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Reception

Reception Class 2025-26

Welcome to Reception

Helpful Reminders: 

Staffing 

Reception is taught by Mrs Dhariwal. Mrs Foster teaches in the Reception on Thursday mornings. The class is supported by Mrs Bhatti, Miss Gilbert, Mrs Evans and Miss Sinclair.  

Belongings

Please send your child to Reception each day with a named water bottle, lunch box (if they are having a packed lunch) and a small bag containing a change of clothes, which they can leave on their peg. It would be useful to have a spare pair of named wellington boots which can be left at school. During the colder months, please ensure your child has a warm coat with them every day. 

Please ensure they bring their book bag with their red reading diary and reading book into school everyday.  

Food and drink

Children are provided with a piece of fresh fruit each morning, so there is no need to send in a snack. A carton of milk is also provided in the afternoon. Please let me know of any allergies/ intolerances if you have not done so already.

For those children staying for lunch, you have the option of sending in a lunch box or ordering a school meal.  Please can you tell the children what they will be having! This avoids the unknown and helps them with the whole lunchtime experience.  

Please can you ensure that lunch boxes are nut free and any small items which may cause a choking risk, such as grapes, or cocktail sausages, are cut in half lengthwise. Juice or squash is fine in lunch boxes, but we do ask for water only to be in the bottle the children access throughout the day.

P.E

We have an outdoor learning session on Monday mornings and a PE session on Thursday mornings. On both days, children are asked to come into school wearing their PE Kit  with long hair tied back and earrings removed.

Library 

We will visit the library every Monday.  Please ensure your child had their book in their bag on that day so that they are able to swap it for a new book of choice each week.  

Tapestry

We use Tapestry, which is an online learning journey of your child’s progress. We will record any ‘Wow’ moments in school and ask you to add anything exciting you have been doing at home; whether it is a trip to the park, family day out or other special occasion. We give the children an opportunity to share these updates with their class, which helps to develop communication skills and self-confidence.  

The EYFS curriculum is broken down into the seven areas of learning:

Our Summer Term 1 topic is :

  • Minibeasts 

The EYFS curriculum is broken down into seven areas of learning:

Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PSED)

  • Talk about caring for living things
  • Learn how to handle minibeasts gently and safely
  • Build confidence sharing ideas in group discussions
  • Work together to build bug hotels and habitats
  • Develop independence during independent play 
  • Encourage your child to talk about what they discovered at school
  • Go on a bug hunt together
  • Model kindness to living things
  • Encourage turn-taking games
  • Talk about caring for living things
  • Learn how to handle minibeasts gently and safely
  • Build confidence sharing ideas in group discussions
  • Work together to build bug hotels and habitat
  • Encourage your child to talk about what they discovered at school
  • Go on a bug hunt together
  • Model kindness to living things
  • Encourage turn-taking games

Communication and Language

  • Learn and use new vocabulary (antennae, thorax, wings, crawl, habitat)
  • Listen to minibeast stories and answer questions
  • Describe what we observe during bug hunts
  • Retell stories using puppets and small world insects
  • Ask questions about what we find
  • Talk about bugs you see outdoors
  • Ask questions like “Where do you think it lives?”
  • Read minibeast stories together
  • Encourage full sentence answers

Literacy

  • Read minibeast themed stories
  • Label parts of insects
  • Write simple captions and sentences
  • Make bug fact books
  • Practice phonics through insect words

Possible texts you can share:

  • The Very Hungry Caterpillar
  • Superworm
  • Mad About Minibeasts
  • Practice phonics sounds daily
  • Encourage writing labels and simple sentences
  • Read bedtime stories together
  • Write shopping lists or bug hunt lists

We are also sharing the text Hairy Maclary by Lynley Dodd 

With this text the children set up and create labels for an Animal Shelter. Some cats and dogs arrive and the children help settle them before reading Hairy Maclary. They play Match the Mutt, create a Character Splat, research and write some facts about cats and then devise a story not dissimilar to Hairy Maclary but this time about a group of cats who are frightened away by Riptail Paw – a dog version of Scarface Claw, the menace of a cat who appears in Hairy Maclary

For more information on the text please click here

Mathematics  (White Rose Maths – To 20 and Beyond)

  • Count minibeasts to 20 and beyond
  • Recognise numbers to 20
  • Match numerals to quantities
  • Compare groups (more/fewer/equal)
  • Explore number patterns
  • Add and subtract using minibeasts
  • Make doubles using ladybirds
  • Explore sharing using bugs 
  • Explore teen numbers
  • Counting bugs in trays
  • Numbered stepping stones outdoors
  • Ladybird doubling spots
  • Sorting insects by type or size
  • Numicon bug matching
  • Count steps, toys or snacks to 20
  • Look for numbers in the environment
  • Practice number recognition
  • Use toys to add and subtract
  • Talk about more and fewer

White Rose curriculum in Maths and the Reception topic overview can be found on the Maths Curriculum page.

For a more detailed curriculum coverage for the year please click here_

Physical Development

  • Develop fine motor skills through threading worms, cutting, tweezers
  • Build bug homes using natural materials
  • Practice pencil control through mark making and drawing insects
  • Move like minibeasts (crawl, wiggle, stretch, fly)
  • Use outdoor equipment to build habitats
  • Use tweezers to pick up small objects
  • Draw insects together
  • Practice cutting along lines
  • Encourage outdoor play and climbing

Expressive Arts and Design

  • Make minibeasts using junk modelling
  • Paint symmetrical butterflies
  • Create collage insects
  • Sing minibeast songs
  • Use small world bugs for storytelling
  • Make playdough insects
  • Create bug role play areas

Understanding the World

  • Go on bug hunts
  • Observe minibeasts in their habitats
  • Learn about life cycles (butterfly, frog)
  • Compare insects and non-insects
  • Explore where minibeasts live
  • Build bug hotels
  • Learn how to care for nature
  • Lift logs and look for bugs
  • Visit the park or garden
  • Talk about seasons and changes
  • Watch caterpillars or butterflies
  • Look at non-fiction books

Contact information

For general things e.g. lost jumper, wearing trainers because shoes are too small etc. please contact the class teacher using the messaging function on Tapestry.  

For more significant concerns or worries, please email secretary@nshprimary.co.uk

with FAO Mrs Dhariwal in the subject.

Any changes to school pick up should go through the school office.

EYFS Topic Map and Progression of skills 2025

Maths Pathways to learning:

Literacy Pathways to learning:

General links: 

  • Oxford Owl Packed with free eBooks and activities to help you support your child's reading and maths at home.