Reception 2025 - 2026

Miss Street

I have worked as a TA at Rode Heath for the past 8 years, working in Key Stage 1, specialising in EYFS. I thoroughly enjoy working with the new starters, supporting them as they start on their new journey of school life. I believe all children should be treated as I would wish my own to be treated.

Mrs Adams

I have been working with young children for over 20 years and am passionate about giving them the best possible start to school life by learning through creative and meaningful contexts. As a Forest School teacher I love taking learning outside the classroom and introducing children to new skills, such as den building, tree climbing, campfire cookery and caring for our woodland environment.

Miss Belcher

Hi I'm Kerry. I live in the village very close to school with my partner and daughter Chloe. I'm based in All Stars breakfast and after school club and also Reception. I've spent the last two to three years gaining my Early Years Practitioner qualifications at Rode Heath and now I can assist in Pre-school and help the youngest children to transition into club. I am always there to help each child and support them and their families, both early in the morning and into the evening.

Mrs Barnett

I have worked at Rode Heath School for many years now. I thoroughly enjoy being part of all of the exciting learning opportunities which Rode Heath has to offer. Outside of school, I love to go exploring outdoors with my two children.

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Routines, Reminders & Messages

Doors open at 8.45am and Reception children will continue to be brought down at 3.10pm, just before Key Stage 1 finish for the day.

Early Years Christmas Performances - Tues 2nd Dec and Thu 4th Dec at 2.15pm. Cast photographs will be available to purchase on the day (£1.00 each - cash only)

Tapestry is Changing Soon - You may have seen that Tapestry (our online learning journal) are making some changes that will take effect before the end of the year. We will let you know as soon as we have confirmation of the exact date. Desktop Users will not need to do anything but App Users will need to download a new app (not an update) from the App Store / Google Play store. We have sent you a Tapestry memo with more information and new user guides.

Book Bag and Reading Diary - Your child was given their book bag and reading folder on their first day. The folder contains their reading diary and phonics reading books. Please look through the diary and complete the permissions pages as soon as possible (we can't put any lovely photos on our webpage until we have your consent).

Please record in the diary each time you read with your child. We will make a note of when we have read in school too. You can use the diary to pass notes to us but please remember that they are not checked daily. If your message is urgent or very important then please telephone or email the school office instead.

Phonics Reading Books - Your child will bring home two books per week, that match the sounds learned in phonics lessons. It is important for the children to re-read the books - at least 3 times at home - to help them become more fluent, begin to recognise words and to feel successful as a reader. We encourage the children to read once to sound out and blend all of the words, a second time to remember and begin to read a little more confidently and a third time to help their understanding of the book and be able to talk about it.

Please ensure all books and the reading diary are kept in your child's folder in their book bag and brought in to school every day, as we also read these books in class. Books are changed on Mondays - we have very limited supplies so please ensure they are in school and availiable to be passed on to the next child.

'Reading for Pleasure' books - Your child will choose a Reading for Pleasure book during their first week. These are lovely books for you to share with your child at home. Your child is not expected to read these for themselves but they are wonderful as a bedtime story or snuggled up on the sofa to read together. These books are also changed on Mondays and again we have a limited supply, so would appreciate your support in ensuring they are returned on time to be available for another child.

P.E. - Our P.E. day for the first half-term is a Thursday. Children should come to school in their PE kits (House t-shirts, school or plain black/navy tracksuit) and velcro pumps or trainers - no laces please!

Home Learning is sent home on Fridays. This will be a mixture of activities in Home Learning books, online or via Tapestry. Please ensure it is completed and, where applicable, books are returned by the following Wednesday, when we collect them in.

Tapestry - we use this to share highlights of your child's learning, send messages and set some home learning tasks. If your child attended our Pre-School then your existing login details are still valid. If you are new to Rode Heath then you should have received an email with instructions on how to get started (check your junk folder if you don't receive an email). As always, please let us know if you have any problems.

School Spider - Please ensure that you have downloaded the School Spider App. We use this for communicating general school messages and information such as head bumps and changes to arrangements for clubs.

Ensuring that our children are happy, safe and secure in school is very important to us. We follow our Hearts and Minds curriculum to ensure children's personal, social and emotional development is central to our practice. More information about our Hearts and Minds curriculum and the weekly Hearts and Mind planning can be found using this link: Hearts and Minds.

To find year group expectations for Maths, please click here, scroll down and click on the overview.

For year group expectations for English, please click here, scroll down and click on the overview.

The expectations for Science and the Foundation subjects can be found by selecting the relevant heading from here.

Our Learning Journey: Monday 1st December 2025

Home Learning is on Tapestry this week.

The Tapestry memo to accompany the activity will be available from 3.00pm on Friday 5th December.

Phonics:

We have now learned all of our Phase 2 sounds and will be recapping the phonemes and graphemes. We will recognise the letters (graphemes) and link them to the sound they make (phonemes). We will practise hearing the sounds in short words, reading short captions and forming the letters correctly to write words. We will learn the tricky word into. We call them 'tricky words' because they cannot be sounded out phonetically, we have to learn to read and write the whole word.

Pure Sounds - We teach the children to use 'pure' sounds (the sounds that letters make in words) Click on the pictures below to hear the 'pure' sounds for Phase 2 and Phase 3 phonics.

Phase 2 Graphemes - s a t p i n m d g o c k ck e u r h b f l ff ll ss

Phase 2 Tricky Words - I no go to the into

Literacy:

This week we will be learning about and sequencing the Christmas story. Engaging children in reading and writing about Christmas through stories and activities helps them develop key literacy skills while celebrating the festive season. We will continue to practise writing our names, using correct letter formation, as well as reading and writing short words containing taught sounds. We will begin to read and write short captions too.

Letter Formation - We work very hard on developing a good pencil grip and forming our letters correctly in Reception. This is important because it reduces strain on the hand muscles and prepares children for joining letters and writing at greater length in Years 1 and 2. The pictures below show the correct formation for each letter and the rhymes we use to support the children to recall them.

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Maths:

This week we will continue to learn about shapes with 4 sides. We will notice squares and rectangles all around us and begin to describe their properties, learn ing mathematical language for describing the properties of squares and rectangles, such as 'sides’, ‘straight’ and ‘corners’. We will build on prior learning by investigating how shapes can be combined to make new shapes, investigating which shapes we can make by combining different sizes of squares and rectangles. We will also use our knowledge to identify squares and rectangles in the environment. Finally, we will begin to distinguish and talk aboutthe difference between the key events in our daily routine. We will recognise what occurs during the day compared to at night and will use language such as ‘first’, ‘then’, ‘after’, ‘before’, ‘day’, 'night’, ‘morning’, ‘afternoon’, ‘today’ and ‘tomorrow’ to describe different events.

Personal, Social & Emotional Development:

This week we will be talking PANTS. Talk PANTS is an NSPCC initiative, developed in consultation with parents and carers to promotes simple conversations with young children to keep them safe from harm. Talk PANTS introduces child safety messages with the help of PANTosaurus, who helps children understand that their body belongs to them, and they should tell a safe adult they trust if anything makes them feel upset or worried.

Privates are private
Always remember your body belongs to you
No means no
Talk about secrets that upset you
Speak up, someone can help

Understanding the World

This week, we are learning about the Christian story of The First Christmas , providing children with opportunities to explore themes of family, love, and celebration.

Physical Development: