A warm welcome to all of our Early Years children and their families!

As a 'paperless' school it is vital that you check your child's class page and stay up to date with dates for your diary and messages through the Seesaw app, the WGE calendar and Facebook page.

Staff

The staff in our fantastic unit this year are Mrs Nicholl, Mrs Smith, Mrs MacMillan, Miss Eaves, Mrs Boucher, Miss Chowdhry and Mrs Eaves. Our lunchtime supervisor is Mrs McCartney.

PE

The Reception children have a PE session with Harry on a Thursday morning. Please ensure your child comes to school dressed in weather appropriate PE kit and trainers, with their pumps in a bag to change into, instead of their school uniform.

Wellies

The children venture outside in all weathers, so a pair of wellies (labelled with your child's name) will be really handy to keep on our welly rack in school. We have waterproof onesies available if needed.

Homework

In the first few weeks of Reception your child will bring home a phonics book which will eventually contain all of the phonics sounds your child has learnt in school. This book will be added to every week so it is vital to bring it to and from school in your child's reading wallet everyday. Once your child has leant to blend sounds to read words in phonics, you will be asked to sign up to 'eBooks' where you can access the book your child is reading in school and they can practise with you at home. Your child will also be given 'tricky words' to read or spell at various times throughout the year.

In preparation for phonics Nursery children will benefit from singing nursery rhymes and songs and sharing high quality children's books with an adult everyday.

Library

Nursery and Reception children will visit the school library every Friday. Children can keep their school library book for one week and return it to school the following Friday so that they are able to swap it for a new one.

Parent workshops

There will be three parent workshops you are invited to attend this year. At each workshop there will be a presentation of how we teach a particular subject and how you can help support your child's learning at home,  and then an opportunity for you to 'see it an action' with your children in the Early Years unit.

Phonics workshop - Thursday 5th October 2pm

Maths workshop - Thursday 23rd November 2pm

Writing workshop - Thursday 8th February 2pm

There will also be Stay and Play sessions for parents throughout the year - keep up to date through the Seesaw app and the school's Facebook page.

We are honoured that you chose us for this big step. Let's get going...

Autumn 1

This term we will be focusing on settling the children into the unit and ensuring that all of the children are happy, and in turn, ready to learn! We will be learning all about how to be a Bucket Filler too!

The concept of the topic is based around the book 'Have you filled a bucket today?' by Carol McCloud - a youtube video of the story is available online. We will be working hard to create a happy learning environment for all by teaching the children how their actions and words affect others. The terms 'bucket filling' and 'bucket dipping' will be used throughout the year and it would be useful to point out when your child is being a 'bucket filler' and a 'bucket dipper' at home too.