Reception - Red Class
A very warm welcome to all our Reception children! We can't wait for you to dive into all the exciting things we’ll be exploring this half term.
|
Mrs A Mellodew Class Teacher |
Miss S Dyson Nursery Nurse |
Mrs L Armitage ETA |
Mrs L McCluskey Advanced ETA |
Our topic this half term is: What is a Seaside?🏝️
This half term our topic is What is a seaside? 🌊
Throughout this topic, the children will explore what makes a seaside environment special, learning about the beach, sea life and how people enjoy visiting the coast. Through a range of exciting, hands-on activities including role play, stories and creative tasks, the children will develop their understanding of the seaside while building on their communication, creativity and curiosity.
This is a summary of some of the learning we will be covering.
📅 Topics for 2025–2026
| 📆 Term | 🎨 Topic |
|---|---|
| 🍂 Autumn 1 | Who am I? |
| 🍁 Autumn 2 | What are the colours in the Rainbow? |
| ❄️ Spring 1 | What toys did my Grandparents play with? |
| 🌱 Spring 2 | How do things change? |
| 🌼 Summer 1 | What different types of transport are there? |
| 🌞 Summer 2 | What is a seaside? |
Notices 📅✨
We have lots of exciting events coming up this half term!
- 🎤 Wednesday 1st July – Early Years Class Assembly (9:00am – parents/carers welcome)
- 🎒 Tuesday 7th July – Transition Day
- 🎉 Thursday 9th July – Summer Fair
As we approach the end of the year, we will begin preparing the children for their move into Year 1, supporting them to feel confident, independent and ready for their next step 🎒✨
Communication, Language and Literacy ✏️📚
- We will be reading What the Ladybird Heard at the Seaside 🐞🌊 as well as other seaside-themed stories. The children will be retelling these stories and acting them out using puppets and costumes 🎭. Our role play area will be transformed into a seaside, including a fish and chip shop 🍟 and sand area. We will also explore non-fiction books about seaside animals 🐚🐠
- We will continue learning key words, focusing on hearing all the sounds in words, including blending longer words and those with adjacent consonants. We will be learning digraphs and using these to write simple sentences 📝. Handwriting will focus on forming all letters correctly.
Mathematics ➕🔢
- We will continue counting with one-to-one correspondence, matching numbers to quantities and practising correct number formation. The children will be developing their understanding of addition and subtraction, as well as exploring even and odd numbers, doubling, halving and sharing 🔢➕➖
- We will also continue to read and write numbers to 20 and develop confidence in recalling number facts to 10 through practical activities and games 🎲
🌍Understanding the World
- During our seaside topic, we will learn about the season of Summer ☀️ and discuss changes we notice. The children will explore seaside environments, compare materials such as sand and pebbles, and learn about marine life 🐟🦀
- We will also talk about how life at the seaside is different from where we live and how seaside holidays have changed over time 🏖️
Physical Development ⚽🏃♀️
- We will be developing confidence in movement, including balancing, running and changing direction. The children will practise moving in different ways with control and coordination and begin to follow simple instructions consistently.
- We will also learn about keeping ourselves healthy through good routines and self-care, including healthy eating, hygiene and the importance of rest 💪🍎
- PE day: Tuesday
❤️ Personal, Social & Emotional Development
- We will continue following our Jigsaw programme. This half term’s focus is “Changing Me”. The children will learn about how to stay healthy and safe and understand how their bodies change.
- They will reflect on their learning across the year and think about what they are proud of 😊. We will also support the children in preparing for their transition into Year 1, helping them to feel confident and excited about the changes ahead 🎒✨
- We will continue to develop positive relationships, sharing, turn-taking and working together.
🎨Expressive Arts and Design
- We will be creating seaside-themed artwork, including drawings and paintings of sea animals 🐠🖌️. The children will explore a range of materials and techniques to express their ideas creatively.
- They will also take part in our whole school music day 🎶🥁, experimenting with different instruments and sounds. In addition, the children will develop their construction skills by learning how to join materials in different ways, including using split pins to create moving models 🔧
- Opportunities for imaginative play will continue through our seaside role play 🌊🎭
Look out for our Parent Information Sheet below!
Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised
The resources on this page will help you support your child with saying their sounds and writing their letters. There are also some useful videos so you can see how they are taught at school and feel confident about supporting their reading at home.
These three videos show you how to pronounce the sounds. Notice how the children don’t add an ‘uh’ sound at the end, so they say: ‘t’ not ‘tuh’. Use the downloadable information to help your child remember how to write their letters and say their sounds.
Look at what we get upto in Reception!
Review date
Page last reviewed: June 2026
