Welcome to Reception
We are very excited to welcome you all to the start of your school life at St Augustine’s! This year is going to be filled with fun, lots of learning and new experiences.
The Reception Teachers are Mrs Towle and Mrs Jordan; and they are supported by our highly experienced Teaching Assistants, Mrs Beaven and Mrs Shorbagy.
Here you will find all the information you need about what we will be doing in Reception this term and throughout the academic year.
Remember, it is really important to be at school every day, on time and ready to learn.
PE/Forest School:
Our PE/Forest School day is on Friday. Children should come to school dressed in their PE kit on this day.
Reading at home:
Please read with your child each evening. This could be supporting them to read their Rhino Readers reading book; or sharing with them their school library book or a chosen book from home.
Week commencing 13th April
RE: Children will be listening to the story of the Resurrection. We will learn that this is a season of great celebration and our prayer corner will reflect this. The colour will be changed from purple to white and spring flowers will be introduced, signifying 'new life' in spring. The children will be creating their own 'empty tomb' to remember that Jesus rose again on Easter Sunday.
Maths: We will be continuing with our unit, 'Building 9 and 10'. We will be exploring bonds to 10 - firstly, building 10 using 2 parts, then 3 parts. Children will be exploring number bonds to 10 using real objects in different contexts, e.g., parking 10 toy cars in 2 car parks. We will also be making arrangements of 10, exploring with concrete objects the different ways 10 can be arranged, and noticing that the overall number is still the same.
Phonics: This week, we will be starting Phase 4. During this phase, children will not learn any new sounds, but will practise reading and spelling words with adjacent consonants and polysyllabic words. Our focus this week will be on CVCC words, e.g., sand, hunt, tusk.
English: We will be focussing on poetry and listening to a variety of poems from the anthology, 'Here's a Little Poem'. We will be listening to poems based on the themes of 'Me, Myself and I', 'Who Lives in my House', 'I Go Outside' and 'Time for Bed'. The children will have the opportunity to recite the poems, respond to the poems, and think of their own ideas to add to the poems.
Week Commencing 23rd March
RE and English:
This week, we will be combining our RE and English learning. We will explore the events of Holy Week, focusing in particular on Palm Sunday, the Last Supper, and Good Friday. The children will take part in role play activities to reenact these events and will then write about Palm Sunday. They will also paint their feet and help one another to wash them, just as Jesus washed the feet of his friends on Maundy Thursday.
Maths:
Next week, we will continue our unit on Building 9 and 10. The children will use manipulatives and practical activities to find one more and one less within 10. We will also explore the composition of numbers to 10, investigating the different ways each number can be made.
Phonics:
We will continue to revisit and revise all Phase 3 phonemes. This review is an essential part of our phonics programme and helps the children to retain the digraphs and trigraphs securely.
Special Reminders:
Please continue to send in any kilometres your child has completed for our Plodding Pilgrims challenge. We would also be grateful if you could begin sending in any sponsorship money raised for our Lenten fundraiser.
Week commencing 16th March
RE: We will be thinking about our class saint, St Joseph, whose feast day is the 19th March. We will be learning about his life and how God chose him to care for Jesus. We will be thinking about how Joseph cared for and protected Jesus.
Maths: We will be starting a new unit, 'Building 9 and 10'. We will be finding and identifying representations of 9 and 10; comparing numbers to 10; and representing 9 and 10 in a range of ways, for example, with our fingers, on a bead string and using cubes on a 10-frame. We will also be practising our conceptual subitising - identifying a whole number to 10 by subitising the smaller groups that make up that number.
Phonics: We will continue to revisit and revise all Phase 3 phonemes, paying particular attention to the digraphs and trigraphs.
English: Continuing with our dinosaur theme, our new text is 'Harry and the Bucketful of Dinosaurs'. We will be taking our own class 'bucketful of dinosaurs' on a journey around school. On our return to class, we will be writing what the dinosaurs saw and heard!
