Reception
Miss Simpkin-Teacher/Keyworker
Miss Oxley-LSA
Start time – 8:40am Pick-up time - 3:15pm
Welcome to Reception!
Spring 1, 2026
We are so excited to learn lots of new things this year and work together to support each child’s learning journey. If we can do anything to help or answer any queries, please contact us at foundationstage@cpa.dsat.education
Click the link below to find out what we will be learning through the year:
Reception Long Term Plan 25-26
Our theme this half term is ' Winter'
This half term we will be using our core stories to develop our use and understanding of new vocabulary words.
Core Texts:
Our 2 stories to focus for this half term are The Gruffalo's Child & One Snowy Night. We will be learning new vocabulary within both of these stories.
Literacy & Phonics
The children will take part in daily RWI lessons to identify sounds and learn to blend and segment. Children will be given a phonics key ring including the sounds they have been taught and weekly speed sound formation sheets.
Please send your child to school with a book bag every day so that they can keep their phonics book, library book and key ring safe.
Children have now been assessed and grouped based on their recent assessments- copies of assessment details were sent home and new book bands have been allocated.
Book changing day is every Thursday
Thank you for coming to our Reception and Early Reading meeting- the presentation is attached below. Any questions, please ask!
Maths
At Canon Popham, we follow maths mastery approach. This half term, our maths units are Alive in 5, Mass and capacity and Growing 6, 7, 8
These are the key facts taught throughout Spring 1 to practise with your child at home:
Reception Key Instant Recall Facts-Spring 1
Reception Key Instant Recall Facts-Autumn 2
Reception Key Instant Recall Facts- Autumn 1
Understanding the World
The Foundations Of:
RE – E.2 Why are some objects special? We will learn that families are all different but can be similar in some ways. We will then look at different objects and discuss how they can be precious because of where they came from, who gave them to us or how they make us feel. We will learn about the mezuzah in Judaism and how the Torah is a special book for Jewish people. We will also learn about special Christian objects such as the cross, candle and beads and the bible. We will learn about the Muslim holy book which is the Qur'an about Allah and his followers.
History– Why do we wear different clothes at different times of the year? We will be learning to understand some important processes and changes in the natural world around them, including the seasons. We will look carefully at seasonal change and how we have experienced seasons in the past and events through time that link closely to seasons.
Geography- Where in the world would you like to go and how would you get there? To use stories and discussions about holidays to build awareness of different countries. To know how we could travel to different countries, - talk about where we have been on holiday and how we got there.
Science- What makes it move? children will investigate how to make things move. They will be encouraged to ask questions from their observations and to carry out their own investigations. This launches the big physics idea that nothing moves without a force acting upon it. The force will always be a push or a pull.
Computing- Kapow- Programming Bee-Bots- To understand the meaning of directional
arrows, We will learn to follow a simple sequence of instructions and programme a bee bot to follow these instructions. We will unpick any problems and be confident to try new activities and show independence, resilience and perseverance in the face of challenge.
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
The Foundations Of:
PSHE– Health and Wellbeing- Mental Wellbeing
To identify different emotions in ourselves through reading the story of the Colour Monster and linking these to the Zones of Regulation programme. Children will be learning about the four coloured zones and how these colours might overlap. We will learn regulation techniques to help us get back to the 'green zone'
Expressive Arts and Design-
The Foundations Of:
Music- Charanga- Lilting Lullaby
Art- Painting- Henri Matisse- This unit introduces the children to colour mixing, the use of powder paint and the tools and process needed for painting. We will be learning about the primary colours and creating a final piece linked to Henri Matisse' work.
Physical Development
PE-Get Set 4 PE-Dance Unit 2
Children will develop expressive movement and continue to learn how to use space safely. We will learn about travelling actions, shapes and balances through copy and repeating but also through exploration. We will learn to keep in time to music and share our dance with our classmates.
Our PE lesson will take place every Wednesday, children should come to school every Wednesday wearing their PE kit.
We will also be using our outdoor area to develop our gross motor skills. The children love to practice their running, moving, climbing and throwing skills and have access to our outdoor area every day to practice these.
Tapestry
We love see the things our children have been learning at home from your observations! A Tapestry challenge will be sent out each week on a Friday and you will have the rest of the week to complete this. If you need any support using your Tapestry account to get the most out of this wonderful platform, please ask a member of staff or use the tutorials below to help.
Information from parents meetings- feel free to drop us an email if you have any questions!
Tapestry parents information presentation
If you have any questions, please feel free to email us or give us a call!
Thank you for your support,
Miss Simpkin & Miss Oxley