A Place to Learn Together
We offer Nursery Provision to Year 6
Please see our Reception noticeboard to find additional information on Phonics and Reading at school: https://www.earlswood.surrey.sch.uk/notice-board-9/
Week beginning 20th October 2025
Noticeboard
Sculpture Week - 4th November 2025.
This year our whole school sculpture week starts on 4th November 2025. For our sculpture week in Reception, we will be learning all about the work of the sculptor, Louise Nevelson. The children will all make their own sculpture and this year we are using ‘lost or broken items’ to use for our sculptures.
We would like every child to bring a named shoebox in with some items that you have at home which are missing pieces and are ready to be thrown away or recycled.
Please see the photo for an idea of what we would like the children to bring in. Items can include, lego pieces, puzzle pieces, counters, game items, construction items or broken craft items.
Please can these be brought into school by Friday 24th October so that the children can start making their sculptures when we start school after half term.
Noticeboard:
Yogurt pots
We are still collecting yogurt pots for an exciting PSHE activity! If you have any empty yogurt pots please do send them into school.
Counting sticks
If you go out for an Autumn walk this weekend please could you encourage your child to find a stick to bring to school? We will be decorating them and using them as our magic counting sticks!
Reading books:
Please can we ask that reading records and books are kept away from water bottles and brought into school every day. Please see this link below about reading wordless books with your child:
https://www.littlewandle.org.uk/resources/for-parents/#tabnametabBooksComingHome
Playdough ingredients
We are often making playdough for the children to use in our provision and we would be ever so grateful if you are able to donate any of the following playdough ingredients such as:
Flour
Salt
Food colouring
Cream of Tartar
Sculpture Week after half term
We are still in need of shoe boxes and items which you do not mind being painted and glued for our sculpture week after half term.
Our learning this week:
Topic: People Who Help Us
Next week we are continuing our learning theme all about people who help us. We will be finding out about the jobs people do at school to help us.
Drawing Club: This week in Drawing Club we will be watching a short animation of "Fireman Sam”. The children will be drawing the characters of the firefighters, talking about and drawing a picture of the setting to the animation and then going on an adventure with the animation! The vocabulary we will be learning as part of Drawing Club is, ‘disaster’, ‘team’, 'mishap', fire brigade and ‘emergency’.
Maths: In Maths this week we will be learning about finding amounts which are more or less than a given amount. The children will also be using their skills of subitising where they will be encouraged to look at amounts of items up to 5 and to say what they see and how they see it.
Phonics: This week in Phonics, we will be revising the graphemes, which we have been learning throughout this term. The tricky words we will be continuing to read and recognise are, is, the and I. The children will continue to practice their blending skills to support them when sounding out words and reading.
RE: In RE this week, we will be learning about how different people belong to different communities (e.g. church, synagogue or mosque) and how some people may not belong to faith or religion. We will talk about how everyone is different and that is what makes us all special and unique.
PSHE: In PSHE this week, we will be learning about the word ‘responsibility’ and what it means to have responsibilities.
PE: We will be continuing to learn how to travel safely and in a variety of ways when exploring different climbing equipment during our climbing zone times.
Week beginning 13th October 2025
Topic: People Who Help Us
Our topic for the next two weeks is all about people who help us at school and within our local community. We are very lucky to have a visit from a police officer and nurse next week where we will find out about how they help people!
Our learning next week:
Topic: In our topic lesson we will be learning about people who help us at school and finding out how they help us.
Drawing club: This week we will be reading the story "Funnybones". The children will be drawing the characters of the skeletons, talking about and drawing a picture of the setting to the story and then going on an adventure with the story! The vocabulary we will be learning as part of Drawing Club is, ‘dark’, ‘cheeky', 'cellar', 'frighten' and 'bumped'.
Maths: In Maths this week we will be learning all about mass and capacity. We will be using scales to help us when identifying heavy and light items and will be exploring the capacity of containers by exploring how many items they can hold.
