Reception – St. Michael In The Hamlet Community Primary School

Home of the Foxes and the Owls

Welcome to Reception at St Michael in the Hamlet Community Primary School (SMITH)! We are so excited to begin this very special journey with you and your child. Reception is a year full of wonder, discovery, friendship, laughter and lots of learning through play. Our classrooms are busy, happy places where children are encouraged to be curious, confident and independent as they take their first steps into school life.

Throughout the year, Frankie Fox and Oakley Owl will be there to share our adventures, helping us to live out our SMITH values of being Safe, Motivational, Inclusive, Team and Happy. From making new friends and discovering exciting stories to exploring the world around us, every day brings something new to discover!

We look forward to working closely with you and your child to make their time in Reception happy, memorable and full of magical moments. 🌟 Welcome to the SMITH family! 🌟

🍁 We are so excited to begin our Autumn Term adventure together! 🍁

This term is all about settling into school, making new friends, building confidence and discovering the wonderful world around us. Our learning will be filled with stories, songs, exploration, creativity, play and plenty of opportunities to learn through hands-on experiences.

Take a look at our Autumn Term Topic Web and Newsletter to find out more about what we will be learning, the exciting experiences we have planned and how you can support your child at home. We can’t wait to see where our autumn adventures take us! 🌟

Phonics at SMITH

In Reception we teach daily phonics. Phonics is all about how the alphabetic system works and exploring how to apply it in reading and spelling. Here at S.M.I.T.H. we follow Monster Phonics: a systematic approach, meaning that we teach in a logical progression, starting with single letter sounds to enable children to read and spell simple words, leading to consonant digraphs and vowel digraphs and longer words.

How Monster Phonics Works	Monster Phonics Flyer	Reception Phonics Powerpoint

If you have any questions regarding phonics please see your child’s class teacher.

Early Reading

Here at S.M.I.T.H., we want to develop a lifelong love of reading. We want our pupils’ passion and engagement with books to begin from an early age, helping them to discover the joy, wonder and imagination that stories can bring. Through sharing stories, exploring books, listening to rhymes and developing their phonics skills, children are encouraged to become confident and enthusiastic readers. We want every child to see reading as something to enjoy, share and treasure, while developing the skills and confidence they need to become lifelong readers.

We encourage families to make regular use of our Monster Phonics online reading books. A simple guide explaining how to access these books will be shared through ClassDojo shortly. The Monster Phonics books contain decodable words and focus on the sounds children are learning in school. We will send home reading book once we begin to cover the sounds included in the Reception Stage 1 books. We recommend that you listen to your child read at least three times each week. Please record any online reading in your child’s reading log. You can also record when you share a favourite story together, as developing a love of books is just as important as practising reading skills.

Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA)

This is a short, interactive and practical assessment of your child’s early literacy, communication, language and mathematics skills when they begin school. It is statutory for all schools from September 2021. Your child will be participating in the reception baseline within the first 6 weeks of starting reception.

PLEASE DON’T WORRY: You do not need to do anything to prepare your child for the assessment. Your child is unlikely to even know that they are doing an assessment when they are completing the tasks.

For more information the link below takes you to the government information for parents pdf. If you have any further questions please speak with your child’s class teacher.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1004560/2021_Information_for_parents_reception_baseline_assessment.pdf

Keeping You Informed

	Class Dojo This is where you will find messages from your child’s class teacher. This updates most frequently and will let parents know about things happening in class such as; day trips, enrichment activities, special events and visitors. This is the most effective and responsive communication tool with your reception teacher. Please also keep an eye on the school story, on here you will find messages, competitions and school events.
	Arbor Arbor provides a Parent Portal and mobile app to help parents stay connected with their child’s school, manage payments, attendance, and communication.
	Instagram We also have a school Instagram account where class teachers post pupils work, videos and positive messages for our community.
	School Email If you need to contact school the email address: ao@smhsch.co.uk these message will be answered promptly or forwarded to the relevant staff.

Other Activities to Help your child at Home

Helping your EYFS child at home with Maths	‘Teach Your Monsters To Read’
Maths Support at home.	Free online Reading activities