Reception

Please click here for the Reception curriculum overview.

Please click here for the EYFS Policy.

Every week Reception will be learning a new word ‘word of the week’. Please try to use it at home with your child as this will help to build up their vocabulary.

Please click on the links below to view the Reception Classes Homework Newsletters for this term: 

Home Information – 17 July 2026

Home Information – 10 July 2026

Home Information – 26 June 2026

Home Information – 19 June 2026

Home Information – 12 June 2026

Home Information – 05 June 2026

Home Information – 22 May 2026

Home Information – 15 May 2026

Home Information – 08 May 2026

Home Information – 01 May 2026

Home Information – 24 April 2026

Home Information – 17 April 2026

 

Every week Reception will be learning a new word ‘word of the week’. Please try to use it at home with your child as this will help to build up their vocabulary.

Please click on the links below to view the Reception Classes Homework Newsletters for this term: 

Home Information – 27 March 2026

Home Information – 20 March 2026

Home Information – 13 March 2026

Home Information – 06 March 2026

Home Information – 27 February 2026

Home Information – 13 February 2026

Home Information – 06 February 2026

Home Information – 30 January 2026

Home Information – 23 January 2026

Home information – 16 January 2026

Home Information – 09 January 2026

 

Please click on the links below to view the Reception Classes Homework Newsletters for this term: 

12 December 2025

05 December 2025

28 November 2025

21 November 2025

14 November 2025

07 November 2025

17 October 2025

10 October 2025

03 October 2025

26 September 2025

19 September 2025

12 September 2025

 

In the event of remote learning being activated, please click the link below to view the timetable:

Remote Learning Timetables

 

Parent / Carer Protocols for Google Classroom

How to Use Google Classroom

Set up Meet for Remote Learning

 

Topic Overview Document

Imagine Overview (Summer 2)

Imagine Factsheet (Summer 2)

Food Glorious Food Overview (Summer 1)

Food Glorious Food Factsheet (Summer 1)

Blue Planet Overview (Spring 2)

Blue Planet Factsheet (Spring 2)

Space Overview (Spring 1)

Space Factsheet (Spring 1)

Owl Babies Overview (Autumn)

Owl Babies Factsheet (Autumn)

Myself Overview (Autumn)

Myself Factsheet (Autumn)

 

When children leave Nursery for the Reception year, there will be more focus on reading and writing.

However, preparation starts in Nursery with an introduction to the Phonics scheme used at St Joseph’s. Please see below for further information about the Phonics scheme so you may think of ways in which you can support your child’s learning while they are still in Nursery.

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The Read Write Inc Manager and the Reception class teachers held a workshop with selected parents to inform them how reading is taught at St Joseph’s and to provide them with guidance on what resources can be used at home to support their child.

We had an informative and fun morning which motivated all those in attendance and provided helpful information to our parents.

Please click on the links below for more information:

Phonics and the Importance of Talk Presentation

Handout to Support Communication

RWI Presentation to Parents

Phonics Workshop for Parents

Phonic Rhymes

RWI Info Handbook

What to Expect in the Early Years

What to Expect – a Parent’s Guide

The development of children’s spoken language underpins all seven areas of learning and development. Children’s back-and-forth interactions from an early age form the foundations for language and cognitive development. The number and quality of the conversations they have with adults and peers throughout the day in a language-rich environment is crucial. By commenting on what children are interested in or doing, and echoing back what they say with new vocabulary added, practitioners will build children’s language effectively. Reading frequently to children, and engaging them actively in stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems, and then providing them with extensive opportunities to use and embed new words in a range of contexts, will give children the opportunity to thrive. Through conversation, story-telling and role play, where children share their ideas with support and modelling from their teacher, and sensitive questioning that invites them to elaborate, children become comfortable using a rich range of vocabulary and language structures.

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Children’s personal, social and emotional development (PSED) is crucial for children to lead healthy and happy lives, and is fundamental to their cognitive development. Underpinning their personal development are the important attachments that shape their social world. Strong, warm and supportive relationships with adults enable children to learn how to understand their own feelings and those of others. Children should be supported to manage emotions, develop a positive sense of self, set themselves simple goals, have confidence in their own abilities, to persist and wait for what they want and direct attention as necessary. Through adult modelling and guidance, they will learn how to look after their bodies, including healthy eating, and manage personal needs independently. Through supported interaction with other children they learn how to make good friendships, co-operate and resolve conflicts peaceably. These attributes will provide a secure platform from which children can achieve at school and in later life.

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​Physical activity is vital in children’s all-round development, enabling them to pursue happy, healthy and active lives. Gross and fine motor experiences develop incrementally throughout early childhood, starting with sensory explorations and the development of a child’s strength, co-ordination and positional awareness through tummy time, crawling and play movement with both objects and adults. By creating games and providing opportunities for play both indoors and outdoors, adults can support children to develop their core strength, stability, balance, spatial awareness, co-ordination and agility. Gross motor skills provide the foundation for developing healthy bodies and social and emotional well-being. Fine motor control and precision helps with hand-eye co-ordination which is later linked to early literacy. Repeated and varied opportunities to explore and play with small world activities, puzzles, arts and crafts and the practise of using small tools, with feedback and support from adults, allow children to develop proficiency, control and confidence.

It is crucial for children to develop a life-long love of reading. Reading consists of two dimensions: language comprehension and word reading. Language comprehension (necessary for both reading and writing) starts from birth. It only develops when adults talk with children about the world around them and the books (stories and non-fiction) they read with them, and enjoy rhymes, poems and songs together. Skilled word reading, taught later, involves both the speedy working out of the pronunciation of unfamiliar printed words (decoding) and the speedy recognition of familiar printed words. Writing involves transcription (spelling and handwriting) and composition (articulating ideas and structuring them in speech, before writing).

Developing a strong grounding in number is essential so that all children develop the necessary building blocks to excel mathematically. Children should be able to count confidently, develop a deep understanding of the numbers to 10, the relationships between them and the patterns within those numbers. By providing frequent and varied opportunities to build and apply this understanding – such as using manipulatives, including small pebbles and tens frames for organising counting – children will develop a secure base of knowledge and vocabulary from which mastery of mathematics is built. In addition, it is important that the curriculum includes rich opportunities for children to develop their spatial reasoning skills across all areas of mathematics including shape, space and measures. It is important that children develop positive attitudes and interests in mathematics, look for patterns and relationships, spot connections, ‘have a go’, talk to adults and peers about what they notice and not be afraid to make mistakes.

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Understanding the world involves guiding children to make sense of their physical world and their community. The frequency and range of children’s personal experiences increases their knowledge and sense of the world around them – from visiting parks, libraries and museums to meeting important members of society such as police officers, nurses and firefighters. In addition, listening to a broad selection of stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems will foster their understanding of our culturally, socially, technologically and ecologically diverse world. As well as building important knowledge, this extends their familiarity with words that support understanding across domains. Enriching and widening children’s vocabulary will support later reading comprehension.

The development of children’s artistic and cultural awareness supports their imagination and creativity. It is important that children have regular opportunities to engage with the arts, enabling them to explore and play with a wide range of media and materials. The quality and variety of what children see, hear and participate in is crucial for developing their understanding, self-expression, vocabulary and ability to communicate through the arts. The frequency, repetition and depth of their experiences are fundamental to their progress in interpreting and appreciating what they hear, respond to and observe.