New Reception Information

Hello everybody,

We are really looking forward to seeing you all in Reception. Despite the challenging circumstances, we are doing all that we can to make you feel as prepared and as ready as possible for the next academic year and we’re looking forward to all the things that we have planned. Unfortunately, we aren’t able to see all of you in person before the summer, but we felt that it would be helpful to share some information that parents and carers often ask for in the lead up to the summer holidays. This is by no means exhaustive but we hope that it covers some of the key questions. As we have said throughout this time, things are changing on an ongoing basis and we hear about government guidance when you do; this information is accurate if we return in ‘normal’ circumstances and we will update you over the summer as and when we know what September is going to be like.    

• The school day for Reception children begins at 8:55am and ends at 3:15pm
• Children line up at the Reception entrance on the KS1 yard and staff will open the door at 8:55. If your child is ready and happy to come in on their own, let them. If they want you to come in with them, do so. If they’re unsettled when they come in but quickly settle, we’ll let you know. If they don’t settle, we’ll let you know 
• Children will all have their own peg in the communal area of Reception and can put their coat, bags, wellies etc there before going into their classrooms
• If children are in Out of School Club, staff will take them to their classrooms in the morning and pick them up from there at the end of the day
• At the end of the day, parents/ carers come in through the Reception entrance and collect children from their classroom door. This allows staff to see you all, have a chat and let you know anything that you need to
• Children are taken from the EYFS building to the lunch hall by staff who help them make their choices and help them with their lunch. Staff, alongside lunchtime supervisors, stay with children as they eat. If there are any concerns about your child not eating, we’ll get in touch with you as soon as possible
• Lunch menus can be found on the School Meals area of our website and are planned on a three weekly menu cycle
• Your child will have a Tapestry account for their Online Learning Journey. If your child came to our Nursery, this same account will continue into Reception. If your child went to an alternative setting that used Tapestry, let us know and we’ll transfer the account over. If your child hasn’t had a Tapestry account in their previous setting, let us know and we’ll set it up and talk you through the benefits
• Children will be given a book bag in the first couple of weeks that they will need to bring to school every day 
• Children will need to bring in a water bottle from home every day with fresh water, not juice
• Fruit will be provided for every child, every day 
• Your child will receive free school milk each day only until the week they turn five years old.  If you would like your child to receive milk after they are five, you can purchase milk from Cool Milk; details can be found on our website
• We will give you four weeks notice before your child needs to bring a PE kit into school. You can buy these from the school office 
• Children will register in their teacher’s classroom and do the majority of their group learning with their peers. Once they finish their group learning, they have free flow access across all rooms in Reception and are free to mix with children from the other Reception class 
• Children will be going outside every day, using the EYFS yard that Reception share with Nursery, and the Key Stage 1 yard for some playtimes. Please make sure that they come to school with an appropriate coat, gloves, hat etc.    
• If you are late at the beginning of the day for whatever reason, please go to the school office and office staff will take your child to their classroom. If you are late to collect your child at the end of the day, your child will be taken to the school office and they can be picked up from there
• Please ensure that everything that belongs to your child is clearly labelled with their name. We appreciate that a lot of money is spent on uniform, shoes, coats etc. and with a lot of children learning how to take care of their possessions, naming everything helps us massively to make sure that everything that they bring in also goes home with them   
• If your child requires medication, school can administer this providing the medication is needed at least four times a day.  Medication must be in its original packaging and prescribed medication must be in your child’s name.  Over the counter medication and creams will only be allowed in school in exceptional circumstances.  If your child needs medication in school, you must bring it to the school office and sign to give permission for it to be administered

We hope that this information is helpful to you and may help with some questions that you may have. As we said, it is by no means exhaustive and is based on a ‘normal’ September but,  if you have something that you want to know or would like to talk about, contact the school office and one of us will be in touch with you as soon as we can.

We’re all very excited to welcome you and your families into Reception and we are looking forward to having a brilliant time with all of you and all the fun things that we have planned. 

Thank you, 

The Reception Team

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