Welcome to Class R 
Hello and welcome to Heathwood and the Reception class.
Just to confirm, when your child starts school he/she will be accessing structured learning opportunities with myself (Mrs Dicocco as Foundation stage manager and teacher), Mrs White (Nursery Nurse), supported by Mrs Randall (Teaching Assistant) on a Monday, Tuesday and Thursday and Mrs Sweetman (Teaching Assistant) on a Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. We all work together as a team so please feel free to come in to class and talk to any one of us if you have any concerns or news you would like to share. As part of that team, both myself and Mrs White will be working together as the key people for your child/ren, but we do like to encourage the children to make their own decisions and to develop independence in approaching whichever adult they feel most comfortable with.
Routines of school
On entry to school, we welcome you in to class with your child/children so that you can help them with their little jobs. They are encouraged to put their book bag in their named drawer, hang up coats on their own pegs, find their name faces for self registration and then choose an activity to settle at. (Not a lot then! Please help and encourage them.) This gives them a chance to get to know each other and us, as well as giving an opportunity for us to observe them informally or talk with you.
We will share books with them as a whole class and will initially encourage them to choose their own books from our book box to take home and share with you. We would encourage you to continue the good practice you already have of sharing stories with your child and asking them questions to predict what might happen and then discuss what has happened, taking time to look at the pictures and talk about characters or settings. Following time to get to know the children we will send them additional books from our shared reading books with an explanatory note for you. We do like their books and book bags to be in school each day as we do not know when we will get the opportunity to read with them.
During our literacy sessions we will introduce letters through the system of Jolly Phonics which encourages children to learn letters with a visual prompt, an action as well as a sound. The ideal is for the children to learn the sound and letter name and relate it to the letter shape. They will need your help and support for this and we will send home sets of letters after they have been introduced and your child will progress as they demonstrate their aptitude and enthusiasm for learning.
We will also have some whole class sessions for Numeracy when we will engage in a range of counting activities, number recognition, songs, shape work and problem solving. We will also cover this with small group games and activities. You can support your child through noticing numbers in the environment, such as on doors, buses, in telephone numbers etc, asking them how many items or objects they can see, how many they might have if they had one more or less and talking about where things are in the house or in the shops.
We will (once organised and settled!) have indoor PE sessions on a Thursday where your child will need their PE kits (purple t shirt and black shorts). Plimsolls will not be required as we will be indoors and we tend to work in bare feet. On a Tuesday afternoon we will also have an outdoor session on the field. For this they will just need some old or cheap jogging bottoms, a warm sweatshirt and some trainers. We do tend to suggest that their PE kits come into school and stay in school for the half term as this reduces any chances of children becoming upset when they do not have their kit following a weekend. This has always worked well as they do not get very dirty. Obviously, if there are any accidents or unforeseen circumstances we will send it home prior to the half term holiday.
For the main part of the time, the children will be learning through activities which will cover more than one area of learning and they will be encouraged to make choices and develop independence in their learning. They will have access to a range of activities which will cover art, music, knowledge and understanding of the world, ICT and Personal, Social and Health Education. They will learn through fun activities and will be encouraged to develop their learning through scaffolding of next steps pertinent to their own development.
Role play, sand, water, painting, construction and creative activities will be on offer daily and we will strive to offer free flow play when we can which will extend and develop their learning through indoor and outdoor activities. For this reason we would ask that they bring in their coats to enable access to outdoor areas.
In order to ensure your child’s safety we only let the children out as we see the parent /carer who is collecting them at the end of the day. As we are still getting to know you, this may take a little time at the beginning of the term so please bear with us. It is now statutory for us to ask for written permission from yourselves if they are being collected by anyone other than their parent. As explained on our visits, please fulfill this requirement with a covering letter if this is a regular event, or complete one of our forms.
Hope this helps in getting to know a little more about our class and we look forward to getting to know you and your child/children. There is a link below which will open the Autumn timetable for your information.
Mrs Dicocco
Reception Class Teacher
