Oak: Reception and Nursery

Welcome to Oak Class, where our exciting adventures in learning begin for Nursery and Reception aged children! Mrs Phillips is the Oak Class teacher and is supported by Mrs C, Ms Samways and Miss Francis. Ms Cooke will also help out in class when other members of the team are not in the classroom.

All about Oak Class

At Shoscombe Church School we pride ourselves on our Early Years provision. Reception and Nursery children aged between 3 and 5 are part of Oak Class, creating a wonderful Early Years Unit. We accept children into our Early Years Unit from the term they are three years old and aim to nurture each child’s love of learning and to give every child the best start to their school life.

We have lots of fun playing with our friends, learning practical skills through play based activities, and developing our social and communication skills at every opportunity. We love to learn alongside our friends and explore using our senses. We are curious learners and enjoy asking questions to find out about the world around us. We welcome each child as an individual and look forward to celebrating their successes and achievements, whilst working with families to help children meet their full potential.

This is our overview for the year. The theme for each term has plenty of scope to adapt it to suit children’s interests and needs.

Welcome to Term 3 in Oak Class!

Our activities in Term 2 may include some of the following, but will also be developed in line with children’s interests and fascinations.

EYFS and Nursery

For more information about Nursery, the EYFS curriculum and links to our EYFS progression documents, please visit the Nursery and EYFS pages on the website.

Supporting your child with reading

It can be really tricky knowing how to support your child with reading, especially as it involves a whole collection of different skills which children need to learn and develop in order to become fluent and independent readers.

The videos below will help you to support your child with reading at home, but do please ask if you have any additional questions.

Useful Information

Weekly Schedules:
- PE lessons take place on a Friday. Children come to school in uniform and change in class for PE lessons. To help children with looking after and organising their belongings, please make sure that all clothes are clearly labelled with your child’s name. If you prefer to not buy an additional pair of trainers, children may come to school wearing them on Fridays. PE kits are sent home for washing each holiday.
- Forest School in Oak Class takes place on Tuesday afternoons. On Tuesdays, children may come to school wearing their own clothes ready for the afternoon. Please make sure they have long trousers and long sleeves to ensure they are warm and protected. All children should have a set of waterproofs which they keep in school, these are worn for most Forest School sessions, but are also used regularly when playing in our outdoor area and at lunchtimes throughout the winter. The first Forest School session this autumn will be on Tuesday, September 30th. To allow our forest area to rest, Forest School does not take place in the first half of the Spring Term (Term 3).
Phonics and Reading at Home
Book bags containing reading books and reading logs should be brought to school daily. Reading books are changed on Fridays, when any new sounds or tricky words taught that week are also sent home. Children will practise sounds, blending words containing pre-taught sounds, tricky words and reading books at least 4 times each week.
Little Wandle suggestions for support with reading and phonics at home.
Suggestions for books to share with 3-4 year olds
Suggestions for books to share with 4-5 year olds
Maths
Playing simple board games with dice is a great way of supporting children with early mathematical development, along with spotting patterns and numbers in the environment and asking children to count out items as part of routines at home eg getting 4 spoons to lay the table.
In addition, the free 1-Minute Maths app from White Rose Maths can provide useful subitising practice (along with addition and subtraction practice as children move into Year 1 and 2).