Ashmead Combined School

Spring Term - Flying into Stories

5, 4, 3, 2, 1, blast off! The children arrived fresh faced back from the holidays and we launched into our new topic Flying into stories! We began our journey by speaking about how we can sing, laugh and play together no matter who we are. We began to prepare to retell this special message of friendship through song and dance for our production of The Smeds and the Smoos by Julia Donaldson. We used our phonics knowledge to begin to write simple sentences to describe a Smed or a Smoo just like our main characters Bill and Janet.

In our department we enjoyed role play in the space rocket and new learning challenges in Literacy, Maths and expressive Arts and Design. Activities to include making 5 with stars, cubes, spots, speckled frogs, or simply our fingers; have helped us to take a dive into number bonds to 5. The Numberblocks have been a constant this term as we have also been learning to master subitising. Numberblock 4 challenged us to recognise him in different formations, knowing that altogether he was still 4!

In week 2 we took to the skies with Julia Donaldson’s Room on the Broom. We enjoyed making magic wands and we learned to write simple labels for the animals on the broomstick. We used our oracy skills to discuss a picture, using the sentence stems ‘I see, I think, I wonder’. We have continued to grow in confidence with our speaking and listening skills this half term by using these stems and working in talk partners to build upon each other’s ideas. Our talk tokens are helping us to learn to take turns in speaking and we have been considering the two important roles as presenters and audience.
Towards the end of the half term the natural world gave us inspiration and awe as we investigated the lifecycle of penguins, their characteristics and how they live. Together with our story Up and Down by Oliver Jeffers, we discussed how the penguin overcame challenges to follow his dream of flying. We were reminded again of the importance of friendship and how to be a good friend. Finally, we celebrated our own heritage and identities in our Roots and Wings day. Our handprints are as unique as us and they came together to create a beautiful tree in our department.

Click here to view more photos from Reception

Autumn Term

Welcome back to school! We hope you have had a lovely and restful summer break.

In Reception we provide both structured and unstructured play opportunities both inside and outside. Play opportunities are set up to provide children with experiences to apply newly acquired knowledge and skills, demonstrating their levels of understanding. The children will engage in practical, first-hand experiences
which will support them to discover, explore, investigate, develop their personal interests and areas of curiosity and help them to make sense of the world around them. These opportunities are provided through child initiated and adult supported activities, embedded in opportunities for all to engage in sustained shared thinking.

Our creative curriculum is planned and developed to build upon what children know and can do. We aim to increase children’s knowledge and skills for their future learning. We have a strong focus on ensuring that the children acquire a wide vocabulary, communicate effectively and secure a knowledge of phonics, giving them the foundations for future learning, especially in preparation for them to become confident and fluent readers.

There was a sparkling start to the second half of the Autumn term as the children used their best phonics knowledge from our Little Wandle sessions to write simple words about fireworks…’pop and bang!’. The children have been practising using a good pencil grip to control their letter formation too.

We passed pumpkins around during circle time, feeling the different textures and looking at the different colours and patterns that they had. The children used building bricks in the outside area to demonstrate how we all can build upon each other’s ideas. Then they used the describing words collected and created from this experience to write some amazing Pumpkin poems.

On a cold but sunny day, the Reception classes boarded the bus for a wonderful adventure to Wendover Woods! At the woods, we discovered Stickman who was lost and needed to get back to his family tree. The children searched for clues and enjoyed the stick dens in the woods. Whilst there, they stopped to enjoy listening to their favourite Julia Donaldson story underneath the trees. When they returned the children spent lots of time talking about their visit and thinking of all the ways that Stickman is used in the story. In the end, Stickman is rescued by non other than Santa Claus!

At the end of the term, the children had the opportunity to show case their fine motor skills and developed phonics knowledge by writing letters to Father Christmas asking nicely for their favourite toys.

To finish the first term at Ashmead School, the children showcased their best singing to our proud families.

In the Spring we look forward to reaching for the stars!

Newsletters

Spring Term

Autumn Term

Intent

We aim to implement a curriculum that is designed to give ALL children, the knowledge, self-belief and cultural capital they need to succeed in life.

