Dear Reception families

What a busy week it has been!

Thank you all for your kind words of support during our OFSTED inspection early this week. I’m afraid we are in for a long wait for the report. We will update you as soon as we can.  

Our learning focus this week was religious education. We explored celebrations through the lenses of our own New Year in the UK, the Chinese New Year and the Persian or Iranian New Year called Nowruz. We also had some fantastic fun learning about the Hindu festival of Holi. We had an oral storytelling of the Great Race (the story of the Chinese Zodiac) with puppets and the children helped to clean up the classroom to get ready for Chinese New Year. We did some imaginary bonfire jumping to welcome Nowruz chanting ‘My yellow is yours, your red is mine.’ The tradition is rooted in giving your sorrow and problems to the fire and taking the fires warmth and strength. We made a Haft Sin table together. The seven core items symbolise love, wisdom, health, strength, patience, hope and new life. The children grew their own wheat seeds for the table. 

To explore Holi we learnt a Holi dance with Miss Priya. They had great fun dancing. If you’d like to let the children have another go, here is the link:Kids Holi Dance Tutorial | Holi Mein Rangeele | Happy Holi

On Tuesday it was National Safer Internet day and we will be talking about core internet safety messages. We learnt a song with Smartie the penguin:

‘Before you tap and click, you need to stop and think, and tell someone.’

For more internet safety support and information please see the following:

Parents and Carers - UK Safer Internet Centre

Smartie the Penguin - ebook - UK Safer Internet Centre

It was also National Mental Health Week and the theme this year was ‘This is my place’ and related to belonging. The children all talked about how to support and include each other and we asked ‘Where do you feel you belong?’ We all invited each other to join in with play and we agreed that kindness and making sure everyone has friends and feels included is important to us all. 

We rounded off the week with our 100 days in reception party. The children have reached a real milestone, and their progress this year in all areas of their learning has been fantastic. 

Enjoy your half term break and we look forward to seeing you all on the 23rd February for the start of the new term. 

Dates for your diary: 

23rd February - Start of Term 4

25th February - Parents Evening

27th February - Cygnus and Delphinus Visit to Science Oxford

5th March - World Book Day (See School News on Greenhouse for details)

11th March - Parents Evening 

12th March - HSA Cake Sale

26th March - Easter Service at SS Peter and Paul's Church 10am start leaving school 9:15am

27th March - End of Term 1pm 

Notices:

You have received a sheet with QR code links for practicing phonics sounds at home over half term. Please read with the children too and encourage them to read to you too!

Children need a pair of indoor shoes/plimsoles to change into to come into the classroom and a spare set of clothes, including pants and socks, for any accidents. Please ensure all the children have these in school. We do not have enough spare clothes to accommodate all needs. 

Please make sure the children have a waterproof coat every day. We have outdoor play as often as possible and we need to be ready for changes in the weather. Please also bring a hat, scarf and gloves for the colder weather.

If your child is going home with someone else, please make sure you email the school office to advise us of the change: office@nhps.org.uk 

Please can all children bring a book bag daily to allow us to send written work and books home when needed? Small rucksacks are too small to accommodate A4 paper and library books.  

Best wishes

The Reception Team