Holy Family

Catholic Primary School

Reception

WELCOME TO FS2

Class Teacher: Miss Tomlinson

Teaching Assistant:

Mr Smith-Cattell

A massive welcome to all FS2 children, parents and visitors. We hope you have all had a fabulous summer and are as excited as we are about starting this new autumn term. We are thrilled to see so many familiar faces returning to the team and we extend a very warm welcome to those parents and children joining us for the first time this September.

Please do not hesitate to ask me questions regarding your child and their education or if you require a general update on how your child is progressing. I will ensure I make time to meet or speak with you.

I love working out, HIIT is my favourite activity followed by hiking. I spend lots of time climbing mountains and exploring new places. I am so excited to learn all about your children's hobbies and interests and generally getting to know them!

Miss Tomlinson

RSE in Reception

Children in Reception have learnt that God is love and that being made by His image means being called to be loved and to love others. Children have engaged with their learning and joined in discussion. They have also taken part in a treasure hunt to develop their understanding of virtues to live by.

Building on previous learning and making links in Maths.

Children in Reception have been getting better at doubling, halving, adding and subtraction. Today the children put all their knowledge together. They used fine motor skills and applied art skills to create their own calculation critter.

Children were asked questions to deepen their understanding.

"What is double 3?" Double 3 is 6

"If double 3 is 6, what is half of 6? Half of 6 is 3

"3+3=6 what other sentence can we say for this? "Double 3"

Mathematicians in Reception have been getting better at halving!

Learning Number Bonds

Reception children have been using a range of resources to help them learn number bonds to 10 ready for recalling some of these facts to 10.

FS2 Visit to Boston Park Farm

Reception children have had the best day ever today visiting Boston Park Farm. The farm is a traditional working farm and our visit allowed the children to get up close with a wide range of farm animals. They were allowed to pet and feed most of the animals and also joined in with animal handling sessions. The whole experience was totally memorable. The children explored the outdoor climbing frames, swings, slides, a go-kart track and a bale pyramid to climb (the adults joined in too!).

Reception children practising their newly learnt skills in readiness to perform to parents at their end of term carnival.

Children in Reception have been looking at similarities and differences between things in the past and now.

Mr Dan

What an amazing workshop Reception children have participated in today. They have tried their hand at a variety of tricks and skills such as; clowning, feather balancing, juggling, plate spinning, diablo, stilts, pedal go, hoops and flower-sticks. They enjoyed colourful, exciting looking equipment and all the thrills of the big top.

Carnival in FS2

Roll up, Roll up, the Carnival has arrived in EYFS!

The children are so excited to start our new topic and they really enjoyed making all the resources to make our classroom fully immersive. The children are enthusiastic and full of curiosity to all the wonderful learning ahead of them.

They are looking forward to developing their strength and coordination, positional awareness and improve their core strength, stability, balance and agility.

Keep your eyes and ears open as the children may have a little surprise for you at the end of this term...

Reception children tasting hot cross buns and understanding the cross on the bun represents the crucifix Jesus was nailed to, and to remind us of the sacrifice Jesus made.

The Good Shepherd

Day 1 - 'Connect' Reception made cards for the Parish
Day 2 - 'Mindful' All the children wrote a prayer
Day 3 - 'Intra-Sport' Raising money for The Good Shepherd

Reception children have been learning all about Lent around the world.

Mathematicians in Reception

Children have applied what they have learnt and produced a book to help others with their learning. Children have identified patterns within numbers, subitised, recognised numbers, wrote numbers as words, recognised odd and even numbers, counted on and back, consolidated their understanding of circles and rectangles within other shapes! When their book was complete, they explained their learning to Nursery! Reception have been very busy!

Reception children receiving a toothbrush and toothpaste to promote oral hygiene.

World Book Day

Reception children celebrated the 25th anniversary of World Book Day – Our day was filled with lots of exciting, celebratory ways to promote reading for pleasure on World Book Day, and all-year round.

Ash Wednesday in Reception.

