It’s been another busy week with so much happening, but above all, the children continue to amaze us with their enthusiasm for learning and their drive for taking on new challenges and growing their brains!

We had another wonderful stay and play session on Wednesday and the children were so excited to show their grown ups around the classroom.
We hope these sessions have given you the opportunity to see what your child has been doing so far this year and how they have made the classroom environment their own. The Reception team continue to be blown away by the children and the progress they are making, thank you so much for all of your support at home, it really is a big team effort and we couldn’t do it without your continued support!

We have also begun practicing our Nativity - you might have heard some of the songs already! - ready for our performances on the 7th and 8th of December. We will soon be sending some lines home and would be grateful if you could practise these at home too.

Stuart Robinson MBE

On Wednesday, we were incredibly lucky to have a visit from Stuart Robinson MBE who won Gold at the Tokyo Paralympics in 2020.
Each class took part in a exercise circuit led by Stuart, then watched and cheered on another year when it was their turn. Reception designed some motivational banners and signs using our school characters to cheer on Year 1 when it was their turn - we think you’ll be so impressed with their writing, we certainly were!

Reception were incredibly focused and determined during their exercise circuit and listened intently during Stuart’s assembly in which he shared his inspirational story. He spoke about wheelchair rugby and got some of the children and teachers up to demonstrate passing drills.

It was such an inspirational day, thank you Stuart.

What have we been learning this week…

Phonics: This week, as well as reviewing all of our previously learnt sounds, we have introduced the sounds y, w, th and z. We have focused on the sound that the letter makes, writing the letter using the correct formation and suggesting / reading words with this initial sound. We have also been doing lots of Fred Talk so we can hear the sounds within words (e.g. h-a-t = hat).

Literacy: We have finished our story map for The Enormous Turnip. The children have had so much fun learning and acting out this story. They have understood and remembered the key events in the story really well and can follow the story map to re-tell the story in detail.

RE: We began our new topic ‘Gods Family’. We thought about how God made all of the people in the world to be a part of his special family. We thought about our own families and what the people in our families do for each other; how do we show that we care and look after our families. We then thought about how we are also a whole school family and a Reception school family. We know that we are special to our families and to God.

Let’s Celebrate!

Focused Cooper Crab: Heidi
Heidi, you have been a focused Cooper Crab with your reading this week. We can see how much you have listened during our phonics lessons and that you are applying this to your reading. You are thinking about the sounds and blending these carefully to read the words.
Well done Heidi, keep up this fantastic focus!

Enthusiastic Bobby Bee: Daniel
Daniel, your enthusiasm for Phonics and writing has been inspiring this week. You are always so eager to practise writing our new sounds and we have loved seeing your face light up with pride when you share your achievements! You are so enthusiastic about your writing and you created such a motivating poster this week for our sports activity. Keep up this wonderful enthusiasm and you will continue to soar!
Well done Daniel!

Important Notices & Polite Reminders:

Easy open water bottles - The children are reminded regularly to drink plenty of water throughout the day. In order for them to be able access to their water independently, it would be useful for them to have a bottle with an easy open top such as a lift up straw top. The screw top bottles can be tricky for them to open and have caused a few spillages and soggy bottoms on the carpet! Easy open lids mean they can access their water independently, whenever they are feeling thirsty. Thank you for your understanding.

Reading Books - Polite reminder that reading packets and books must be brought to school each day so we can read with the children in school. Thank you for your support with reading at home, it is really important that they have regular opportunities to read and build on these skills.
School Bags - Now that we need extra layers and winter coats, our cloakroom area is beginning to get quite full! Please could you only send in one school bag, ideally this should be the blue school bags as these fit in the trays leaving space on the pegs for coats etc. If keyrings on bags could be limited to one, it is easier for them to fit in trays. Independence is a huge part of Reception and having fewer items makes things much easier for them to be independent; thank you for your understanding and support.

As always, if you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact via email - s.hartley@ourladystarofthesea.lancs.sch.uk

Have a wonderful weekend,
God bless,

The Reception Team