Welcome to

Reception

Information for parents

Steyning Church of England Primary School

Contents

1. School aims and Principles

2. Welcome letter from the Early Years Team

3. Getting Ready for School

4. Behaviour

I. “Catch them being good!”

II. STARRT Values

III. Our Golden Rules

IV. Pride in our Uniform

5. Successful Learners

a. Communication and Language

b. Physical Development

c. Personal, Social and Emotional Development

d. Literacy

e. Mathematics

f. Understanding the World

g. Expressive Arts and Design

6. Our Curriculum

7. Our Timetable

8. Eating at School

9. Home support

10.E–safety

11. Medicine in School

1. School’s Aims and Principles

Creating a Brighter Future 

 

Steyning Primary school aims to serve its community by providing an education of the highest quality within the context of Christian belief and practice.  SPS is a dynamic learning environment continually striving for improvement.  This is an inclusive school. 

 

· Our aim is for all children to be safe, healthy and happy.  If this is not the case then every effort will be made to find out why and solve the problem. 

· We aim to provide a warm, friendly, caring and purposeful ethos. 

· All children are valued as individuals.  Every child is given an equal opportunity and the school promotes positive attitudes to ethnic and cultural diversity. 

· All children are given the opportunity to develop mentally, physically, socially, morally, culturally and spiritually. 

· All children are provided with a broad and balanced curriculum, which has been thoroughly thought out and planned. 

· All children are helped and challenged to achieve the highest possible academic standards.  Children will be encouraged to become independent learners. 

· All staff members are given the opportunity to continue their professional development. 

· We believe that the environment of the school, both cultural and physical, is a powerful influence on children.  The school environment is stimulating, colourful, tidy and a celebration of children’s work. 

· As far as possible, the school will be fun, while encouraging high achievement. 

· Governors will play a knowledgeable part in school life. 

· All children are given encouragement and praise to assist in the development of self-esteem, self-confidence, self-respect and self-discipline. 

· We value the role of parents and respond to their views and concerns. 

2. Welcome letter

Dear Parents,

Welcome to Steyning Church of England Primary School. We are really excited to be part of your child's first experience of school and aim to build on your child’s pre-school experiences in order to give them the best possible foundations to their educational journey. At Steyning we plan exciting topics that are linked to their interests and which engage children in their learning. We observe children during their child initiated play and focus on what they can do and how we can support them to move forward in their learning. We believe that communication between school and home is key to help us get to know your child as quickly as possible.

We look forward to working with you.

The Early Years Team.

The staff working in the Early Years team are:

Ms Lizzie MassberyYear LeaderHedgehogs Class

Miss Milly CooperClass TeacherRabbits Class

TBCTeaching Assistant Rabbits Class

Mrs Tracey Brooks

Mrs Kim Shaw

Teaching Assistant Hedgehogs Class

Teaching Assistant Hedgehogs Class

3. Getting Ready for School

Starting school is a milestone for both you and your child. You may be excited about your child taking their first real steps to independence, or you may be apprehensive about how they will cope on their own. Whatever your feelings about school it is very important that your child’s experience of starting school is a positive one.

There is a lot you can do to help your child, which will allow them to get the most out of school and achieve the best possible start in life. Taking an active interest in supporting your child’s development before, during and after school will make a big difference in what they will accomplish.

In the months before your child starts school you can support them by explaining what school is about and talk to them about the types of activities they will be doing, focussing on the ones they enjoy. We will ask you to do a shared task with your child to help. There are books and websites that have a starting school theme that may be useful:

· Starting School – A. Ahlberg (Puffin, 1990)

· Billy and the Big New School – C.& L. Anholt (Orchard Books, 2004)

· Going to School – A. Civardi (Usbourne, 2002)

· Harry and the Dinosaurs Go to School – I. Whybrow (Puffin, 2006)

· CBeebies Grown-ups: Time For School: Tips for preparing your child for Reception

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKqNxPB_r1w

· BBC website: How will I cope with my child’s first day at school?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/guides/zwtbgk7

· NHS website: Your child's first day at school

http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/pregnancy-and-baby/Pages/starting-school.aspx

4. Behaviour

I “Catch them being good!”

Our behaviour policy is based on the phrase “catch them being good”. We are constantly looking for ways to reward the children for the good choices they make about their behaviour, whether that is through being put on Golden Pot, receiving a Golden Hedgehog/Carrot, team or merit points, being sent to The Praise Pod or simply being congratulated.