Reception children learnt that wildlife is all around us, they were particularly interested in Bees...

Reception children learnt that wildlife is all around them and the steps we can take to care for wild animals and their homes. As well as experiencing awe and wonder at the variety of wildlife with whom they share their world, children learnt to be respectful explorers of the outdoors. Children understood that they share their world with a variety of wild animals and can name some of the animals found in their local environment. They were extremely interested in Bees.

Our Spring 2 learning environment, Creepy Crawlies everywhere! This topic will provide lots of scope for play and investigation in outdoor spaces. It will also provide opportunities for children to learn about how we care for other creatures and for our environment as well as plenty of counting and sequencing activities. Children will also read lots of fiction and non-fiction books relating to mini beasts.

Writing opportunities are everywhere in Reception!

Children's Mental Health 2022

After having read, 'The Colour Monster' Reception discussed their feelings. New vocabulary was introduced and the children also wrote their feelings and posted them into their own Colour Monster. Together the children made a self registration area to allow us to discuss feelings daily.

Reception then explored the theme of 'Growing Together'. They were asked, 'WHAT IS GROWING TOGETHER AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?' We planted seeds and discussed what might grow from them, what they will need to grow and they predicted how long they thought they would take to grow.

Internet Safety Day 2022

Reception taking part in the Doncaster Storytelling Festival.

The theme for this years Storytelling Festival is , 'A Wonderland of Stories' Reception children thoroughly enjoyed taking part in this workshop. They were introduced to new vocabulary, movement and expression. A fantastic morning had by all.

Authors in Reception

What fantastic experiences Reception have had whilst learning all about Chinese New Year.

We have incorporated lots of different learning skills to learn all about Chinese New Year.

Reception children learning about Diwali.

Children learnt that Diwali is a five day festival and lamps are lit and everyone gathers together.

The children also learnt other ways to celebrate the festival:

Spring-cleaning the home - children swept the class room and surrounding areas and dusted everywhere!
Wearing new clothes - children wrapped themselves in fine silks.
Exchanging gifts - children made sweets and dried fruits to give as gifts.
Decorating buildings with fancy lights - children attached fairy lights to the underneath of our tuff tray.
Huge fireworks displays - children used brightly coloured paint to create a firework picture.

Children in Reception enjoying learning new skills. Each and everyone of them tried the target sport, curling.

Dragon Den Building

In Reception we discussed homes and the children were asked what they would have in their home. The children were very imaginative. A child asked, 'What do you think a dragon would have in their home?" All the children became really excited and asked if they could make a Dragons Den like the one we have in class. They suggested using boxes, covering tables and outdoor den building. What a great idea! Children were supported to make a den big enough for everyone to fit in. Was the den big enough? Did they adapt their design? Did they enhance the den area? Take a look!

Nature Art

Reception really enjoyed including nature in their art work. The children looked for lots of leaves and berries to create their masterpieces.

Reception children enjoyed 'The Trunk Trail' They used their whole body to become increasingly confident, agile and flexible. A great activity to develop gross motor skills.

Reception looked at pictures, stories and artefacts about the past to promote lots of discussion about things from long ago. We shared pictures of our families and discussed how there are many different families.

Mud Painting in Reception

Mud painting on a large scale. The children mixed up mud paint onto their paint brushes and became Artists. The activity provided the children with lots of different skills from strengthening shoulders and elbows to developing hand eye coordination.

Reception children really enjoyed using their gross motor skills to consolidate their phonics learning.

Parent Voice

These girls in Reception really enjoyed the challenge of helping Zog find his way back to school following prepositional directions.

Reception children enjoyed watching Newsround and learning all about what is happening in the world they live.

FS2 have been using a pea sized amount of toothpaste to brush teeth. They moved the brush in small circular movements, several times, on all the surfaces of every tooth. They also learnt that toothbrushes should have a small head size to reach behind their back teeth.

