Welcome to Year R! 

In Year R, the class teacher is Mrs Monckton. Year R are supported in their learning by Miss Kinney, Mrs Bennett and Ms Butler.

If you have any questions, please come and speak to Mrs Monckton. If she is not around at the beginning and end of the day, you can contact the school office and request an appointment. 

Keep referring back to this page for regular updates about the children's learning. 

A big welcome to all our children and their families starting school this year.

It's an exciting time for us too as we get to know you and your children and welcome you in to our school community.  

You will have received information so you can log in to Tapestry which is a secure website where you can view lots of information as well as photos about your child's learning, activities, events etc. In addition you will also  have a log in for our online accessible reading books (Monster Phonics e-books) which will introduce you to our Monster Phonics through which we teach letters and sounds that will form the basis of your child's reading and writing journey. Should you have any difficulty in accessing these essential websites do please contact Mrs Monckton. 

28/09/25

Learning in Reception this week.

Our learning project Me and My Community: We continued this week to discover different jobs people do. Our imaginative play area/role play became a Postal Office and the children have been busy sending and receiving letters and parcels. They constructed a delivery van from large building blocks in the garden and and also made cards for Jeffrey our classroom bear as it was his birthday!

Our nursery rhyme this week: 'Down at the Station' can be found on the Monster Phonics ebook website (under Foundation Stage books)with your log in details. 

Our book this week: My Hair by Hannah Lee. The children created collage faces, cut and traced crazy hairstyles to support their hand control, ordered the main events of the story and wrote initial sounds to match parts of the pictures in the story(see photos). 

Letters and Sounds Learning: Sounds learnt this week were m,d,g. To find out more see our weekly Monster Phonics at Home video log in to Tapestry.

Maths learning: The children learnt about sorting, creating sets of objects with a criteria and learning how to describe the sets they made. They also learnt to notice when items don't belong to a set and explain why. 

Don't forget! Bring all books to school each day so we can change the children's library book, their '50 Best Books' storybook and their colour band ability level book as well as give you information about when they've read and the name of their Monster Phonics ebook which matches their phonic ability.

06.10.25

Learning in Reception this week:

Project Learning 'Me and My Community'

This week the children saw childhood photos of Mrs Monckton! There were lots of comparisons between the children's own experiences and photos of Mrs Monckton as a baby, playing with water, looking afer her pet kitten, in her Brownie uniform and on holiday as a child next to the family tent! Also this week the children have enjoyed pretending to be dentists with costume, tools, pictures and even a set of teeth to brush!

Our book this week: We're Going to Find the Monster by Malorie Blackman is an adventure story filled with imagination as the characters go in search of their 'monster' big brother, travelling past dangerous animals(the family pets) up a huge, high mountain(the stairs) and finally being tickled by the monster!

Our rhyme this week: Wind the Bobbin Up(lyrics and music to be found easily online) 

Monster Phonics this week: Sounds( o, c, k, ck) and high frequency words (go, no, to, into)

E-Books: See children's reading diaries for their ebook for this week read in our Guided Reading at school three times a week. If you are having any difficulty logging into Monster Phonics Ebooks follow the steps on the ebooks help entry on Tapestry or ask Mrs Monckton to show you in the classroom when you pick up your child from school. 

Our Maths Learning this week: This week we were learning about Measure (including capacity, mass, size and length). The children enjoyed comparing all the different sized teddies in the classroom and ordering them biggest to smallest. Our biggest bear Jeffrey had his birthday recently too and counting candles and cakes in the maths area was a favourite activity. Jeffrey had a lot of cake that day!

13.10.25

Project Learning: Me and My Community

This week we were learning about our Rights and Responsibilities in our community here at school. Last week in our PSED(Personal, Social, Emotional Development) we talked about what we needed to be happy and healthy. This week we applied this to being in our school community and what it means to belong and help the people around us. We started to think about what our school rules (to be Ready, Respectful, Responsible and Resilient) mean to us and what we can do each day to follow them.

Our book this week: Funnybones by Janet and Allan Ahlberg

Our rhyme: Hey Diddle Diddle

Monster Phonics Learning: Sounds e,u,r (blending to read words and segmenting words to spell them)

Maths Learning: Copying, continuing and creating patterns with objects and pictures such as making a red and green beaded bracelet. Maths is full of patterns and this early learning builds skills that are needed later on for shape and number.

Photos! This week we had our individual photos taken for our family to enjoy(an order form to receive prints will be sent home shortly in bookbags). 

