Wren Chicks Class
Wren Chicks Galley
Hello and welcome to Wren Chicks, our Pre-School / Reception Class. Our teacher is Mrs Maurice. Our class TAs are Mrs Knight, Miss Hunt, Mrs Kerry and Mrs Strutt.
In our class children learn through play, following the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework. We aim to provide learning that is fun and engaging, and that will challenge the children and support their development. We deliver our curriculum through both adult let input and child-initiated learning opportunities, following children's interests wherever possible and provide high quality interactions, engaging with children in their play in order to develop and deepen their learning opportunities. Underpinning all our learning sit the Characteristics of Effective Learning: Playing and Exploring, Active Learning and Creating and Thinking Critically. With these at our foundation we aim to support our children to become effective independent learners.
Our learning journey begins with a focus on the Prime Areas of development: Communication and Language, Physical Development and Personal, Social and Emotional Development. As we develop and our journey progresses, greater emphasis is put on the Specific Areas of learning: Literacy, Mathematics, Understanding The World and Expressive Arts and Design. During our time in Wren Class we move from taking our first teetering, brave steps into school, towards becoming confident learners in our Reception Year.
Autumn Term Newsletter
Welcome to a new school year! We hope you have all had a lovely summer and are looking forward to the term ahead. It has been wonderful to welcome the children into Wren Chicks and to begin getting to know them as they settle into their new routines. The start of the year is always an exciting time, with lots of new experiences, friendships and learning ahead, and our priority over these first few weeks will be helping every child to feel happy, confident and secure in their new environment.
Our over-arching theme for the first half-term is ‘All About Me’ and we will be learning about families, our feelings, bodies and staying healthy. Later in the half term we will begin our ‘Seasons’ topic with Autumn and Pumpkins - of course, we try to follow the children’s interests wherever possible, so these plans are flexible and may change! During the second half-term our over-arching theme is ‘Celebrations’ and we will be looking at lots of things that are celebrated such as birthdays, weddings, Diwali, Advent and Christmas. We will also be putting on our Nativity performance together with Wren Class.
Our focus over the first couple of weeks will be on settling the children in and establishing our routines and expectations. During this time, we will also be undertaking baseline assessments for both Reception and Pre-School children, which will help us to identify their individual starting points and plan meaningful next steps in their learning journey. Once the children have found their feet, in addition to learning through play in Continuous Provision, the daily timetable for Reception children will include phonics and maths in the morning, and literacy in the afternoon. Across the week there will also be sessions or activities which focus on Understanding the World, RE, PSHE and Expressive Arts & Design ensuring that all 7 areas of learning within the EYFS Framework are taught. Initially these adult-led sessions are very short, and will increase in time over the course of the year.
Pre-School children will also have some daily adult-led teaching for Phase 1 Phonics and early reading and writing skills, as well as early maths and lots of opportunities for listening to rhymes and stories.
All children have been provided with a drawstring bag to keep spare clothes in school – this will help save space on our pegs as bulky backpacks have caused space issues in the past. Please bring spare clothes into school and leave in the drawstring bags – we will send any wet clothes home in a small plastic bag so they can be washed and returned to their drawstring bag. Please ensure that ALL items are named to avoid issues with lost items.
Reception children do not need a Wilby PE t shirt as PE lessons in Wren Chicks will not always need full PE kit, but having a spare t-shirt and shorts / joggies and trainers gives us lots of flexibility for active sessions as well as additional items of spare clothing. Children in Pre-School do not need a full PE kit, but please do send your child in with shoes which are suitable for lots of active movement! All these items can be kept in the drawstring bag in school. Independent dressing and undressing is an area of learning within the EYFS so leaving PE kits here offers an ideal opportunity to develop these skills.
We currently plan to offer Forest School sessions on a Monday afternoon – I will provide further information about these sessions and clothing requirements separately.
On Thursday 17th September, at 6m we will be offering parents of Reception children a workshop about phonics and reading where we will provide you with more information about how and what we will be learning in school – please do join us if you can as this is also a good opportunity to ask any questions which may have cropped up in the first couple of weeks.
All parents should have received an invite to join Class Dojo which is a digital platform that we use to communicate with you on a frequent basis and to send you details of your child’s learning journey. If you haven’t received an invite or are having any problems with Dojo, please let me know.
We know that the children will have a few changes to adjust to at the start of term so please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any concerns about their well-being, their educational needs or the new structure of the school day. Please use Class Dojo to contact me, or phone to make an appointment if you would prefer an opportunity to discuss anything further.
Kindest regards,
Mrs Maurice
Checklist & Reminders
Please remember a water bottle every day - named
Spare clothes and wellies in school – all named
Lunch forms to be filled in on a Monday morning
Sign up to Class Dojo if you haven’t already
Reception Parents phonics workshop 17th September, 6pm
Important things to remember
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Useful Information!Please send your child in with a water bottle and a coat every day - the weather can be changeable and our outdoor provision is almost always available to the children. They should also have a change of clothes in school to allow for any mishaps or particularly messy play, as well as sensible shoes for running about on the playground.
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