Phonics: This week in Phonics, we will be learning the graphemes f and l. We will then be revising some of the graphemes we have learnt to date. The tricky words we will continue to be learning to read are the, is and I. The children will learn how to form each of the above graphemes and will continue to practice their blending skills to support them when sounding out words to read and when spelling words to write.
PSHE: In PSHE this week we will be learning about the importance of why it is good to be kind and have gentle hands.
RE: In RE we will be learning about belonging. We will talk about the ways in which we know that we belong to Earlswood school.
PE: We will be continuing to learn how to travel safely and in a variety of ways when exploring different climbing equipment during our climbing zone times.
Feeling Good Week 6th-10 October
As part of our ongoing work to promote positive mental health, we are taking part in Feeling Good Week. Goslings, Ducklings and children in Year R-6 are invited to wear their own clothes on Monday 6th October to celebrate the start of this ‘feel good’ week. Goslings and Chicks are invited to wear their own clothes on Friday 10th October to celebrate World Mental Health Day.
Reception children are also invited to bring a small soft toy for a ‘Teddy Bears Picnic’ on Friday 10th October to celebrate World Mental Health Day.
Reading books:
We are going to begin our reading sessions next week with the children. When your child brings their books home please do read and share these books with your children every day and record a comment in your child's reading record. We ask that reading records and books are kept away from water bottles and brought into school every day. Please see this link below about reading wordless books with your child:
https://www.littlewandle.org.uk/resources/for-parents/#tabnametabBooksComingHome
Yogurt pots
We are planning a very exciting PSHE lesson where we will be learning all about our responsibilities. As part of this, we would love as many empty yogurt pots that you have at home. Please send these into school with your child by 20th October 2025.
Our learning next week:
Topic: As part of our topic learning this week we will be learning about our families. If you have not already done so, please upload a family photo onto Tapestry or email one to infoinfants@earlswood.surrey.sch.uk
Drawing Club: This week we will be reading the story "Owl Babies". The children will be drawing the characters of the owls, talking about and drawing a picture of the setting to the story and then going on an adventure with the story as we have to think about ways the owls keep themselves busy while waiting for Mummy Owl to return. The vocabulary we will be learning as part of Drawing Club is, ‘brave, ‘lost, wish, silent and worried.
Maths: In Maths this week, we will be continuing our learning using our comparison skills to talk about differences we notice between items. We will be focusing on comparing the quantities of items using the language of ‘more’ and ‘less’. We will also be comparing the capacity and height of different containers and items. The language we will be using is as heavy, light, full, empty, short, tall and long.
Phonics: This week in Phonics, we will be learning how to pronounce the phonemes and recognise the graphemes, u, r, h and b. The tricky word we will be learning to read is the and the children will continue to revise the tricky words is and I. The children will learn how to form each of the above graphemes and will continue to practice their blending skills to support them when sounding out words and reading.
PSHE: As part of Feel Good Week we will be learning about our emotions and how we share these using our facial expressions.
PE: We will be continuing to learn how to travel safely and in a variety of ways when exploring different climbing equipment during our climbing zone times. Our PE day is on a Monday. Please ensure all earrings are removed on this day.
RE: In RE this week we will be talking about and learning how babies are welcomed into their families. We will encourage the children to think about times they have experienced welcoming a new baby and how they might send cards or give presents.
Week beginning 29th September 2025.
Natural Autumn items
If you go out for an Autumn walk this weekend we would love as many conkers, leaves and acorns to be brought into school for our learning activities next week. Thank you! J
Learning detectives
The children are all enjoying being chosen to be a learning detective on each day. Two children get this opportunity every day in each class and when your child is a learning detective they are tasked with the challenge to look for great learners throughout the day. Their focus will be based on our learning behaviours – resilient learners, independent learners, collaborative learners, reflective learners and motivated learners.
Our learning this week:
Topic: This week we are learning all about our feelings. We will be talking about our Zones of Regulation and thinking about how we can help ourselves to regulate when our emotions become a little overwhelming. The children will also be given the challenge to sort emotions into groups and will listen to stories about different emotions throughout the week.
