Cooking & Gardening

We are proud to offer all pupils the opportunity to take part in cooking sessions during the school day. These sessions take place in the School House kitchen and are led by the class teacher.

Fresh ingredients from our school garden are used wherever possible, helping children learn about food, nutrition, and sustainability.

To support this programme, we ask for a voluntary annual contribution of £13.00, which covers the cost of additional ingredients for the full school year (September 2025 – July 2026).

• To contribute, please log into your MCAS account
• The fee can be found in the Clubs section and added to your basket

Your support helps us continue offering this valuable hands-on learning experience. Thank you!

Healthy Snacks

To help keep energy levels up and minds focused, we encourage pupils to bring a healthy snack for break time.

Great options include:

• Fresh fruit or vegetables
• Plain rice cakes or crackers
• A small pot of dried fruit
• Cheese cubes (easy opening)

Please do not send sweets, chocolate, crisps, or fizzy drinks. Let’s work together to support healthy habits and happy learning!

Capturing 'Wow moments' at home

We value contributions from parents/carers of moments of achievement that have happened outside of school.   If you observe your child achieving something new or wonderful, then let one of the Reception team know by sending in a photo with a note or just singing their praises.  The wow moments are stuck in your child’s learning journey and support assessments throughout the year.  Feel free to send in as many as you would like, parents/carers usually complete a page of wow moments each half term. 

English

Week commencing:  13.7.26

Our lessons this week will continue to focus on our Learning Challenge ‘What can I tell my new teacher about me?’

The transition lessons will prepare the children for the next steps.

We will begin the week by introducing the children to the author Anthony Browne.

He is a British writer and illustrator of children's books.
Anthony Browne has written or illustrated over fifty books. He was the Children's Laureate from 2009-2011. 

We will read the story ‘Changes’ by  Anthony Browne.

The story is about a boy preparing for a change. In this case it is the arrival of a new baby sister.

We will use the story to talk about the changes that Reception are about to experience and make links to the changes the boy will experience.

We will discuss the following questions:

• What changes have you experienced?
• What changes are coming up for Reception?

We will reassure the children that change is part of life and will always happen.

We will remind the children that it is normal to feel excited and nervous/ anxious about some changes. The important thing is to talk about how they are feeling with their family, friends and teachers.

We will remind children to ask for help and not keep things to themselves.

They will realise that their friends may be feeling the same and that talking can really help to make them feel better.

This week the children will continue visiting Year 1 and also have a playtime on the big field. The Reception teachers will be with them during all these times.

Children will enjoy the story and exploring Anthony Browne’s unique illustrations.

He deals with an important issue in his own individual and fascinating way.

Throughout the week, we will read more stories by Anthony Browne and continue to explore and discuss his imaginative illustrations with the children.

Supporting your child at home:

Continue to talk to your children about the upcoming changes and transition to Year 1.

Read a story by Anthony Browne and discuss the illustrations with your child.

Your child may want to draw a picture inspired by Anthony Browne’s illustrations and develop their own ideas and creativity!

Find out more about Anthony Browne here:

https://www.anthonybrownebooks.com/

Maths

Week commencing:  13.7.26

We continue with our maths lessons  on verbally counting beyond 20, looking at numbers to 20 and beyond, and recognising the pattern of the counting system.

Counting beyond 20 is an important focus this week. Unlike other languages (e.g. Welsh, Mandarin), English ‘teen’ number names do not follow a logical pattern; we say ‘eleven, twelve, thirteen’ instead of ‘ten-one, ten-two, ten-three’.

It is only when we count beyond 20 that the pattern of our number system becomes clear. For the children to develop familiarity with the structure and pattern of this system, we need to give them experience of counting to these larger numbers. The children may not remember the names of every ‘tens’ number (thirty, forty, fifty etc.) but, when prompted, they should be able to re-join the count because they have understood the pattern of the ‘ones’.

This week’s activities are designed to allow all the children to practise these skills and deepen their sense of number.

In lessons, the children will be using their knowledge of the composition of numbers to show a range of ways of making a number using a ten frame.

This is a ten frame:

First, the children will make numbers up to 10 and use the knowledge learnt in our mastering number daily sessions to make numbers using their knowledge of '5 and a bit'. For example:

                7 is 5 and 2

            8 is 5 and 3

Then the children will move on to making teen numbers using two ten frames.

We will use the stem sentence:

11 is made of 1 full ten and 1.

12 is made of 1 full ten and 2.

We will help children to recognise that the numbers 1 – 9 repeat after every full 10. Therefore:

1 full ten and 1 = 11

1 full ten and 2 = 12

1 full ten and 3 = 13 etc.

We will repeat the activity using Numicon.

Numicon is a resource used in school to support maths teaching that helps children to see the relationship between numbers. They are essentially flat pieces of plastic representing the numbers 1 to 10. Children can pick them up, count the holes, fit them together, lay them on top of each other.

The important part of this lesson is to ensure their understanding that numbers over 10 and up to 20, are made of 1 ten and x amount.

We will then move on to making numbers beyond 20 using ten frames and Numicon.

We will make explicit how you need more ten frames for numbers beyond 20.

For example:

2 ten frames for 20, 3 ten frames for 30, etc. 

23 is made of two full tens and three.

Some children will begin to see the pattern.

We will make bundles of 10 using straws, sticks and towers of 10, like Number Block 10.

Teachers will model counting the bundles/ towers by counting in tens.

This is not a Reception skill. However, some children will be ready for this challenge and extension.

By learning to count in 10s, the children will be able to make numbers beyond 20 more efficiently.

Supporting your child at home:

Look at a 100 number square.

What does your child notice?

Can you see any patterns?

Can you find number ….. ?

What comes before/ after number ….. ?

Cover up a number. What number is hiding? Can you use the numbers around it to help you work out the missing number?

Practise counting beyond 20. Listen carefully – Is your child saying the ‘teen’ numbers correctly? At this age, it is very common for a child to say ‘thirty’ instead of ‘thirteen’, ‘forty’ instead of ‘fourteen’ etc.