In Reception we encourage children to follow our School Golden Rules and try our best to notice when they do!

II STARRT valuesAt Steyning Primary School we believe that children need to develop the confidence and skills required to become lifelong learners. Our STARRT values are used to support this process and encourage independence. STARRT stands for:

S = Stickability

T = Teamwork

A = Adventurousness

R = Resourcefulness

R = Responsibility

T = Thinking

Children showing these skills will be celebrated through:· verbal praise· receiving a team point· earning their Head teacher’s award· moving upon the Golden Rules ladder· receiving our half-termly STARRT cup· being sent to The Praise Pod

III Golden Rules

Our Golden Rules

We are gentle. We don’t hurt others.

We are kind and helpful, especially when others are sad or struggling.

We don’t hurt people’s feelings.

We listen to each other. We don’t ignore or interrupt.

We tell the truth, even when it’s hard. We don’t tell lies.

We look after our school inside and out. We don’t waste or damage things.

We are polite with our words and actions. We are not rude and don’t use bad words.

We follow instructions from all adults in school. We don’t make bad choices.

We walk around school sensibly and quietly. We don’t run, shout or push.

IV Pride in our Uniform

Wearing the correct uniform to school is important. Please support us in ensuring your child comes to school wearing their uniform in a smart way. We also ask that they have the correct PE kit in school for their PE lessons. All items of clothing should be clearly names and checked throughout the year. Please refer to the website if you are unsure what our uniform policy includes.

5. Successful learning and development

Unique child

Every child is a unique child who is constantly learning and can be resilient, capable, confident ad self-assured.

Positive relationships

Children learn to be strong and independent through positive relationships.

Enabling Environments

Children learn and develop well in enabling environments, in which their experiences respond to their individual needs and there is a strong partnership

between practitioners.

Learning and Development

Children develop and learn in different ways. The framework covers the education and care of all children in early years provision, including children with special educational needs and disabilities.

Development Matters 2012

Early Learning Goals are end of year expectationsa) Communication & Language

1

Listening and attention: children listen attentively in a range of situations. They listen to stories, accurately anticipating key events and respond to what they hear with relevant comments, questions or actions. They give their attention to what others say and respond appropriately, while engaged in another activity.

2

Understanding: children follow instructions involving several ideas or actions. They answer ‘how’ and ‘why’ questions about their experiences and in response to stories or events.

3

Speaking: children express themselves effectively, showing awareness of listeners’ needs. They use past, present and future forms accurately when talking about events that have happened or are to happen in the future. They develop their own narratives and explanations by connecting ideas or events.

b) Physical Development

1

Moving and handling: children show good control and coordination in large and small movements. They move confidently in a range of ways, safely negotiating space. They handle equipment and tools effectively, including pencils for writing.

2

Health and selfcare: children know the importance for good health of physical exercise, and a healthy diet, and talk about ways to keep healthy and safe.

They manage their own basic hygiene and personal needs successfully, including dressing and going to the toilet independently

c) Personal, Social and Emotional Development

1

Selfconfidence and selfawareness: children are confident to try new activities, and say why they like some activities more than others. They are confident to speak in a familiar group, will talk about their ideas, and will choose the resources they need for their chosen activities. They say when they do or don’t need help.

2

Managing feelings and behaviour: children talk about how they and others show feelings, talk about their own and others’ behaviour, and its consequences, and know that some behaviour is unacceptable. They work as part of a group or class, and understand and follow the rules. They adjust their behaviour to different situations, and take changes of routine in their stride.

3

Making relationships: children play cooperatively, taking turns with others. They take account of one another’s ideas about how to organise their activity. They show sensitivity to others’ needs and feelings, and form positive relationships with adults and other children.

d) Literacy

1

Reading: children read and understand simple sentences. They use phonic knowledge to decode regular words and read them aloud accurately. They also read some common irregular words. They demonstrate understanding when talking with others about what they have read.

2

Writing: children use their phonic knowledge to write words in ways which match their spoken sounds. They also write some irregular common words. They write simple sentences which can be read by themselves and others. Some words are spelt correctly and others are phonetically plausible

Reading is one of the most important skills children learn during their time in primary school. We would ask that you find time to regularly read with your child, at least 3 times a week.

