EYFS – Newsletter – 03/10/2025

We’ve had another busy week here in Reception, with lots of activity relating to this term’s topic of ‘All About Me’. We have continued to share photographs and stories of our families and special people. Thank you so much for taking the time to share these pictures with us – all the children should now have had the chance to share with the class. 

This week we have moved to talking about special places in our communities and in our own lives. We have talked about the roles of parks, schools, hospitals and places of worship in our community and shared how we use them. Children have also been sharing with us their happy places and why they are special to them, and we’ve had some lovely drawings of these too! 

Phonics sessions this week have seen us introduce the next three sounds of Phase 2, which are: ‘p’ (puppy) ‘i’ (insect) and ‘n’ (nut). The children have taken part in activities to practise listening carefully to recognise words with these sounds at the beginning (the initial sound) by writing in missing letters and sorting objects into hoops. We have also been looking at how to blend sounds together to read simple words and the children practised blending to read and deciding if they were real words or nonsense (made-up) words. 

Our maths sessions this week have focused on shape, space and measure. The children have enjoyed exploring vocabulary related to size (bigger/smaller, longer/shorter) and weight (heavier/lighter) in practical and story-based contexts to give them real-world experience to better understand these concepts. Outside the children had a chance to discuss capacity of containers and to get to grips with different levels of capacity using water and lentils to fill cups and bowls.

During Tueaday’s PPA day (when the Reception teachers are having time out of class for Planning, Preparation and Assessment) the children enjoyed a wonderful session with our art teacher Mrs Ledda. They read ‘The Shaggy Dog’ and ‘Hairy Maclarey’ as inspiration for some doggy drawings. The children were learning to draw carefully with graphite pencils and drew along with Mrs Ledda a picture of a dog.

Also during PPA day the children went up to the polytunnel with Mr Joy to use the DT area. The children were taught how to safely hold and use a junior hacksaw to cut wood.

Besides all this, Reception continue to enjoy all the various areas of provision and activities available to them. We’ve had some fantastic constructions; some fabulous singing and dancing; and some brilliant bike riding. Indoors the children have been practising their letter formation in trays of coloured sand and refining their skills with scissors to snip the lines in autumn leaves (and mermaid hair, naturally).

Finally, as Storm Amy grew outside we all came indoors to have a go at a shared drawing of an umbrella! The children were really attentive and everyone tried their best to draw the umbrella as best they could. Many chose to colour-in their umbrellas and as you can see from the photos we have some wonderful artists in Reception.

Have a lovely weekend!

The Reception Team

DATES FOR THE DIARY: 

Thursday 9th October: ‘Hello Yellow’ Day in support of Children’s Mental Health (children encouraged to dress in yellow or bright colours).

Tuesday 21st October: Halloween Disco (immediately after school). Tickets on sale now!

Thursday 23rd October: School Photographs (as such, please send children in PE kit uniform colours despite it being EYFS Forest Schools).

Thursday 23rd October: Last day of Autumn 1

Friday 24th October: School closed

Monday 3rd November: First day of Autumn 2

Thursday 6th November: EYFS Parent Workshop – Early Reading (5:00pm) We are holding a workshop for Reception parents and carers around the area of early reading. During the session we will show you some of the strategies and resources we use. If you come to the main entrance a member of staff will come and collect you.