Introduction
Welcome to Boothville Primary School Reception. We are delighted that you chose us to start your child's journey into learning. We have 3 classes across our Reception area named after Beatrix Potter characters - Mrs Tiggywinkle, Squirrel Nutkin and Jemima Puddleduck. We also have a large outdoor area which the children access daily.
This page will hopefully provide you with information to help your child have a smooth transition into school.
Please do not hesitate to contact the school office if you have any further questions.
We look forward to meeting you!
Click the section headings below to read about frequently discussed topics of interest.
Is lunch provided?
The children are provided with a fruit or vegetable snack in the morning and a hot dinner at lunchtime for free as part of the universal hot dinners scheme. Lunches need to be booked in advance via the school app so that the kitchen know how many to make. A menu is always available to view via the school app. If you don't want your child to have a hot meal then you are welcome to send them in with a healthy packed lunch - no nut products please.
What if my child has a toileting accident?
Accidents happen so please don't worry. We will always help a child if they have an accident. We keep a selection of spare clothes in school, however if your child is prone to the odd accident then please make their teacher aware and send them in with a small bag of spares which we can keep on their peg.
What happens on PE day?
Children need to bring a small bag containing a pair of jogging bottoms and their house T-shirt (shoes are not required until the summer term). They can leave this on their peg for the half term.
As part of our curriculum and child development, the children are required to learn to get dressed and undressed. On PE days the children are given time and support to get changed into their kit. No earrings or jewellery are allowed on this day please.
What is Busy Learning?
Busy learning is the name we give to our learning through play sessions. The children typically have 2 Busy Learning sessions a day, where they can choose to use our inside or outside environments. They will be exploring, investigating, collaborating, turn-taking, socialising and learning in a variety of ways. It is a magical time during the day and as staff we love to watch and interact with the children to move their learning on.
What is Tapestry?
Tapestry is our online learning journal. When they join the school each child has an account set up for them (this will happen in Nursery if your child attends our nursery). You will then be able to see your child's learning journey as they progress through Reception. Sometimes we post whole class things to show what have been learning, other times we will add to your child's individual journal with things they have achieved or want to show. You can also add things from home to help us build up a picture of the whole child. We love to see what they have been doing! See Tapestry Document for more information.
How can I be part of my child's learning?
We believe that parents are very important in each child's learning journey. Children are at a very crucial stage developmentally when they start school and having support from home helps with making progress in learning their phonics sounds, developing social skills and much more. We ask that you encourage them, talk to them about school, share their Tapestry moments with them, practise their phonics sounds and reading books. Use our termly leaflets to see what we are learning about as a starting point for continuing learning at home.
Starting school can stir up a mix of emotions in both the child and the adults. For some it is exciting and for others it can feel daunting and scary. We are here to make the transition as smooth as possible. We will speak to the child's nursery setting and there will be a couple of stay and play sessions that you can attend at school to help with the process. Our first stay and play is a very relaxed session at our Forest School. The second stay and play is in a smaller group and is in the classroom environment. We will provide a transition booklet for each child to look at over the summer with you.
There are things that you can do with your child to help prepare them for starting school. Please don't worry if they can't do all of these things, it is just a general list to give you a starting point of things that it would be helpful for the child to be able to do. There is a fun checklist available to download at the side of this page if you want to make it into a little challenge over the summer!
| Title | Download |
|---|---|
| pdf School Ready Checklist | Download |
We would say that every day in Reception is different due to the children and the nature of Busy Learning. We are flexible in that we can adapt our learning if things come up, e.g. a child has bought in something special to show from home, we find something outside, there is a cultural celebration. However we do also have a structure to our day as we know that children need routines. In a typical day we would start by having a carpet session where we talk about and show a new bit of learning. We ensure that the learning is very visual and as active as possible. We then have a short playtime before Busy Learning. We end the morning with a Phonics session. After lunch we have a second carpet session, followed by Busy Learning. We then have a story session, playtime and a home time activity e.g. dough disco.
We firmly believe in making learning fun, active and engaging. The Early Years outcomes continue on from what your child was learning at nursery and are divided into seven areas of learning:
- communication and language
- personal, social and emotional development
- literacy
- mathematics
- physical development
- understanding the world
- expressive arts and design
We write our own curriculum encompassing all of these areas and prepare children for continuing their learning journey in Key Stage 1, where they will learn through the more traditional subjects e.g. History, English, RE.
Our long term curriculum map is available to view in our files.
We are very lucky to have our reception area in the newest part of the school. Our purpose built building has 3 classrooms set along a corridor with access to the outdoor space from each one. This allows our children to be able to "free flow" between the 2 spaces during Busy Learning time.
Inside our rooms are set up to enable independent learning opportunities across the 7 areas of development. We spend time modelling how the children might use resources and how to play. Quite often they will come up with their own ideas which are even better than ours! We use the phrase "choose it, use it, put it away" which helps to encourage independence, creativity and respect.
Outside our area is also set up to enable learning opportunities across the 7 areas but on a larger scale. There is space to develop gross motor skills, explore with sand and water, create in the mud kitchen, roleplay and construct.
See our gallery below and click images to view larger versions.
Children will need to bring a coat, lunchbox if they are having a packed lunch and their book bag (on their book change day).
Our colours are navy blue and golden yellow at Boothville. You can buy logo T-shirts, jumpers and cardigans from Stevensons school wear shop Visit Stevensons' website and My Clothing, Visit MyClothing.com.
Children can also wear plain school wear in these colours available from supermarkets etc. We do get messy in Reception so best to have a couple of spares!
Trousers and skirts can be black or grey. Black school shoes - we recommend velcros so that the children can be independent in taking them on and off.
Please send your child in with a coat everyday (we spend large amounts of the day outside) and season appropriate accessories e.g. scarf, gloves, cap.
Please label all items of clothing, you would be surprised how much lost property we end up with because it isn't named! We have a school account with Stikins (School Fundraising Number 2334) and each child will receive a sample pack and order form should you wish to order any more.