Special Reminders:
Monday 16th March - Science Fair. You are welcome to collect your children from the classroom door at 3pm and take them to enjoy the science fair in the school hall, where you will be able to look at all our wonderful learning on dinosaurs!
Week Commencing 9th March
RE:
This week, we will continue with our Lent unit. The children will explore the idea of saying sorry and asking for forgiveness. They will look at the Act of Sorrow prayer and develop an understanding of why forgiveness is important.
Maths:
Next week, we will continue our unit on Length, Height and Time. We will explore the concept of time through practical activities, such as counting how many jumps we can do in one minute. We will also use and practise sequencing vocabulary, including first, next, then, and after.
Phonics:
We have now covered all Phase 3 sounds. Over the coming weeks, we will be revisiting and revising all Phase 3 phonemes. This review is an essential part of our phonics programme and helps the children to retain the digraphs and trigraphs securely.
English:
Next week, we will link our English work to Science Week and explore the question, “Where did dinosaurs live?” The children will create their own fact files about different dinosaurs and their habitats.
Special Reminders:
Please continue to send in any kilometres your child has completed for our Plodding Pilgrims challenge. We would also be grateful if you could begin sending in any sponsorship money raised for our Lenten fundraiser.
Festival of Fun: Thursday 12th March! Children to come to school dressed in their PE kit for the day!
Week commencing 2nd March
RE: We will be continuing with our learning on Lent, focussing on 'blessings'. We will be talking about blessings from God as gifts that bring us happiness, for example, family and friends. We will be praying for the special person we are thankful for and writing their name to add to our class 'blessings jar'.
Maths: Next week, we will be starting our new unit, 'Length, Height and Time'. We will be involved in lots of practical activities to explore and compare length and height; and we will be using the language of length and height to describe and compare objects, e.g., long, short, longest, shortest, tall, taller.
Phonics: We have now covered all the sounds in Phase 3. However, we will be recapping and revising all Phase 3 phonemes over the coming weeks. This is a planned part of our phonics programme and essential in helping the children to remember, in particular, the digraphs and trigraphs.
English: We will be continuing to focus on the text, '10 Things I Can Do To Help My World'. Following on from last week, when we identified something we loved about our world, we will be moving onto thinking about how we can show love for the world around us. We will be learning about ways that we can look after our environment and writing about one way that we can actively care for planet Earth.
Special reminders: Don't forget that Thursday 5th March is World Book Day! We invite children to come to school dressed as a word - a word they love, a word they find interesting, or a word they have just discovered!
Week Commencing 23rd February
RE:
This week we begin our new unit on Lent. The children will explore why we change our prayer area to purple, the special colour for Lent that reminds us to slow down, reflect, and prepare for Easter. We will think about how we can pray more during this season and show care for others.
Maths:
We will continue our unit ‘Growing 6, 7 and 8’. The children will build on their understanding of these numbers by creating their own representations and matching them to numerals. They will practise representing up to 8 using a ten frame and begin exploring doubles facts up to 8.
Phonics:
We’ll learn the next two sounds in Phase 3: er and ure
English:
Our new text for the week is “10 Things I Can Do to Help My World!” by Melanie Walsh. We will start by drawing our own maps of the world and using our phonics to add labels. The children will then reflect on what they love about our world and why it is important to care for it.
Special Reminders:
At Saint Augustine’s Primary School, our school rules are simple yet powerful: Be Ready, Be Respectful, Be Safe, and Be the Best You Can Be.
These school rules guide us in everything we do, helping us create a positive, caring, and inspiring learning environment.
Being ready means coming prepared to learn and try our best every day.
Being respectful reminds us to treat others with kindness and value everyone's contributions.
Being safe ensures that we look after ourselves and others, both inside and outside the classroom.
And striving to be the best we can be encourages us to aim high, work hard, and take pride in our achievements.
Together, these rules help us to grow into confident, compassionate, and capable individuals.