Reception - Starting Full Time

Friday 17th September 2021

 

Dear Parents and Carers

We have all had a lovely time on our Induction days and it has been great to really get to know the children well in small groups. We are really looking forward to welcoming the children as a whole class, as it has been lovely to see everyone making lots of new friends and getting used to life in Reception, including Mrs Hyde. Thank you for helping the children to settle into their new routines, it is very much appreciated.

Please see the newsletter that was sent out to you by Mrs Hudson on Wednesday and further information today, regarding information for all of the children in school, including Reception. I also wanted to remind you and give you some additional information that is relevant to the children in Reception.

Start and End of the School Day

Children will need to arrive at school between 8.40am and 8.47am and are to be collected between 3.05pm-3.15pm at the classroom door. When dropping off and collecting children can you form a line along the side of the classroom wall, as this will enable parents from other year groups to pass you on their way out of school. When there is already a parent at the classroom door please wait at the end of the wall, just before the classroom windows start – this will allow parents and staff to be able to mention anything confidential/private without being overheard – we really appreciate your help with this.

Please advise anyone who will be collecting your child of our drop off and home time routine. Please let us know if anyone different will be collecting your child at the end of the day. You can either let us know when you drop your child off or if there is a change at late notice, then please ring the school office. If your child is booked into OSCAR Club they will be dropped off and collected from the classroom by OSCAR staff.

Home time Collection

As you can imagine learning 30 new children’s names can be very tricky, however it is even trickier recognising 30 new Mums, Dads, Nan’s and Grandad’s – when collecting your child can you please remind us of your child’s name when you arrive at the door, as this will make things a lot quicker and easier for us. Could you please mention this to any other adults who will be collecting your child.

Forms

Thank you for returning all of the forms that we gave you on your first day. If you haven’t already returned them then please do so as a matter of urgency. If we haven’t seen your child’s Birth Certificate could you please bring this in to show us too. Thank you for signing up to School Life as this will enable us to contact you with relevant information throughout the year. This week I have given you all a “Class Dojo” password. Please sign up to this ASAP as this is how we communicate what is happening in class. I will be putting our Curriculum Newsletter video on Class Dojo next week, so please ensure that you have signed up by Tuesday at the latest. If you have any problems signing up then please let us know.

Free School Meals

This week you have received a letter asking if your child is eligible for free school meals. If you meet any of the criteria mentioned in the letter then you must apply for this, as school receive money for children who are entitled to this. If you are not sure if you would be eligible then we ask that you contact them anyway and they will inform you if you are or not. Every child in Reception and Key Stage One is entitled to a free meal due to the Government scheme, however it really is vital that you register if you meet any of the criteria.

Uniform

Thank you to everyone who has named everything, it really helps us. Can we please, please ask that absolutely everything is named including jumpers, cardigans, other uniform including ties, coats, shoes, pumps, PE bags, school bags, water bottles and lunch boxes. It can be very hard to return lost items if they don’t have a name in and we know how expensive items can be to replace. Please check that names haven’t fallen out or washed out regularly too please. We have been teaching the children to fold their jumpers and cardigans up and put them in their own individual tray – we are reminding the children to double check that they are putting them in their own tray and collecting it from the right tray too. Can you please remind them about this at home and have a go at folding them up too.

In Reception we encourage children to become independent, so if your child is unable to put their jumper/cardigan on or off then can you spend some time helping them to practise this at home please. We show children how to turn their jumper the right way if it is inside out or the sleeves are tucked in. Could you also help them with this at home too. We understand that fastening and unfastening buttons can be a bit tricky when you are 4 and 5 years of age, especially top buttons on shirts. Could you please practise this at home and we will help the children to practise in school too. Shirts can sometimes be difficult to keep tucked into skirts and trousers, so please encourage children to learn how to do this independently at home.

