Dear Parents and Carers,

Happy New Year! We hope you all had a lovely, restful break. We are so excited to welcome the children back for another term full of learning, adventures, and curiosity! Your Reception Class Team are: Mrs Iqbal (Class Teacher) and Mrs Puci (Teaching Assistant) Mrs Severn (Thursday morning). Don’t forget to keep an eye on Tapestry, where we’ll be sharing important dates, events, and lots of exciting updates from our classroom.

Spring Term Reminders
Uniform: Please ensure your child brings a warm coat every day, as we love to explore and play outside in all weathers. Correct school uniform and shoes should be worn at all times. Stud earrings are allowed, but no other jewellery is permitted.

Water bottles: Please ensure these are clearly labelled, brought into school, filled each morning, and returned home at the end of the day.

Healthy snacks: The government provides a piece of fruit/vegetable for the children to enjoy during morning break. If you want to send your child in with a healthy snack for morning breaks, packed lunches and after school, please follow the recent guidance regarding what to provide: biscuits, sweets, chocolate and crisps should not be brought into school and all snacks must be nut free and not include sesame.

Book bags: Please ensure your child brings their book bag to school every Monday. Book bags will be returned every Wednesday. It’s important that reading books are returned promptly, as this helps maintain reading groups across Reception–Year 2.

Homework: This term, we will be sending home a weekly phonics worksheet to review the sounds covered that week, along with a Maths- or Literacy-based activity. Homework will be sent home every Friday. Completed work can be uploaded to Tapestry or returned to school on Monday, along with your child’s reading book.

Reading: Reading sessions take place three times a week, with a focus on different skills in each session:

1. Decoding – sounding out words to read them
2. Prosody – reading with expression and intonation
3. Comprehension – understanding what they have read through discussion and questioning

After the three sessions, the same book and book bag will be sent home. We ask that your child reads a few pages with you every evening. Please discuss new vocabulary, note interesting details, and share your thoughts about the story. Don’t forget to sign the yellow reading diary to show your child has read with you. Book bags and reading books should be returned to school every Monday.

To help children become confident, enthusiastic readers, it’s important that they have time to read for pleasure too. Your child will bring home a sharing book of their choice from the class or school library. This is a special book for you to enjoy together. You might: Discuss the pictures, predict what happens next, use different voices for characters and explore facts in a non-fiction book. The most important thing is to have fun and enjoy the story together!

PE: Our PE day is Thursday. PE kits should be worn to school (blue shorts, white T-shirt and plimsolls or trainers – a navy tracksuit is suggested for colder weather).

Secret Reader: Secret Reader will be taking place every Friday at 2.45 pm. Parents/carers are asked to bring a book from home, it may be a family favourite or a topic of interest. We also welcome books in different languages!

Reading Buddies: This term, we will be starting Reading Buddies with our Reception children and Year 5 pupils. The Year 5 children will visit Rainbow Class to share stories, listen to the children read, and talk about books together. This supports the children’s enjoyment of reading, builds confidence, and helps them develop positive relationships with older children in the school.

EYFS Curriculum

Literacy/

Topic

This term, our focus is ‘People Who Help Us’ and Superheroes! Our Big Question is: “Who does a super job to help me?” We will be exploring a range of texts linked to this topic, helping the children develop their reading, writing, and comprehension skills in a fun and meaningful way. We are also excited to welcome some special visitors this term, including a builder, firefighter, and dentist, giving the children a real-life insight into the amazing jobs people do to help us.

Phonics

Little Wandle Phonics – This term, we will begin with a review of previously taught sounds and practise blending CVC words to build confidence. We will then move on to Phase 3, where the focus will be on learning new digraphs and trigraphs, as well as reading and spelling a range of tricky words. These skills will support children in becoming more fluent and independent readers.

Numeracy

In Maths this term, we will be focusing on ordering numbers to 8 and recognising simple number patterns. Children will explore how numbers can be made using two equal parts by learning about doubles, and they will begin to identify odd and even numbers through practical activities. These skills will help build a strong foundation in number sense and early calculation.

PSHE

This term, we will be exploring how to look after our bodies, including hygiene and self-care. We will also learn about how to protect our community and the importance of showing respect and tolerance towards others. These lessons will help children develop a strong sense of wellbeing, responsibility, and empathy.

Role-play

We will have some exciting role-play areas this term, including a museum for sharing our Show and Tell objects, a Superheroes area, a builders’ yard, and a vets. These spaces will encourage imaginative play, language development, and opportunities for children to explore real-world roles through hands-on experiences.

PE

Every Thursday- Please ensure children come to school in their full PE kit.

School Values

Resilience, Respect and Tolerance.

Important Dates this Term

●        Spring Term 1: Monday 5th January- Friday 13th February 2026

●        Half term: Monday 16th February- Friday 20th February 2026

●        Reception Height and Weight check- TBC

●        Chalgrove’s Got Talent- Thursday, 5th February 2026

●        Valentine's Tea Party- Friday 13th February 2026 at 1:45pm-3 pm (Parents and Carers Event)

●        Spring Term 2: Monday, 23rd February-Friday 27th April 2026

●        World Book Day- Thursday, 5th March 2026.

●        Science Week: Monday, 9th March 2026.

●        Parent Consultations: W.C 23.03.26 (details to follow)

●        End of Term: Monday 30th March- Friday 10th April 2026 (School finishes at 1.30 pm)