Reception M & W 2025 - 2026
Miss Millington
Reception Teacher
Miss Woodcock
Reception Newsletter Autumn 2025
Welcome/ Welcome back! We hope you all had a wonderful summer and are ready for the start/return to school! We look forward to working collaboratively to support your child/children to learn, develop and achieve both socially and academically this year.
Teaching and Learning
This year the Reception staff are;
Mrs Millington-Stubbs Reception class teacher and EYFS coordinator and Mrs Landell Class teaching assistant (ReceptionM)
Miss Woodcock class teacher and Miss Ward class teaching assistant (ReceptionW)
We also have Miss Davies (previously one of our nursery teaching assistants) who will be working closely with us as she completes her teacher training.
To support our pupils with additional needs we have Mrs Begum and Miss Sheikh and looking after the children at dinner time will be Mr O’Neil and Mrs Morgan
When beginning in Reception a key priority is for us to support children to become independent, confident and resilient learners. We consciously spend the first few weeks building positive relationships and creating a fun and safe space that the children both enjoy and feel comfortable in. Our EYFS environment (both Nursery and Reception) is largely organised through the use of the Rainbow challenge; each area in the room is associated with a colour from the rainbow and the children are encouraged to independently explore and take ownership of their own learning by working towards reaching a full rainbow by the end of the week. This is something that our children who have come up from Nursery will be confident with!
The areas include:
Construction area - Blue
Creative area - Purple
Maths area - Yellow
Writing area - Red
Reading area - Green
Roleplay area - White
Fine- motor/Investigation area - Orange
If they complete the Rainbow they are rewarded with a sticker at the end of the week along with a small prize.
This half term our topic is called Amazing Me and My community!
During this half term, we will spend a great deal of time getting to know one another and exploring our similarities and differences, this flows nicely into our Second half term topic ‘Celebrations and Festivals’. We will be finding out just how Amazing and unique we all are. We will be talking to the children about the Amazing skills they already possess and what they need to do to make their Amazing skills into SUPER powers! We will also be finding out about the super hero’s we may come into contact with everyday (People Who Help Us) such as our parents, the teachers (not just those in class but the staff around school) and then we will explore those we see within our close community such as doctors, nurses, fire-fighters, opticians, police officers, vets, dentists, lifeguards etc.
We believe that our family histories need to be celebrated and shared with others, so during this half term we will be talking to the children about themselves and their families. To make this learning opportunity successful we need your help, talk to your children about you – what you do, where you come from, let them know about your history, cultural and religious background. I am sure you will be surprised by how interested they are. This will link well with our Investigation topic ‘People who help us’! We would love for parents to come in and talk to the children about their profession whether it be well known (doctor, teacher, firefighter, police officer) or not, so if you would be happy to do so please make this known to staff!
Literacy
In our literacy lessons the children will have the following focus texts in Autumn 1; 'Ruby's worry' and ‘Perfectly Norman’ by Tom Perciva. We will also read the text ‘Super Duper you' by Sophy Henn. Children will have lots of opportunities to work on their literacy skills through a focus on these texts such as listening, answering and asking questions and they will be encouraged to apply their phonics to complete work around them.
Maths
In maths we use Mastering Number and the 'Maths No Problem' scheme - in line with the rest of the school. The overview for this term can be seen in the files below.
Phonics
Phonics is a way of teaching children how to read and write. It helps children hear, identify and use different sounds that distinguish one word from another in the English language.
At Ashbury Meadow Primary we use the Little Wandle letters and sounds programme to deliver our phonics. Children will have phonics 5 times a week and once they have settled in they will also have a minimum of 3 x reading sessions a week to allow them to practise their application of what they have learnt. They will also have access to the this practice book at home via www.collinshub.co.uk and we ask that you please support them with this. There log in details can be found at the front of their reading record.
In their phonics lesson this half term they will learn the following;
Physical development and PE
Children have the opportunity to exercise and improve their physical development on a daily basis in EYFS both indoors and outdoors during our continuous provision and prime time sessions. But each week on a Friday they have a PE lesson with City in the community. We ask that they please wear suitable footwear on this day.
A few quick reminders
Homework – Once the children have settled and routine is well underway homework will be sent home. We appreciate home life can be chaotic but it really is important that children are supported to reinforce and extend their learning in the home. On Friday’s your child will be sent home with a book for enjoyment that they have chosen for you to read to/with them. They will also be allocated an e-book (online - www.collinshub.co.uk) that they have been reading in their ‘reading practice’ groups in school (as mentioned above) - this is for them to try and read to you, and to answer questions on to show their understanding. Each child also has a homework folder which will be updated each week with the homework we would like them to complete. The weekly deadline for homework to be returned to school is on a Wednesday morning at drop off which will give us enough time to change their books and mark their homework ready for the new work to be sent home on a Friday!
Drop off and pick up- Please enter by the Myrtle Street entrance and walk your child up onto the EYFS playground where you will see a class teacher stood ready to welcome them into the classroom. The school day starts at 8.40am and finishes at 3.10pm.
Attendance and Punctuality – if your child is not in school on time or off school altogether, they miss out on so much learning – please make sure your child is in school, on time, every day, the gates close at 8:50!
Outdoor play- please make sure your child has suitable clothing, a waterproof coat, wellingtons, sunhat, gloves, etc. We go outside everyday come rain or shine!
PLEASE LABEL EVERYTHING
Tapestry - The online learning journey
At Ashbury Meadow we use the online learning journey called Tapestry. This will be something that you can use at home and see what your child has been learning about in school and to access homework and learning. You will be able to upload homework and observations of your child for the class teacher so it is important that any ‘log on’ issues are sorted ASAP. If your child was in Nursery at Ashbury- your log on details will be the same. If you are new to the school- details will come in due course.
Useful websites
The school website:
https://www.ashburymeadow.co.uk/class/reception-m-b
E book access:
Online Learning Journal:
Little wandle letters and sounds phonics support for parents
For parents | Letters and Sounds
Oral health:
https://www.dentalhealthcareeoe.nhs.uk/services/oral-health-improvement/early-years