Reception Class

Welcome to the Reception Class Page 2024-25! 

Reception | Hollymount School

Hello and welcome to Reception class 2024-2025! 

Thank you for visiting our Reception class page for the Spring Term. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a restful break, and I’m so excited for what’s coming up this term! We’ve got another busy term ahead, please keep reading below to find out what exciting things we’ll be doing…

Some important information: 

In Reception the class teacher is myself, Mrs Aspinall (formerly Miss Lemmings as I got married over the summer holidays!), and my wonderful, dedicated teaching assistant, Miss Begbie. On Thursday afternoons, Miss Begbie will take the class whilst I am out of class, planning our upcoming learning and activities! Miss Begbie will do Art & Design activities with the children and we have some lovely things planned! 

We will now be getting changed at school for P.E. rather than coming to school in P.E. kit on certain days, so your child/ren needs to come into school wearing their school uniform every day. They need to bring their P.E. bag to school every Monday and it will be sent home every Friday for washing. We will then help them to get changed at school for P.E. at our allocated times (currently our slot is on Wednesday and Thursday mornings). 

Each Friday I send home a Reception class newsletter with the news and learning for our class specifically. Please check your child’s bag on a Friday afternoon for this! Mr. Booth also produces a whole school newsletter that gets sent on this day too for wider school information, sent via Teachers2Parents (email system). 

We read 1:1 with every child on a Monday. Their school reading books are in-line with our phonics learning, so will be fully decodable. We will move them onto the next stage (and change their books) based on their progress and when we feel they are ready! Reading books get sent home every Monday, and your child will then have two books for a full week (Monday-Monday) to read and practice. Please sign in their diaries when they read as this gives us an idea of how much practice they have had so that we can support them if needed. Please send your child in with their reading books and reading diary both in their book bag every Monday please. 🙂

I also set Mathletics activities every Monday which you will have a week to complete. Logins for Mathletics are on the inside cover of your child’s reading diary. Please let me know if you have any issues accessing the weekly tasks or logging on.

Every Thursday, we will give each child the opportunity to go to the KS1 library and choose a new book to take home. This book won’t be decodable like their school reading books, but to enjoy as reading for pleasure and to share with their family. Each Thursday they can choose to swap their library book for a new one. Please keep these safe and clean so that others can use them too in future! So make sure their library book is in their bag on a Thursday if you wish to swap it. 

Hopefully you have all got the hang of the “Seesaw” app. I use this app to send announcements to you all with any important information and reminders. I also sometimes use it to send you any news directly about your child through 1:1 messaging. If you have any queries or messages for me however, please can I ask that you contact the school office who will send your questions to me and we will aim to solve any issues or answer any questions as soon as we can. You can contact them by email on office@grimsargh-st-michaels.lancs.sch.uk, or by phone 01772 653600. I will then answer your query as soon as possible. I am also available for a chat before or after school, at the gate or in class, should you wish to discuss any concerns. Please email the office if you wish to book an appointment with me. Thank you 🙂

And just a reminder that only water should be brought in water bottles to school, as this is our school policy. Thank you for your understanding!

Many thanks,

Mrs Aspinall x

Spring Term Learning: 

This term we will be learning:

Maths: subitising and exploring patterns within 5 and greater than 5, one more/one less, verbal counting to 20 and beyond, representing quantities between 5 and 10, ordering numbers, the composition of 5, the composition of numbers between 5 and 10, numbers between 5 and 10 being represented as “5 and a bit”, language of comparison, equal and unequal parts, symmetrical patterns, doubles, odds and evens. 

Phonics:  we will learn Phase 3 sounds, including those more difficult digraphs (2 letters, 1 sound) and trigraphs (3 letters, 1 sound)! We will be learning to blend to read captions and short sentences, as well as decoding and segmenting words to write captions and short sentences. We will try and begin writing more independently by using sound mats and letter formation mats to select the right letter sounds that we need. (Click on this link for a video of me reading the sounds from Phase 2 and 3 for you to practice at home, so you know what they sound like! Please note that we avoid pronouncing letter sounds like “suh” or “nuh”, and say “sss” or “nnn” instead, – this video will show you what I mean!) (new video coming soon!)  https://www.loom.com/share/ed12a56385664a3bba2fdd6ac1ca4d7e)

Literacy:  the core texts that we will use alongside our topic work and for our Literacy learning will be: “The Great Explorer”, “The Blue Penguin”, “One Snowy Night”, “How to Catch a Dragon”, “Oh No! A Shark in the Snow!” “Little Robin Red Vest”, “Rosie’s Walk”, “The Boy, The Fox, The Horse and The Mole” by Charlie Mackesy (CMH week), “Coming to England”, and “Welcome”. We will use the texts to help us with different skills in literacy, such as, ordering and sequencing, understanding characters and character feelings, connect with topics such as mental health/migration/seasonal change/celebrations and events/winter and more. 

Topic/Understanding the World:  Seasonal change of winter, freezing and melting, Arctic animals, the “blubber” experiment, our local area, migration, map making, travel and transport, growing and planting, Chinese New Year, Valentine’s Day, Pancake Day, and more! 

R.E & Worship: The topic of “The Stories Jesus Heard” from the Old Testament, including Noah’s Ark, Jonah and The Whale, Joseph’s Coat, Moses in the Bulrushes, Daniel and The Lions. The Easter Story. 

Expressive Arts and Design: cold colours, colour mixing, junk modelling, making Chinese lanterns, dancing influenced by Chinese dragon street parades, observational drawing and painting, retelling stories and acting them out, independent exploration and creation using creative tools and construction building materials too. 

P.E.: We follow “Lancashire Primary P.E Passport” for our P.E. lessons where we will be practising the fundamental movement skills (gross motor) of running, jumping, hopping, skipping, throwing and catching. We will use our EYFS outdoor area daily and explore the different areas safely. We will try and use “control and grace” over gross motor movements to control our bodies. We will also be using our “funky finger boxes” to help our fine motor skills develop! 

P.S.E.D: We follow the “Coram Scarf” units: what’s safe to go into my body, keeping myself safe, safety indoors and outdoors, keeping safe online (and Online Safety Day), people who keep me safe, looking after my friend, being helpful at home, caring for our classroom, caring for our world. 

Our timetable for this half term:

Spring 1 timetable

What we will be learning throughout the year: 

Here is a useful guide on “What to Expect in Early Years” for parents! What-to-expect-in-the-EYFS-complete-FINAL-16.09-compressed

Reading resources for you to use at home! 🙂 Reading

Some useful links/sites/things to watch or play on at home that are super useful for the children, and fun!

Check out our school Instagram page to see all the things we’ve been up to in Reception class and as a school! https://www.instagram.com/grimsarghstmichaels/