Drawing Club: This week we will be learning the nursery rhyme "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star". The children will be drawing the character of the star, talking about and drawing a picture of the setting to the nursery rhyme and then going on an adventure with the nursery rhyme as the star goes on adventure into space and we have to imagine what we think the star might see on its journey! The vocabulary we will be learning as part of Drawing Club is, ‘twinkle’, ‘wondering’, 'overhead', 'night' and 'star'.
Maths: In Maths this week, we will be learning all about matching, sorting and comparing items. The children will be encouraged to think about how they could sort a selection of items such as by colour or size.
Phonics: In Phonics this week, the children will be learning the sounds c, k, ck and e. We will be learning the phonemes - how to pronounce each sound and will be identifying items with each sound at the start. The children will also be learning how to form each grapheme using a phrase to support them when writing. In addition to this, the children will be learning to segment sounds in words and blend them together to hear and read the whole word. The tricky words we will be learning to read are, is and I.
PSHE: In PSHE this week the children will be learning about how to work alongside others and will be encouraged to think about how their friends might feel at different points throughout the day. We will learn the phrase, “Sharing is Caring” and will talk about this and how we feel when someone shares.
RE: In RE this week we will be thinking about what makes people around us special and unique.
PE: We will be learning how to travel safely and in a variety of ways when exploring different climbing equipment during our climbing zone times. Our PE day is on a Monday. Please ensure all earrings are removed on this day.
Week beginning 22nd September 2025
Welcome to Reception parent meeting 17.9.25.
Thankyou to everyone who was able to join our meeting this week. The presentation has now been uploaded onto our noticeboard. We hope you find the information helpful, if you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask your child's class teacher.
PE: Our PE day is a Monday. Please can all earrings and jewellery be removed for safety reasons on a Monday.
Uniform: Due to the active nature of Reception we ask that only black joggers, leggings or shorts are worn at school with a white polo shirt, black trainers and a school jumper or cardigan. Please note, skirts, skorts and dresses are not part of our Reception uniform policy.
Water bottles: Please can we remind you that squash or juice is not allowed in your children’s water bottles. As part of our healthy school’s status we ask for the bottles to only contain water.
Family photos
Thank you so much if you have already sent a family photo into school. We would still love one family photo of every child with members of their family which we will print and make into a family book for each class. If you are able to, please either upload your photo to Tapestry or send the photo to our school office: infoinfants@earlswood.surrey.sch.uk with your child's class name in the subject of the email.
Baby Photos
As part of our RE learning we would also be very grateful if you could send in a photo of when your child was a baby which we will share as a class and use to support our learning about how we are all different.
Our learning this week:
Drawing Club: The children will be focusing on the nursery rhyme Row Row Row your Boat. We will be drawing the character of the mouse, talking about and drawing a picture of the setting to the nursery rhyme and then going on an adventure with the nursery rhyme as the mouse hears a new animal trying to climb up the clock! The vocabulary we will be learning as part of Drawing Club is, ‘gently’, 'merry', 'dream', 'row' and 'oar'.
Maths: This week in Maths, the children will be learning about sorting items by colour or size and matching items to find groups of the same items.
Phonics: In Phonics this week, the children will be learning the sounds m, d, g and o. We will be learning the phoneme - how to pronounce each sound and will be identifying items with each sound at the start. The children will also be learning how to form each grapheme using a phrase to support them when writing. In addition to this, the children will be learning to segment sounds in words and blend them together to hear and say the whole word.
Topic: In our topic lesson we will be learning about who we are, the friends we have made and what makes us special.
PSHE: In PSHE this week we will be learning about how we can begin to manage our feelings and will be linking this learning to our green zone of regulation where we feel calm and ready to learn.
RE: We will be thinking and learning about what makes the people around us special and unique.
PE: We will be learning how to travel safely and in a variety of ways when exploring different climbing equipment during our climbing zone times. Our PE day is on a Monday. Please ensure all earrings are removed on this day.
