Reception Autumn 1 Curriculum Letter

St John’s RC Primary School Chepstow Road Chorlton Manchester M21 9SN Tel: (0161) 881 1040/7754 Fax: (0161) 861 7463 head@stjohnsrc.net www.stjohnsrc.net Head teacher: Mrs B. O’Donoghue

Reception Autumn 1 Newsletter

Dear Parents/Carers, You are all very welcome to Reception! It is nice to see those of you who are already parents/carers here in our school and it is a pleasure to welcome many new families too! We are sure you will have a lovely year in Reception with us!

Please find some information which we hope you will find useful.

Reception Staff    

Miss Simpkin - Reception Teacher Mr Jones - Reception Teacher Miss Kilmartin - Teaching Assistant Mrs Kehoe - Teaching Assistant

School Day 8.45am – 3.20-3.30pm Spooky Day On Wednesday 31st October 2018 the children can come into school dressed in their spooky clothes for lots of spooky activities!

The Curriculum In the Foundation Stage (Nursery & Reception) we have seven areas of learning and we also teach Religious Education as part of our curriculum as a Catholic school. These are;    

Religious Education (RE) Personal, Social & Emotional Development (PSE) Physical Development (PD) Communication & Language (CL)

Each day at St John’s, we know we are a part of God’s family.

In a place where we love and are loved.

In a place where we learn to love and love to learn.

In a place where we believe in ourselves and believe in each other.

In a place where we grow happily together trusting and loving God. Dios es Amor.

St John’s RC Primary School Chepstow Road Chorlton Manchester M21 9SN Tel: (0161) 881 1040/7754 Fax: (0161) 861 7463 head@stjohnsrc.net www.stjohnsrc.net Head teacher: Mrs B. O’Donoghue

   

Literacy Development (LD) Mathematics Development (MD) Understanding of the World (UW) Expressive Arts & Design (EAD)

In the Foundation Stage we learn through play. activities, indoors and outside.

We take part in individual and group

We focus on a particular topic each half term and we will let you know what these are via email. Our topic for our first term is ‘All About Me’. We plan all of the learning around a book, the books for this term will be ‘On Sudden Hill’ and ‘Penguin’.

Tapestry We use an assessment app to record the children’s observations called ‘Tapestry’, please ensure we have your up to date email address. For our new parents this is our online programme whereby you can view photographs of your children and see how we assess them in each area.

General Information At St. John’s Church there is a family Mass at 12 o’clock each week, everyone is very welcome!

The children need a water bottle each day. This should be clearly labelled and placed in the correct colour tray so that your child can have a drink at any time throughout the day. We ask that the bottle goes home at the end of each day and comes back into school the following day with fresh water in.

Please remember to put a bag on your child’s peg with spare clothes in it in case they have a little accident. If you have any spare unwanted socks/tights/knickers/underpants, please would you bring them into class for our spare clothes box for when the children have little accidents as we are running very low on these.

The children should bring a coat to school every day, even if it is sunny in the morning.

Please remember to label all clothing.

Each day at St John’s, we know we are a part of God’s family.

In a place where we love and are loved.

In a place where we learn to love and love to learn.

In a place where we believe in ourselves and believe in each other.

In a place where we grow happily together trusting and loving God. Dios es Amor.

St John’s RC Primary School Chepstow Road Chorlton Manchester M21 9SN Tel: (0161) 881 1040/7754 Fax: (0161) 861 7463 head@stjohnsrc.net www.stjohnsrc.net Head teacher: Mrs B. O’Donoghue

We would like to take this opportunity to let you know that we ask for a voluntary weekly donation of £1, you can put this into the ‘Reception Fund’ box in your child’s classroom. We use this money to buy things such as, snacks/baking ingredients/resources/stickers etc.

We do ‘Show & Tell’ in our groups on a Friday. The children – if they want to, tell their group what they have done over the weekend. We encourage the children to bring something in, to use as a reminder eg. a train ticket, a photo, a leaflet, a picture they have drawn or something they have made, to show their group. We do discourage toys.

The children will continue to work with Mr Lucas and Mr Hogan on a Wednesday morning.

The children go to the astro turf –weather permitting, and take part in some fun activities.

In Autumn 2 the children will be starting dance sessions, they will wear their PE kits which consist of a navy blue top and shorts (trainers are not required for dance). The children will need their PE kits in school from the week beginning 29 th October. We ask that your child’s PE kit is kept on their peg Monday to Friday just in case the dance sessions are moved at the last minute. The dance sessions will be every Thursday.

Every Friday the children will go into the hall for a Foundation Assembly. During this time a golden jumper is awarded to one child in each colour group. This can be for trying hard, having a great smile, being a kind friend etc. The children wear the jumper for a week and bring it back freshly washed the following Friday so that the next child can have it.

As we are a Healthy Eating School, rather than the children giving sweets out on their birthday to share with their friends, we ask that (if you would like to), you could donate a ‘Birthday Book’ that we can keep in class and we can read and share this with their friends.

Please contact the office if you would like any more information on morning and/or aftercare sessions and enrichment clubs. The office staff will also help you set up your online account in order to pay for school dinners.

Please let us know if there is anything that you are unsure of, you can speak to any member of staff.

Thank you, The Reception Staff.

Each day at St John’s, we know we are a part of God’s family.

In a place where we love and are loved.

In a place where we learn to love and love to learn.

In a place where we believe in ourselves and believe in each other.

In a place where we grow happily together trusting and loving God. Dios es Amor.