Welcome all to our Reception and Nursery Page for this Academic Year 2023-24.

We are an EYFS unit with around 60 children aged 3 to 6 in our care, and all the children are supported by an amazing team of staff...

Key Information

Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any queries or concerns.  

 Mrs Noble - cweatherill@stbedes.cumbria.sch.uk or message on SeeSaw 

Mrs Palmer in the school office - secretary@stbedes.cumbria.sch.uk or phone 01228 528274

Mrs Winter (Headteacher) - head@stbedes.cumbria.sch.uk  

Dates for the Diary Spring 2 Term 2024

• • 18^th March - Rec/Y1&2 – Mass @10am
  • 25^th March – Whole School Mass @10am
  • 26^th March – Spring Music Concert
  • 28^th March – Year 5 Easter Assembly in church & the last day of term.

Reception Spring 2 2024 Newsletter

Nursery Drop off and Collection

Our School Nursery now offers 3 different sessions - mornings (8:45-11:45am), afternoons (12:15-3:15pm) or full day (8:45am-3:15pm) sessions. These sessions are available to all children aged 3 and above - children can start the term after their 3rd birthday. Please contact the school office to find out more about the hours available.

To drop children off at Nursery, staff will meet families at the gate next to the bike shed and it will be opened at 8:45am for morning sessions and at 12:15pm for the afternoon sessions. This is also the gate the children will leave by at either 11:45am (morning sessions) or 3:15pm (full day or afternoon only sessions).

Reception Drop off and Collection

Reception children are to line up in the infant playground and will be taken into class at 8:50am. School finishing time is 3:15pm and the class will be let out of the gate onto the infant playground from the Early Years outdoor area.

PE Days

Reception Class have their PE day on a Monday this half term. Our focus is DANCE. 

At St. Bede's the children need a PE kit in a separate bag, which is kept in school for the half-term.

ALL items of PE clothing should be named and items to be included are:

1. Black Shorts, Joggers or Leggings
2. White T-shirt or Polo Shirt
3. A Jumper, Fleece, or Hoodie
4. Black Trainers or Plimsolls
5. We ask that all jewellery should is removed for Health and Safety reasons.   

Nursery children do not need to have a PE kit in school this term. They have plentiful opportunity to develop their fundamental movement skills within the classroom and outdoor environments.

What the children need every day:

Reception: a named, filled water bottle (water only); a Book Bag (available from the school office); a coat (children play outside in ALL weathers and their packed lunch (if they are not having a school-made dinner).

Nursery: a named, filled water bottle (water only); a coat (children play outside in ALL weathers and their packed lunch (if they are not having a school-made dinner and staying for a full-day session).

Nursery children also benefit from having a bag with a spare set of clothes in which is kept in school for any accidents or falls. They also require a School Book Bag (available from the school office) to bring home a school library book of their choosing.

Worship:

Reception and Nursery children at St. Bede's take part in various worship opportunities. We also say our School Prayer, every morning, in each classroom within the unit. 

The Curriculum

In the Early Years, there are 3 Prime Areas of Learning - Communication & Language, Personal, Social & Emotional Development and Physical Development. There are also 4 Specific Areas of Learning - Literacy, Mathematics, Understanding the World and Expressive Art & Design.

Our long term/weekly/daily plans provide breadth and depth across the 7 Areas, but also allows for flexibility and revision, to meet the needs and interests of the children we teach. We also observe how the children engage in their learning and adapt our teaching and environment to enable our children to thrive. We refer to the Characteristics of Effective Learning to describe behaviours children use in order to learn. 

Click on the Link below to see an example of our overview:

RECEPTION overview of Skills & Experiences Spring 2 2024

"To learn well, children must approach opportunities with curiosity, energy and enthusiasm. Effective learning must be meaningful to a child, so that they are able to use what they have learned and apply it in new situations. These abilities and attitudes of strong learners will support them to learn well and make good progress in all the Areas of Learning and Development." (Birth to 5 Matters)

Reception Class loved learning how to orally retell a 5 part story using 'Talk4Writing' Actions, they wanted to share it with the rest of the school and with family at home.

Nursery and Reception children lead the direction of learning whenever possible. Please take a look at just some of the fantastic learning opportunities our children across the unit have instigated or engaged in...

Ways to support your child's development at home...

Making Playdough

Recipe:

• 1 cup of flour
• 1/2 cup of salt
• 1 tbsp cooking oil
• 1 tbsp cream of tartar
• 1 cup of boiling water
• Food colouring of desired choice.  

Great for communication and language skills, fine and gross motor development, modelling and using mathematical language, expressive arts and social and emotional development.

Phonics

In Nursery and Reception children are working towards or within the Read Write Inc Phonics scheme. Children who are not yet ready to access the scheme fully will access some Phase 1 phonics activities from Letters and Sounds to support them in developing their early phonics skills.

(Please see the Reading section of the website for more information on Read, Write, Inc. Phonics)

In Phonics children learn the skills needed to read and write successfully and get the opportunity to apply their newly-learnt skills. At home please make sure children in Reception regularly look at their phonics sheets in their homework file and practise saying these sounds.

Also regularly look at their reading book, which is phonetic, not forgetting to look at the questions in the covers of the book too. 

Supporting Number

Number recognition games can be very exciting for your child and free too!

Reading numbers on doors, car registration plates, on letters, on clocks, on calendars. Going on number hunts around the house or garden area are great fun!

Counting games can be done whenever and wherever. Whilst waiting in queues, out shopping, sitting in the car or even at mealtimes.

Useful websites to use at home...

Early Years Maths - Topmarks Search

ictgames 

Games for kids and early years activities - CBeebies - BBC

Literacy Activities | Doorway Online