnt about Lunar New Year and celebrated by making lanterns and trying some vegetable noodles.

Autumn Term 2024

The children have had a wonderful start to school, exploring the environment and forming relationships with other children and adults. We held our first Language for Literacy event which included a workshop on Mark Making for parents, followed by a ‘stay and play’ session with the children who were incredibly excited to share their environment and learning with their families.

Literacy

We introduced the children to ‘Drawing Club’, where the children developed an immediate love for mark making with special codes to go alongside their drawings. We began with the book ‘Owl Babies’ by Martin Waddell. This was a fantastic text which helped children develop their understanding of family and belonging. The children brought in photographs of their own families to display in the classrooms.

We then moved onto the text ‘Ruby’s Worry’ by Tom Percival, and the children were able to talk about who could help them at home if they felt worried or needed support. The children felt confident at naming someone they could talk to, and we were able to explain the role of adults as Duty Bearers when celebrating Gold Rights Respecting status as a school.

Next, we looked at the book ‘A Superhero Like You’ by Dr Ranj Singh and the children were able to see how people help us in the community. We used non-fiction texts alongside the book to explore the roles of adults such as firefighters, vets, and scientists. The children used this information to make their own non-fiction books, and enjoyed role playing different jobs. 

We ended our half term by celebrating Black History Month and looking at ‘Coming to England’ by Baroness Floella Benjamin. The story is based on the true events of Floella arriving in England from Trinidad as part of the Windrush generation. 

In phonics, we have been learning GPCs and are starting to read some CVC words and short sentences independently. The children are so excited by this and are eager to learn a new GPC each day.

Maths

In Maths we have been exploring matching and sorting amounts into groups. We have been playing lots of matching games to support our learning. Through this, we also explored characteristics of objects and found different ways to sort them. We then looked at following and creating patterns. The children have been spotting patterns in their environments and making up their own, including ones with sound and movement. Next, we are moving on to learning about the composition of the numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4.

Understanding the World 

We have already had two visitors this year, one from Dr Katie, a GP who spoke to us all about going to the doctors and even showed us some of the equipment that they use to diagnose problems. The children spent days afterwards role playing as doctors and nurses in busy hospitals, or as a vet in the role play area. Finally, the children received an exciting visit from the police, where they were able to look inside police vehicles, try on some uniform, and meet some four-legged police officers! 

We have had our first trip out of school - a walk along the nature trail. We enjoyed wearing our wellies and stomping along in the mud, exploring nature as we went. We even finished the trip with a delicious hot chocolate back at school!

Other

Reception have loved their PE time with Mr Sheppard on Thursdays and Fridays. The children have been practising a whole host of new skills, e.g. dodging obstacles when running, cycling, throwing and catching.