PE Kits

The children will be doing PE every Wednesday and our first session will be on Wednesday 22nd September, so please ensure that your child has their pump bag in school. This only needs to include their pumps and spare socks and pants. Can children please arrive at school in their PE kits every Wednesday. Please refer to Mrs Hudson’s Newsletter regarding correct PE kit. Children can come to school in trainers, however can we ask that these are Velcro fastenings, unless your child is able to do up their own laces. If you don’t have Velcro trainers then please feel free to come in school shoes to avoid having to buy additional trainers. The shoes are to wear in school as the children will change into their pumps for PE. Please encourage children to learn how to put their shoes on or off. Children in Reception don’t need to have a track suit top in their PE bag as our sessions will all be inside. Please note that this is different to the PE procedures in place for KS1 and KS2.

Lunchtime

This week you will have received an email asking you to order your child’s dinner for next week. If your child is bringing a packed lunch then please let us know this via the form. If your child is having grapes in their lunch box can we ask that they are cut in half. Please ensure that no products in lunch boxes contain nuts, due a number of severe nut allergies within school. Children can bring a small carton or plastic bottle of squash or juice in their lunch box to have with their packed lunch. The dinner ladies can provide squash or water in the dining hall, if you prefer. Can we ask that the water bottle that you bring in daily for children to access in the classroom isn’t used for dinner time, as this gives children an extra item to carry with their lunchbox. All children who are having a school dinner will be given a drink by our dinner staff. Fruit is provided at break times for children, so they won’t need to bring in any snacks. Please advise us asap if your child has any allergies to any fruit or squash.

Book Bags

Children will need to bring their Ridge book bag into school each day. Please don’t send in any other types of bags, as bags are kept in children’s trays and larger bags won’t fit in them. Please ensure that your child’s reading folder including reading book and Reading Record are in your child’s book bag every day. The children don’t need to bring anything else in their bags. If you are returning letters or handing in money for any reason please ensure that this is handed to us on the door when your child arrives at school, as unfortunately we are unable to look through all bags each day. Please don’t put water bottles in book bags, to avoid spoiling any bags or books. Children will not need to bring any stationery or pencil cases into school.

Reading Books

At The Ridge we are very proud to use Talk for Writing in our English sessions. It really helps the children to be able to retell and make up story’s, which then helps with their writing. Your child will be coming home next week with a reading book. This book doesn’t have any words in, just pictures. It is to encourage the children to begin to retell a story. When sharing their book it is really useful to look at the pictures and talk about what is happening on each page. Once you have done this we would really like to see you helping your child to use the pictures to retell the story. For example “Once upon a time there was a bear who lived in the woods.” You could then encourage your child to use some of the ideas from the book to make up their own story. This will really help to build their confidence to become super story tellers! Children will be having word books at a later date. Children will also be able to choose a library book to take home each week. This is a story book that you can read and shared with your child. Please encourage your child to retell the story once they have listened to it. We will confirm what days books will be sent out and returned on via Class Dojo next week.

Helping your Child at Home

You will be receiving your child’s log in information for Doodle Maths in the near future. This is a brilliant maths learning programme that is used by all children in school. It is really useful for us too as we get sent the information of how well the children are doing and how often they are accessing it. We would ask that you encourage your child to use it regularly. During the term we will be letting you know of how you can help support your child at home in different areas of the curriculum, as well as letting you know what we will be learning about in school.

Parents Evening Telephone Appointments

Reception children will be having their first Parents Evening slightly later than the rest of the children in school. We will be continuing with telephone appointments for these this term. These will be week beginning 4th and 11th October. Further information about how to book your appointment will be sent out soon.

School Photographer

Children will be having their first school photograph taken on Monday morning. Please ensure that your child comes into school wearing their school jumper or cardigan as we are normally one of the first classes to go in and have them taken.

Hopefully you find all of this information useful. However, if we have missed anything or you have any questions, then please don’t hesitate to contact us. We look forward to seeing you all on Monday morning.

Kind regards
Mrs Melia           Mrs Hyde
Class Teacher     Teaching Assistant

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