We would like to wish you a warm welcome to our Reception Class!

Our Teaching Team:

Early Years Leader & Class Teacher: Mr D Briscoe

Our Early Years Team work across Nursery and Reception and are: Mrs Dunn (Nursery Teacher), Mrs Sayer, Miss Buck, Mrs Deneva-Wiles and Mrs Stanbridge

We are also delighted to have a student teacher working with us in Spring 1, called Miss Rhodes

 

Class Overview: 

Welcome to the Ladybirds Class webpage! We hope that the information below is informative and useful. 

Ladybirds Class is the Reception Class of Old Buckenham Primary School, and forms the second stage of our Early Years provision within our school. We recognise that our children's learning journey starts with the very first moments that they join our Nursery, which is known as Bumblebees Class, or their existing Nursery / Pre-school setting. Therefore, we place great emphasis on having a strong transition programme which enables our Reception children to make a confident start to their new school year. Further information about our transition arrangements can be found below.

We pride ourselves on the strong positive relationships that we develop with the children and families in our setting, and as an Early Years team we are incredibly passionate about giving our children the best possible start to school life!

We follow the EYFS Statutory Guidance, as outlined by the Government, to provide our children with a well structured and research informed curriculum that is purposeful and exciting. Through a child centred approach, which recognises the interests and needs of each child, we plan for our children to make great progress as they are all valued and taught as unique individuals. Our continuous provision ensures children are developing the ‘Characteristics of Effective Learning’ (‘Playing and Exploring’, ‘Active Learning’, and ‘Creating and Thinking Critically’), which underpin the Early Years curriculum. We know that when children are interested and engaged, then they will be motivated to learn and this shapes our practise. 

The 'Old Buck Way':

Embedded within our school ethos is the mantra: 'Ready, Respectful and Safe'. These three words are taught throughout all parts of our curriculum and are at the heart of our whole school approach. 

Our Values:

At Old Buckenham, we also have 5 core values which we teach our children explicitly throughout our curriculum. 

These values are:

Respect

Honesty

Communication

Teamwork

Resilience

In Reception, one of the many ways that we celebrate these values is through a class puppet called 'Lizzy the Ladybird'. Lizzy goes home with one Ladybird each week (on a Friday) who has displayed the focus value. They then return to school (on a Thursday) so that the chosen child can highlight to the class how they have continued to demonstrate this value at home as well as at school! 

Our Curriculum:

At Old Buckenham, we understand that learning through play is essential if a child is to succeed. Therefore we place great emphasis in planning memorable experiences for our young pupils which stem from their interests, and the key skills which we know they need to strive to master. We also recognise the need for key skills to be taught through structured adult led sessions, which children can then build upon further within their play.

The EYFS describes seven areas of learning and development, which are comprised of 'Prime' and 'Specific' skills. The prime areas are those most essential for a child’s healthy development and future learning. These are:

• Communication and Language
• Personal, Social and Emotional Development
• Physical Development

These prime areas lay the foundations for children to then be able to succeed in four specific areas. These are:

• Literacy
• Mathematics
• Understanding the World
• Expressive Arts and Design.

These seven areas make up our curriculum. Many experiences support the development of several areas of learning simultaneously and it is worth noting that these are not taught seperately. Most of all, the children in Ladybird Class are developing a love of learning and the skills to support them to achieve their own personal goals.

Oracy: Communication and Language

Oracy is an essential part of our curriculum. If your child has speech and language barriers to their learning, or you wish to seek some further support yourself, please see the following resources for more support:

Learning to talk | 3 to 5 years | Start for Life (www.nhs.uk)

Health Advice & Support for Children - Just One Norfolk

Ladybirds Curriculum Maps:

Every half term, we inform our parents of the key overview of what we will be learning over the coming weeks. Please see an overview of what our current children have / will be learning at the bottom of the webpage in the dowloads area; entitled as follows:

Autumn 1 Parental Curriculum Map (Wonderful Me!)

Autumn 2 Parental Curriculum Map (Tremendous Transport)

Spring 1 Parental Curriculum Map (Extraordinary People)

Spring 2 Parental Curriculum Map (Astonishing Animals)

Summer 1 Parental Curriculum Map (Breath-taking Nature)

Enrichment:

Cookery: Each half term, we will be engaging with a cookery project. Our first project was 'Chocolate Mug Cakes!' Please return all permission slips for our cookery projects over the course of the year. It won't be long until we will be starting our next project!

Autumn 1: At the start of this exciting new school year, our Reception children have been lucky enough to send messages to our new partnership school in Kenya. Longonot DEB school will hopefully be back in contact with us soon once they have had chance to respond to their special post from Old Buck! We can't wait to see our children enjoying their new PenPal Project this year. More information about this experience can be found here.

Autumn 2: We are really looking forward to performing a Nativity Show to our Early Years parents this Christmas! Preparation will be underway soon!

Tapestry – Our Online Parent Partnership Tool:

We use 'Tapestry' as a key tool to share our children's learning with their parents and carers at home. At the start of the year, our families have the opportunity to sign up to this online platform. They are then able to receive key updates about their child's learning each week, as we share comments, videos and photos of their progress and achievements. Permission Slips for this can be found in the downloads section at the bottom of this webpage and also here: Consent Letter 1 / Consent Letter 2

Transition: Key Information for our New Starters in Reception - September 2022:

We have a clear focus on transition at our school because we want our children to flourish, becoming confident and happy members of our school community. Therefore, we offer numerous opportunities for our children and their families to get to know our school so that they can begin to build those key positive relationships with their teaching team. These include ‘Stay and Play’ sessions, ‘Home / School Visits’ and many more essential experiences. These are held in the Summer term to welcome children and carers into their new learning environment well in advance of the September start, as we recognise the how important it is to look forward to schooling over the Summer holidays, rather than feeling anxious about joining us. 

Our Transition Arrangements for 2022 can be found here. 

Creative Club: After the success of running this club in the Autumn term, I will again be running this club. During Spring 1, I will be running a 'Creative Club' afterschool on a Thursday. More information can be found in the downloads section and also here. This has had really popular demand! Therefore, if your child has not yet had a space for Autumn 2/Spring 1, the club will run again later in the year!