Our curriculum is planned and developed to build upon what children know and can do. We aim to increase children’s knowledge and skills for their future learning. There’s a strong focus on ensuring that our children acquire a wide vocabulary, communicate effectively and secure a knowledge of phonics, which gives them the foundations for future learning, especially in preparation for them to become confident and fluent readers.

Our school’s approach to teaching early reading and synthetic phonics is systematic and targets all children learn being able to read words and simple sentences accurately by the end of reception.

We have the same academic ambitions for all children and adapt our curriculum to effectively meet their need. For children with particular needs, such as those with SEN and/or disabilities, their curriculum is designed to meet their needs.

Implementation

We believe that early years’ education should be as practical as possible and in reception we have an ethos of learning through play. Play is an essential and rich part of a child’s learning process and supports them in all areas of development.

In reception, we provide both structured and unstructured play opportunities both inside and outside. These activities are designed to engage children in practical, first-hand experiences which will support them to discover, explore, investigate, develop their personal interests and areas of curiosity and help them to make sense of the world around them. These opportunities are provided through child initiated and adult supported activities, embedded in opportunities for all to engage in sustained shared thinking. Play opportunities are also set up to provide children with experiences to apply newly acquired knowledge and skills, demonstrating their levels of understanding.

Over the EYFS, teaching is designed to help children remember long term what they have been taught and to integrate new knowledge into larger concepts.

The teaching of phonics ensures that children practise their reading from books that match their phonics knowledge.

Impact

By the end of reception most children achieve the early learning goals and are able to use their knowledge of phonics to read accurately and with increasing fluency. Most children are ready for the next stage of education. Our children, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds, and those with SEN and/or disabilities achieve the best possible outcomes from their individual starting points and begin to diminish learning gaps. Our children develop detailed knowledge and skills across the seven areas of learning in an age-appropriate way

Parent Guides

Home Learning

Knowledge Organisers

Each half term a 'knowledge organiser' is sent home to parents of children in Reception. Each sheet gives an overview of the topic we are currently exploring, key vocabulary, story book summaries and activities to try at home.

Reception Knowledge Organiser Autumn1.pdf
Autumn 1 booklet for parents.2023.pdf
Maths support for parents.pdf
Our Curriculum Outcomes.pdf
Reception flying to the stars knowledge organiser spring2024.pdf

Letter Sound Zippy Bags

In the Autumn Term each child will bring home a zippy bag containing a set of letter cards. The letters will come home weekly as they are taught and are perfect for practising pronunciation and building simple words.

There are so many words you can make with just two letters!

Help your child to make these......

it, as, at, on, in, is

How many more words can you make?

Reading Eggs

Reception Reading Eggs and Fast Phonics Parent mail NEW.pdf

Tapestry home learning videos
Each week one of the Reception teachers will make a short video of 'speedy sounds' from the week, join in online and practise saying the letter sounds!

A typical day in Reception

Time	Activity
8.45 am - 8.55 am	Self-registration
9.00 am - 9.20 am	Phonics
9.30 am - 9.55 am	Shared writing
10.00 am - 10.15 am	Snack time
10.15 am -10.55 am	Child initiated Learning
11.00 am -11.20 am	Circle time
11.30 am -12.40 pm	Lunch
12.45 pm -1.05 pm	Maths
1.05 pm -1.25 pm	Guided Reading and Writing
1.25 pm - 2.30 pm	Child initiated Learning
2.40 pm -2.50 pm	Handwriting/ Funky fingers
2.55 pm - 3.05 pm	Storytime
3.15 pm	Home time

Throughout the year we also enjoy a weekly rotation of music and movement in the drama hall, visits to the woodland area next to the playground and department assemblies. We also have our Reception Sports Day, Production and school trip to look forward to.

Phonics

Little Wandle Revised Letters and Sounds

At Ashmead School we follow the Little Wandle Revised Letters and Sounds programme. Sounds are taught in a specific order. The links below take you to videos which will help in supporting your child to pronounce their letter sounds.

Phase 2 sounds taught in Reception Autumn 1
Pronunciation guide for Autumn 1 2023.pdf

For more information about Little Wandle follow the link below to the parent section of the Little Wandle website.

Resources for parents
Reading Record Comments.pdf
Wordless Books (1).pdf