Next Week

We are starting a short project 'Exploring Autumn' next week. If you go on a walk we'd love to see pictures on Tapestry of signs of Autumn to share with the children. We will also be tasting Pumpkin Soup and wholemeal bread as well as going on an Autumn walk in the school grounds. 

Exploring Autumn is our new project for two weeks. 

The children are loving discovering all about Autumn in the classroom tasting Pumpkin Soup and outside on an Autumn Walk.

Our book this week was Pumpkin Soup by Helen Cooper

Our rhyme was Humpty Dumpty

Our sounds this week were 'h' and 'b' in our Monster Phonics time. We have been writing initial sounds and three letter words to label pictures from our story as well as learning how to write our names and the sounds we have learnt so far. 

Our maths learning is all about numbers 1,2 and 3 for two weeks as we learn to write the numeral, count, draw and represent the numbers and join in rhymes and circle games involving 3 such as Goldilocks and the three bears song, two little dicky birds, one finger, one thumb and many more!

This week's learning from EYFS.

Our second week of our Exloring Autumn project has focussed on animal hibernation and Guy Fawkes Night. The children learnt how our Autumn celebration 'bonfire night' began and looked at how life was different in the past learning about how people dressed, cooked and lit their homes long ago. Next week, we will begin our project 'Once Upon a Time' exploring Traditional Tales and Fairy Stories.

Our book this week: The Leaf Thief by Alice Hemming (a comical tale about a squirrel who forgets about Autumn)

Our rhyme this week: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Our Monster Phonics Sounds:  f,ff,l,ll,ss

In Circle Time we talked about what we are good at, celebrating our successes and other people's.

Maths Learning: This week we learnt how to write the numbers 1,2 and 3. We looked for where we could see 1,2 and 3 in the classroom and garden and found out they are everywhere! We recognised 1,2 and 3 without counting (called subitising) and played games and sang rhymes about 1 more and 1 less such as One Elephant Went Out to Play, Two Little Dickie Birds and One Finger, One Thumb.  

Learning in Our Reception Class Week Beginning 10th November 2025

Once Upon A Time is our new learning project. It is all about Traditional and Fairy Stories and Tales from long ago. During this topic we learn lots about how people lived differently long ago (as many of the pictures in the stories show people wearing clothes from long ago as well as using lamps and candles and horse and cart instead of cars). We will also be discovering that there are different characters in stories. There are often characters that act bravely and with kindness, characters that work very hard (like Cinderella) and characters that make choices that create difficult consequences for themselves (like Goldilocks)! The children are encouraged to answer and ask questions to find out more, exploring their ideas and those of their friends and whether they agree!

We read: Goldilocks and the Three Bears

We recited the rhyme: I'm a Little Teapot

Our Monster Phonics sounds: j,v,w,x

Our Maths Learning: Identifying, naming and describing 2D shapes (specifically Circles and Triangles) Can you spot these shapes at your house?

Note: You will hear shortly about your child’s role in our Christmas Nativity Play and also about our Christmas Disco and other Christmas events.

This week in Reception

We read: Jack and the Beanstalk continuing our project about Traditional and Fairy Stories. We talked about how different peoples lives were in the past. We saw the characters in the story using candles instead of electric lights and Jack went to market with the cow instead of Asda or Sainsbury's!

We recited our rhyme: 1,2,3,4,5 Once I Caught a Fish Alive.

We learnt new sounds: y,z,zz,qu and words all, help, went, from, will, was.

In our maths learning we are counting, making sets, 1 more and 1 less with numbers 1,2,3,4 and 5. We played a great game of Splat the Number to practise subitising (looking at a number and knowing how much without having to count).

The children were excited by the snow blizzard early in the week and the ice that formed in the garden. We are also watching what happens when a banana decays to understand how natural things grow and change.

Learning Update from EYFS

This week we completed our project Once Upon a Time. Next week we will begin our shorter project before the holidays which will be Sparkle and Shine. 

Our book was: The Elves and the Shoemaker by Mara Alperin

Our rhyme was: It's Raining, It's Pouring

Our Sound of the Week: 'oo' as in moon (long vowel sound)

Our Maths learning was all about 4 sided shapes. We found out all about Squares and rectangles, what properties they have (straight sides and corners) and that they are 2D or 2 dimensional shapes that can be found all over the place wherever we look! We hunted for them all over the classroom and garden. 

We have started rehearsing for our Nativity Play 'Whoopsie Daisy Angel' and are learning all the songs so you might hear them at home!