Reception

Welcome to Reception,

At St. George’s we feel it is vital that as staff we work together with parents/carers to crucially ensure that your child has the best opportunities to enjoy their school experience, learn effectively and reach their full potential. Joint working between the home and school leads to much better outcomes for all children, including those with special educational needs and disabilities. If you ever have any questions or concerns we will always make time available to discuss these with you, implement actions to resolve any issues and provide support as best we can. Communication is our best tool to meet your child’s needs, we strive to communicate with you as parents/carers as best we can and ask that you do the same in return.

There are many misconceptions that in Reception children ‘just play’. At St. George’s this is definitely not the case! Your child’s Reception year is vital in laying the foundations in acquiring the skills to be successful in positively interacting with others, communicating needs, thoughts and ideas, developing early reading, writing and mathematical skills, exploring and discovering their world in a stimulating and safe environment alongside exploration of physical and creative opportunities and outlets.

Each half term we have a focus area that children’s learning will be engaged through – please refer to the Reception curriculum map, this outlines areas of learning and objectives covered during these times. Parents/carers receive an information letter each half term to inform the focus of each week, alongside objectives to be taught. This enables parents/carers to be able to support learning at home and encourage and develop discussions with children about their time in school.

The Reception school day begins at 8.40am and finishes at 15:10pm. Each day there is a 15 minute playtime in the morning with a fruit snack. Reception children go to lunch at 11.45am -12.25pm each day – they have the option of a different hot dinner daily (see school dinner menu) or a jacket potato with a small selection of toppings – there is no charge for this. Alternatively, parents/carers can provide their child with a packed lunch – no fizzy drinks, nuts or chocolate bars thank you, and a sandwich or sausage roll or crackers should be included. Staff will feed back to parents/carers if their child has not eaten much of a school dinner and any remains from a packed lunch will be returned to lunch boxes for parents to gauge how much their child has eaten.

In Reception we have two PE sessions weekly. These are on a Tuesday and Thursday. Your child is expected to have a PE kit in school and change into and out of this as part of their PE lesson. No earrings should be worn on PE days.

Please ensure that you label your child's uniform, coats, hats, scarves and PE kits etc.

At the start of the Reception year your child will be given a free book bag. To begin with books will be sent home for parents/carers to read to and discuss with their child. As your child’s time in Reception develops, reading books for your child to read to parents/carers will also be included. It is vital that reading at home takes place. As a minimum we recommend 3 times per week.

It is important that parents/carers check book bags daily as you will often find letters, games /activities to carry out with your child at home, information about local events and opportunities etc.

In Reception we share your child’s achievements and progress through a secure electronic platform called Tapestry. Parents/carers will be given information on how to access and use this. Photographs and written observations will be available for you to see and comment on.

Throughout the year there will be 3 parents evening opportunities (Autumn, Spring and Summer terms) and a written report will be available in the Summer term. Included in these opportunities you will be made aware of your child’s attainment and progress and how it compares to National expectations set by the Department for Education.

We are very excited to welcome you, your child, family and friends into our St. George’s community – working together, we can strive to provide your child the best possible start in life; to feel safe, happy, discover and address any additional needs, talents and unlock potential for a successful future and fulfilling life.