Reception have really enjoyed learning about the area they live in and learning new vocabulary. After reading the story, 'There are no Dragons in this Story' the children made links to their own village. They also created a map for the dragon to follow to allow him to find all the characters! I think Reception children are becoming real Geographers!

How do you ensure that children in Reception feel safe, confident and part of the school community? At Holy Family, we have been developing our caring side with help from Year 6.

We do have some great Mathematicians in Reception. This child received the maths trophy this week for his ability to subitise. Well done!

Listen to this child read at home. His mum is so proud of the progress he has made, she sent a video.

"I am so proud, he was only reading words last term, now he is reading sentences, I love listening to him read every night and he loves reading to me. He is so excited to tell me about all the new sounds he has learnt"
Mrs Blaszczak

Take a look at FS2 environment for Spring 1. Can you tell what the children's interests are? Yes, you've guessed it, Dungeons and Dragons! We are all very excited for our new learning journey!

EYFS enjoying carols round the crib.

Last week of term and the maths trophy was awarded to a child in Reception. What a mathematician! Well done!

Reception had a very special visitor today, he wore a red suit and had a long, white beard! Can you guess who it was?

EYFS Nativity.

The writing trophy has been awarded to a young lady in Reception because she can form most of her letters correctly and is writing CVC words independently, well done!

Reception have been looking at teeth and how to keep them healthy. We have read lots of books to find information, learnt the sequence in which we brush our teeth and which foods are healthy or unhealthy for our teeth.

Enterprise Week. Reception enjoyed sewing stockings and filling them with treats to sell at our Christmas Market.

EYFS and KS1 enjoyed a visit to Cast. They were excited to watch the pantomime, Aladdin.

Reception children became scientists! They solved a problem for the Billy Goats Gruff. They made a raft so the Goats didn't have to cross the bridge. Did the rafts float or sink? The children made predictions. Then, the children tested their raft to see if it would support the weight of the goat. Was their experiment a success?

Anti Bullying Week - Random Acts of Kindness. In Reception our theme was, 'What are Kind Words?' We made kind hand prints, kind foot prints and wrote kind words. Our finished creation built a big picture of kindness.

Remembrance Day in FS2. Children in FS2 made a selection of poppies to remember the soldiers who died in the war. They used scissors to improve their fine motor skills and used a range of different materials.

Black History - We read the story, 'The Colour of Us'. We learnt about similarities and differences that connect all people.

Take a look at our learning environment for autumn 2. The children are so excited to go on a magical journey learning all about fairy tales.

Take 10 minutes to read

Look at our fantastic Commotion in the Ocean learning environment in EYFS.

Back to School Prayer

Key Information

- School starts at 9.00am with the school gates opening at 8.35am (allowing extra time).

- School ends at 3.25pm

- Please ensure the office staff have your up to date contact details.

- Please ring the office if your child will be absent.

-If someone else is collecting your child, please inform the office, we will not allow your child to leave the premises if we have not been notified.

►Reading - Reading is at the heart of all our learning at Holy Family. To support this at home, please could all children ensure that they read their school reading book every night and that the planner is signed by an adult. Alongside this, it is also key that all children select their own reading for pleasure book which they will also have opportunities to read and share with others in school.

►Phonics- Phonics is a way of teaching reading where children are taught to read letters or groups of letters by saying the sound(s) they represent. The phonics programme we follow is called Read Write Inc. (RWI). In reception we are beginning to blend sounds together to create words. Your child will bring home sounds that they are learning to consolidate at home. It is really important that the children practise blending sounds together to create words so please blend, blend, blend with your children at home. Playing simple listening games can help your children understand phonics a lot more. Asking your child 'Can you get your c-oa-t?' 'Sit on the ch-air.' etc. will help them understand 'fred talk' or 'sounding out'.

►Homework - All children will be given weekly English/Phonics or Maths homework. This is to be completed and returned to school as required.

Uniform

Here at Holy Family we pride ourselves on our smart appearances. Please ensure children come to school dressed appropriately wearing full school uniform in line with school policy, including black shoes and no jewellery.

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