Heron
Welcome to the New academic year 2025/2026!
PHONIC INFORMATION SESSION for RECEPTION PARENTS – 7th October at 3:15
Term 1 and 2 are set to be busy, exploring and learning together.
Our enquiry question is ‘What’s Around Me?’
Our mini enquiry questions are:
Where am I?
What can I see out of my window?
What is a map?
What are the colours of the seasons?
What sort of houses and homes are there?
What is a city?
Who are the people that help me?
Skills and Knowledge Overview
Below is the link for our skills and knowledge planner for Autumn 1/2.
It shows everything we will be learning and exploring in the curriculum.
‘Tell Me About’
Our ‘Tell Me About’ Sheet, below, is for you to use at home with your little one as the term progress. It shows key vocabulary, concepts and themes around our key enquiry question. This recall will help embed the children’s knowledge as the term progresses and give you a deeper understanding of key concepts and vocabulary we are using.
Tell Me About sheet Phase 1 Cycle B terms 1 & 2 What’s around me_
Timetable
Please follow the link to see our timetable for terms 1/2.
You will be able to see what we are doing each day and all the fabulous things we will be taking part in.
New Starters Academic Year 2025/2026 –
We can’t wait to welcome our new starters in September and have finalised dates for transition. In the meantime, if you would like to see more of the setting and staff please follow the link below, it is a transition book you can share together. There is information around staff and lots of pictures of our lovely environment you can share with your family and friends.
EYFS Children:
As the children start their reception year adventure, at the end of the year, we assess their learning inline with the Early Years Foundation Stage – Early Learning Goals (ELGs).
Sometimes, children will show different character’s and skills at home.
If you have videos or pictures showing your little one accessing technical equipment, sharing or telling a story or exploring the world then please feel free to send a picture to the school office, it will then be passed into the Heron team.
Below is the link so you can see the Early Learning Goals, if you have any more questions, please do not hesitate to speak to a member of the team.
Some snaps of last years adventures:
English:
Our learning enquiry question will be explored further during our english sessions.
Our focus text for this term is:
The Talk Through Stories we have explored together this term are:
Daily Phonic Sessions – 9:50 – 10:30
The children continue to learn Phonics using our Read Write Inc. scheme.
Read Write Inc. Phonics
What can you do to help at home?
- Use Fred Talk to help your child to read and spell words (use sounds not letter names).
- Encourage your child to read their RWI Storybook.
- Watch the Virtual Classroom films together.
- Read stories to your child every day.
How do I use the Virtual Classroom?
- Set aside 10 minutes to watch a film with your child each day.
- Find a quiet space for your child to watch the film on a laptop or tablet.
- Praise your child as they join in with the lesson – make it fun!
Find more free parent resources on www.ruthmiskin.com
Below is a link to frequently asked questions about RWI and the phonic delivery:
Below are 10 Top Tips for reading with your child at home:
The children will be reading their books in school three times before bringing the books home to share with you.
Please continue to hear them read and sign in their reading record when they have read.
If they read 3 times a week or more they will be a star reader!
If they can do that all term the children will be recognised as a Star Reader at the end of each half term and earn a certificate for their fantastic effort!
Who will make the Star Reader team?
Keep a look out on our social media platforms.
Read Write Inc. Phonics Book Bag Books
The core Read Write Inc. Phonics storybooks are the best option for home reading: children read the
story three times at school and read it again at home to build their confidence and fluency.
Book Bag books are supplementary books for children to practise sound-blending. Each book
corresponds with a core Read Write Inc. Phonics book. It has a similar theme and the same
graphemes. For example, the Book Bag Book Red Hat Rob builds on the core storybook, Black Hat
Bob.
The children will also have the opportunity to choose a book to read for pleasure.
READING BOOKS – Reading books will be changed every Monday.
This is important to support the children build their knowledge alongside our phonic programme. It is valuable for the children to read the same book each evening, in doing so they will build fluency and speed, whilst deepening their understanding.
Our goal is for the book to feel achievable and ‘easy’ to ensure reading is enjoyable allowing the message and story to be understood.
We will send home video links for Phonics lessons regularly. These videos will be targeted to your child’s needs or gaps in their learning at that time. They are only about 5 minutes long and your children will mostly be able to follow them without your support, so please find the time for them to watch them.
Reading Fluency:
Each week we have a focus story which we use to develop our reading fluency, comprehension, language and prediction skills.
You can see the Talk Through Stories we have enjoyed together so far above. If you have them at home see if your child can read them to you, if you would like to borrow any please ask at the school office.
REMEMBER – ‘Reading’ looks different at this age, if they are turning the pages, reciting key phrases, using expression and summarising, your child is reading!
Maths:
The children will begin/continue to learn their Maths following the mastering number sessions and NCETM Teaching for Mastery. Please help your child to recognise numbers around them and encourage them to practise counting up to 100 in 1’s, 2’s, 5’s and 10’s.
Look for 2D shapes (triangle, circle, rectangle and square) and 3D shapes (cube, cone, cuboid, sphere, cylinder) in your home and when you are out and about. What shapes can they find? Do they know their number bonds? We focus on making 5, 10 or 20? E.g 4+1=5, 6+4=10, 15+5=20.
The children need to develop quick recall of number bonds, so the more practise the better. The children have been learning to double numbers and recognise odd and even numbers. Can they recall their number doubles?
We have enjoyed using our outside space to support our maths learning this term and we are looking forward to showing off our learning.
Interactive learning at home:
Please continue the use of spelling shed and numbots to support your child’s learning.
If you can’t find your numbots log in then please let us know and we can let you have a new one.
P.E:
P.E days will be Monday and Thursday.
Year One – Please come to school in your P.E kits.
Reception – You now have the option to come to school in your P.E kit on our designated days.
I am always available, so if you have any questions or queries please don’t hesitate to speak to me and we can arrange a time to talk.
