Welcome to Reception 

Reception is a fantastically exciting year when we welcome you to your learning journey at RAF Benson Community Primary School.

We have some amazing things planned for you and we hope you will enjoy your journey with us.

Who's Who?

Class Teacher: Mrs Free (formally Miss Webster)

Class TA's: Mrs Laidlaw and Mrs Wallace

Forest School Teacher: Mrs Thornton 

PPA Cover: Mrs Morgan

Drop off and Pick up:

Your parents/carers will need to drop you off in the mornings at your classroom door from 8.45am to 8.55am. After you have waved good-bye to your adult, you will need to hang up your coat and put your bag and water bottle away. Your parents/carers will be able to pick you up from your classroom at 3.10pm. 

You will need:

• School uniform (all items labelled with your name)                                      
• PE Kit  (all items labelled with your name)       
• A pair of Wellies (we have spares for you to borrow if you need them)          
• A book bag
• A painting apron (we have spares for you to borrow if you need them)     
• A named water bottle
• If you have one you can bring a waterproof outdoor suit (all-in-one or trousers) but don't worry we have some for you to borrow if you don't. 

School Dinner and packed lunch

Please remember to ask your adult to order your choices for meals using the online system the day before the meal is required. 

If you are bringing in a packed lunch, please remember to pack a delicious healthy selection of foods and please be aware that we are a Nut Free school. No chocolate spread or peanut butter!

Snack

Please remember to bring in a named water bottle.  We will provide a selection of delicious healthy snacks for you to eat so please don't bring your own snack.

PE Kit and Spare clothes

You will have a PE lesson once a week and we look forward to seeing how well you can hop, skip and jump! Please can you make sure that your all of your kit has your name on it and you know where to look for your name. P.E kits should be brought into school on a Monday will be available to take home on a Friday.

Please bring in a spare set of clothes and underwear in case of any accidents. These can be kept in your school bag or PE kit bag.

Learning Journeys   

We record your ‘early learning goal’ achievements in books. You will have 3 books. These will be kept at school and we will give your parents an opportunity to view them if and when we can.

They are :

Learning Journal: Personal, social and emotional development; Communication and language; Physical Development; Expressive arts and design; Understanding the world.

Literacy: Reading and writing development.

Mathematics: Numbers and Number patterns development.

You will also have a Phonics workbook for our Phonics sessions.

Wow moments

Wow moments are those little (or huge!) achievements that happen at home. We would like to celebrate these moments with the children at school too, so we will be sending home some popcorn templates for you to fill in when you have a ‘Wow’ moment. These could be anything from getting dressed independently for the first time to reading a sentence in your book. We have a popcorn display board and we hope to fill it with all those precious moments. Please could you send in any completed popcorns so we can add it to our board. These will then be put in their Learning Journey books to help with tracking their achievements. Once our board is filled to the brim, we will have a ‘Popcorn Cinema’ afternoon to celebrate. This will take place in the classroom at an appropriate time.

Outdoor Learning 
We go outdoors every day, come rain or shine. Outdoor learning enables you to enjoy the natural environment and learn to seek out essential exercise, fresh air and activity. It allows the you to be experimental and supports problem-solving skills. It nurtures your creativity by providing opportunities for developing imaginations, inventiveness and resourcefulness. We offer suggestions and challenges for you to do at the various stations and plan adult-led activities in Literacy and Mathematics. 
During the long winter months, it can get a little bit chilly so on some occasions we will offer you a comforting ‘hot chocolate’ or warm milk drink during snack time to warm up. We recommend you have a good winter waterproof coat, waterproof gloves, and a hat to help make these sessions more comfortable. Please make sure they are clearly named.
During the warmer months, we recommend you have a light waterproof coat and a sun hat. Please make sure that they are named.

We are very lucky to also have dedicated Forest School time every week with Mrs Thornton, this takes place on the base field and woodland. 

Homework
It is our school policy that we do not give homework to reception children other than reading. After you have settled into our school routine, you will be able to take a book from our classroom library to share with your family. You will also be able to take home formal reading books after we have learnt our first set of phonics sounds. This year, parents are invited to our Reading meeting via Zoom (date to be confirmed) to find out more about our reading programme. 
 

Questions?

If your adults have any questions, we are always happy to talk to them before or after school. They can arrange a time to chat through the school office. If you have an urgent request or query, please contact the school office and they will be able to pass on any messages.