Week beginning 15th September 2025
The children have been superstars at starting school and we have all enjoyed our first full days in Reception! All of the children have settled so incredibly well and are already wonderful at remembering the daily routines such as where their water bottles, reading diaries, bags and coats go. This week, we will be continuing to settle the children into their new classes and will be encouraging them to build and make new friendships with others in their classes and partner classes.
New parent meeting – A day in the life of Reception.
Next Wednesday 17th September we have a meeting giving you some more information all about the day in the life of Reception. The meeting will be in the Learning Hub next to the Nursery and will be from 2-3pm.
Family photos
We would love one family photo of every child with members of their family which we will print and make into a family book for each class. If you are able to, please either upload your photo to Tapestry or send the photo to our school office: infoinfants@earlswood.surrey.sch.uk with your child's class name in the subject of the email.
Baby Photos
As part of our RE learning next week we would also be very grateful if you could send in a photo of when your child was a baby which we will share as a class and use to support our learning about how we are all different.
Reading Diaries
This week, we have sent your child's reading diary home. Please do comment on any text your child shares or reads with you at home such as non-fiction books, story books or comics. We check the reading diaries every day so if you have a message for your child’s teacher please do write it in their diary.
Sharing story books
In order to promote a true love of reading we will be encouraging the children to select a picture book to share at home with you. These will be available every day for the children and they will be able to choose a new book once they have returned their current one.
Our learning this week:
Drawing Club: The children will be focusing on the nursery rhyme Hickory Dickory Dock. We will be drawing the character of the mouse, talking about and drawing a picture of the setting to the nursery rhyme and then going on an adventure with the nursery rhyme as the mouse hears a new animal trying to climb up the clock! The vocabulary we will be learning as part of Drawing Club is, 'clock', 'struck', 'panic', 'tick tock' and 'run'.
Maths: This week in Maths, the children will be counting actions such as 3 claps, 4 jumps and 5 hops. The children will also be singing lots of counting songs up to 5, such as 5 Currant Buns in a Baker's Shop and Five Speckled Frogs. We will also introduce the concept of sorting items into groups.
Phonics: In Phonics this week, the children will be learning the sounds t, p, i and n. We will be learning the phoneme - how to pronounce each sound and will be identifying items with each sound at the start. The children will also be learning how to form each grapheme using a phrase to support them when writing. In addition to this, the children will be learning to segment sounds in words and blend them together to hear and say the whole word.
Topic: In our topic lesson we will be learning about our feelings and emotions. We will be linking this learning to our zones of regulation and will talk about the feelings of happiness, anger, sadness and how we feel at times when we might be scared.
PSHE: In PSHE this week we will be encouraging the children to develop their confidence when sharing ideas in front of their class. We will be focusing on how we all have similarities and differences and how these qualities make us all unique.
RE: We will be thinking and learning about what makes us all special and will be encouraging the children to share their differences and learning how being different makes us all special.
PE: We will be learning how to travel safely and in a variety of ways when exploring different climbing equipment during our climbing zone times.
Week beginning 8th September 2025
Welcome to Reception!
Welcome to all our new children and families starting Reception at Earlswood! It has been lovely meeting the children and yourselves during the school visits and we hope that you have enjoyed them too.
We are looking forward to welcoming the children on Tuesday 9th and Wednesday 10th September for their half day sessions. Children are to wear their school uniform and bring a water bottle. The children will not be having lunch at school on these days. The morning sessions are 9am-11:30am and the afternoon sessions are 12:30-3pm. These sessions have already been assigned. If you are unsure of your session time please contact the school.
Thursday 11th September will be the children's first full day of school. They will be having lunch at school, please let us know of any dietary requirements if you have not done so already.
Please see the uniform policy here: Uniform
Every day the children need to bring a named:
- Water bottle
- Sun hat
- Water proof coat
- Spare clothes (these can be kept on their peg)
Sun cream needs to be applied before the children come to school.
Our learning this week
Phonics: In Phonics children will be learning to read and write. The children will be learning to recognise and write the graphemes s and a. We will also be practicing our oral blending skills where we sound talk words and phrases to the children such as, "t-a-p your head"
Maths: The children will be singing lots of number songs and counting forwards and backwards to 5.