These special times can involve a number of different activities:

· They can read aloud to you

· You read to them (this is really important as you model good reading and can expose them to some books they might find more difficult to read on their own)

· Talk about what you have read, make predictions about what you might think is going to happen next and discuss the characters thoughts and feelings within the story

In Early years we begin teaching Phonics, ‘Fred Time’, early in the school year. We follow ‘Read Write Inc’ (RWI). This is a synthetic teaching program that focuses on learning the pure sounds of letters. (There will be a Literacy Workshop in the first half term where we will go through RWI in more detail). The underlying principles for the teaching of Phonics is Pace, Praise, Purpose, Participation and Passion.

Children will learn a letter sound (phoneme) with an action and a picture phrase to help them write the sound, using these to blend and segment words from the beginning.

Every week the children will bring home a opy of the letter sounds taught to practise at home.

This is the school letter formation of lower case letters.

Red Words

In Early Years we also learn words that don’t sound out. These are known as tricky words or Red words. e.g. the, I, go, no, put

Children learn to read these as whole words and words are sent home to practise as they progress through the Read Write Inc scheme.

Read Write Inc pictures for the letters:

a

b

c

d

e

f

g

h

i

j

k

l

m

n

o

p

q

r

s

t

u

v

w

x

y

z

e) Mathematics

1

Numbers: children count reliably with numbers from 1 to 20, place them in order and say which number is one more or one less than a given number. Using quantities and objects, they add and subtract two singledigit numbers and count on or back to find the answer. They solve problems, including doubling, halving and sharing.

2

Shape, space and measures: children use everyday language to talk about size, weight, capacity, position, distance, time and money to compare quantities and objects and to solve problems. They recognise, create and describe patterns. They explore 12 characteristics of everyday objects and shapes and use mathematical language to describe them.

Vocabulary

Number and place value

Multiplication and division

Measure

numbers

count

order

more

less

add

take away equals

how many are left? altogether

double

half

share

fair

equal

size

weight

heavy and light

length and height,

tall short, long, longer capacity, full empty

time, seconds, minutes, hours, days, oclock

Geometry (position and direction)

Geometry (properties of shape)

Fractions

Money

every day positional language, e.g. behind, next to

pattern

shape

solid

flat

edges

corners

half

Names of all coins and

£5 note

total

amount

pence

New Maths Vocabulary for Early Years

f) Understanding the World

1

People and communities: children talk about past and present events in their own lives and in the lives of family members. They know that other children don’t always enjoy the same things, and are sensitive to this. They know about similarities and differences between themselves and others, and among families, communities and traditions.

2

The world: children know about similarities and differences in relation to places, objects, materials and living things. They talk about the features of their own immediate environment and how environments might vary from one another. They make observations of animals and plants and explain why some things occur, and talk about changes.

3

Technology: children recognise that a range of technology is used in places such as homes and schools. They select and use technology for particular purposes.

g) Expressive Arts and Design

1

Exploring and using media and materials: children sing songs, make music and dance, and experiment with ways of changing them. They safely use and explore a variety of materials, tools and techniques, experimenting with colour, design, texture, form and function.

2

Being imaginative: children use what they have learnt about media and materials in original ways, thinking about uses and purposes. They represent their own ideas, thoughts and feelings through design and technology, art, music, dance, roleplay and stories.

6. Our Curriculum

An example of our topics include: (subject to change according to the children’s interests)

Term

Theme(s)

Details

Autumn 1

My Feelings, My Family

We settle into school and become familiar with our new learning environment and teachers. We talk about ourselves, our families and different feelings. We read stories linked to how to deal with feelings.

Autumn 2

Celebrations and Special Times

We learn about different festivals and celebrations as well as rehearse and perform the Nativity story. We explore the traditions and celebrations of Christmas.

Spring 1

People Who Help Us

Children find out about different peoples jobs and how they help us, starting with people in our school. We welcome visitors in from our community and learn about how they help.

Spring 2

Wings and Wheels

Children investigate different types of vehicles, especially those linked to the Spring 1 topic. We learn about floating and sinking and make our own models.

Summer 1

Paws and Claws

Children learn which animals have paws or claws and those that have neither or both. We make habitats and find out why certain animals live in certain habitats.

Summer 2

Creepy Crawlies

We hunt for minibeasts in our environment studying what their homes are like. We discuss their body parts and compare them from each other. We learn about new habitats.

During the year we hope to take the children on the following trips;

· Walk to the local church

· Walk to the library

· Zoo/Farm/Wildlife based trip

and have visits from;

· A Local Chinese Restaurant

· Sussex Police

· RNLI

· Sussex Ambulance service

· RSPB outreach service

7. OurTimetable

Our school day starts at 8.50am and finishes at 3.15pm.

