Ranelagh Primary School
Squirrels
Welcome to the Squirrels Class
Reception
A very warm welcome to the Reception class page.
Our team
Miss Felgate is the Reception teacher and is in class every day apart from a Wednesday afternoon.
Miss Turner is Foundation Stage Leader and one of the Assistant Headteachers. Miss Turner is in school everyday, she teaches in Nursery every morning and will sometimes be working within our Reception class too.
Mrs Skeels will be with the Reception children everyday, Miss Fillbrook helps in the mornings and Mrs Bullen will join us in the afternoons. Mr Bolton is our sports coach, who will be with us on a Thursday morning.
Here at Ranelagh we work as an Early Years Unit. Each morning the nursery and reception classes share the same learning spaces. This helps the children become familiar with all staff and helps to make transitions from nursery to reception much smoother for the children.
The children have continuous use of indoor and outdoor environments all year round and in all weathers so please ensure your child has the appropriate clothing for the weather conditions! Please NAME all of your child's uniform including their coats, plimsolls and shoes. We also advise that you provide a spare set of NAMED clothes in a drawstring bag that can remain on your child's peg in case it is needed. Please can we also ask that you provide your child with a pair of NAMED plimsolls to wear inside the classroom.
Mr G Pooley
Teacher
Mr G Pooley
LSA
Play, Planning and Learning
During the session there are times for child-initiated play and we also work with small groups of children at specific, planned activities, for example; speech and language games, listening games, maths tasks and activities to develop turn taking and social skills.
At the end of each morning we come together as a group to listen to a story and join in with a variety of songs and rhymes.
We encourage the children to wear aprons and waterproof clothing, but sometimes they get very messy, so please ensure they wear their old clothes. It is a good idea to write their names in their coats and shoes too.
Outdoor Learning
The children can choose to play inside or outside throughout the morning, whatever the weather. When they go outside, we will be encouraging them to change into welly boots. Please ensure they have a suitable coat, e.g. a warm coat for cold, windy days or a waterproof coat for wet, rainy days. It is very helpful if you encourage and help your child to be more independent at home too, especially with things like putting on their own coat and shoes. We will also be visiting our woodland area regularly, where the children will learn about the changing seasons, insects and nature.
Friday Family Story Time and Library
On Fridays, families are welcome to join us at the end of the morning for our story time. We will share our book of the week and how the children have engaged in learning linked to this. After story time, you can help your child choose a new library book to tak home.We hope this will encourage the children to develop a love of books and learn how to use them carefully. Please help them by sharing the books at home. This will support them to know how to turn pages, talk about the pictures, and point to the words as you tell the story. Sharing books with children from a very early age can really help them with their vocabulary and learning. To help the children learn to keep school books safe and look after them, you can buy a school book bag for £6.00, from the school office. These are very hard-wearing and will last for a long time.
Snacks
The children can have a drink and a snack when they are ready, it is available through the morning. They can choose milk or water, which they pour into an open topped cup to drink. They are encouraged to be independent, choosing fruit or vegetables, such as bananas, apples, carrot sticks, cucumber etc. We also provide a range of other healthy snacks, including cheese and crackers, breadsticks or toast. Sometimes we will cook with the children, making soup, cakes, pizzas etc.
To cover the costs of these additional snacks, ingredients for cooking and making play dough etc., we ask for a contribution of £5 each half-term or £10 per term.
Woodland Learning
Once we are settled into class and the children are more familiar with the setting, reception children will start going to the woodland area on the school site. They will learn about the changes that occur through the seasons, to look for insects, to learn how to care for living creatures, and to take part in team building exercises such as den building to name a few activities. We experience the outdoor area in all weathers so please ensure children have appropriate clothing at school.
If they have their own pair of wellington boots, it would be helpful to bring them to school once this is up and running, we will keep you updated!