If you are collecting your child from school at any time other than the end of the day, please

· give prior notice, if at all possible

· report to the school office at the main entrance to collect your child and office staff will sign him/her out

If you are asking someone other than the usual people to collect your child from school then do inform the office.

As a school we keep the timetable quite flexible in Early Years to enable us to better meet the needs of the children. However, there are a few lessons which are fixed each week. Please ensure your child has the correct equipment in each day.

This includes:

· Yellow Reading Record books and book bag every day.

· A named water bottle for access at any point during the day.

· No earrings on PE/Games days.

The children will need to bring in their PE kits at the beginning of each half term. The PE kits will stay in school and will be brought home for washing/checking/renaming at the end of each half term.

Rabbits: PE days Monday and Friday

Hedgehogs PE days Monday and Wednesday

8. Eating at School

The children in Early Years have access to a free fruit or vegetable snack everyday. They may also bring a fruit or vegetable based snack for a mid-morning snack at our classroom based snack bar as an addition to the school snack.

At lunchtime the children can either bring a packed lunch to school or have a hot meal provided by Chartwells. For children in Early Years, Year 1 and 2, these meals are free. If your child has a specific dietary need please inform Chartwells via their website: https://westsussex.mealselector.co.uk/

Children in Early Years eat lunch and have lunchtime play between 12.10 and 1.10 pm.

9. Partnership with parents

We welcome parent helpers to help with reading or to share a particular talent or skill once the children are settled.

Our door is always open.

Children enter through the school gates in the morning. At this time the class teachers are briefly available to receive verbal messages from parents. To have a longer more private chat parents can book an appointment via the school office. Messages can also be left by calling the office or sending an email.

01903 813420

office@steyningprimary.w-sussex.sch.uk 

As the year progresses, our expectations of parents with regard to home learning will include the following;

· Talk about their school day – our Marvellous Me app can help begin these conversations

· Count out loud, count objects and recognise numerals when you are out and about (particularly to 20)

· Recognise any achievements/acts of kindess/bravery by your child and write a WOW slip that will be shared in class

· Share stories and books everyday (school book corner books can be changed as often as the child would like)

· Listen to your child read their school reading scheme books (your child will be able to change their book once they have read it three or more times. Mondays and Fridays are our book change days)

· Practise the letter sounds and begin to word build

· Practise sight reading tricky red words

10. E-Safety

The future of our children will depend on their understanding and use of the internet.

We at Steyning CE Primary are committed to helping children to stay safe on line. Whilst it is vital that our children gain an understanding of the internet, we strongly believe that they must be taught to use it with caution.

Online Safety, a guide for parents:

The INTERNET is a really powerful communication and teaching and learning tool. If it is used correctly it is safe, however if it is not use correctly it can be harmful and dangerous.

Hints and Tips for Parents:

· Technology continues to change at an alarming rate, try and keep up to date with developments so that you know the risks that your children may face.

· Good online safety applies to all devices not just computers – tablets, online gaming, smartphones and e-readers.

· Set up INTERNET security so that your children cannot access websites with inappropriate or adult content.

· Cyber bullying should be treated the same way as other forms of bullying. Always inform school of any concerns you may have.

· Always encourage your child to talk to you about anything they feel uncomfortable about that they see on the INTERNET.

· Check out our policies with regard to computing – Digital Safeguarding Policy, E-learning Policy and E Safety Guidelines for Parents and Children.

Things to consider and discuss with your child:

· Where is the best place to use your ‘computer’?

· Keep passwords safe – don’t write them down or tell them to anyone

· How do you report cyberbullying?

· Is it ever sensible to meet with a friend you have met online?

· How do you know the person you are talking to online is who you think they are?

11. Medicine in school

Antibiotics - we are only allowed to give antibiotics in school with your written permission.

Asthmatic inhalers - Asthmatics may keep their named Ventolin inhalers safely in the school medical room and self-administer the correct dose when required. We do ask parents to register the correct dose with the Welfare Officer and this is reviewed annually. A form is available from the Welfare Officer.

Epipens – 2 in date epipens are to be provided by the parents and are kept in a named box in the medical room and classroom cupboard. All staff are epipen trained.

Illness/Accidents - If your child receives a bump to the head, we will text you to let you know they are being monitored.

In the event of the child being unwell and needing to go home, we will telephone you.