Reception Weekly Blog 22.11.24 'There are quite enough sheep already- be a shepherd: be somebody who’s bold and who leads’

There are quite enough sheep already- be a shepherd: be somebody who’s bold and who leads’

Matt Bevin


What a crazy week! There has been alot of children off this week, sending my love to you all and we are excited to see you back next week for our final week of Nativity practise.

We have been thinking about the Shepherd’s this week in RE, they worked hard to look after their sheep. Sometime Jesus is called the good shepherd because he always looks after us and never leaves us. We heard about when they found out the news that Jesus had been born and followed that star! We role played Shepherds and reflected on how they would feel. We painted our own Shepherd Nativty scene and made and decorated stars with playdough.

Conversation Starter:

In our assembly Mrs Gregan asked us the question, If you were King or Queen what rule would you make?


What have we been learning this week:

We have loved practising on the stage, Miss Drummond has had a few parts this week too! please keep practising lines at home. We have been so impressed with the children and we are excited for you to watch the performances.

Don’t forget to get your tickets you can buy them straight from the office.

We have had some lovely frosty days this week and we enjoyed being out in the hail on Thursday.

Thank you for those who have filled in the forms, I do understand that for many of you it can be difficult to take time off work, but Grandparents and other family member are always welcome to come and share your children’s learning.

If you haven’t please could you fill in the form below. I’ve also attached the Powerpoint if you would like to look at it at home. If you have any questions please email me.


Phonics: Sound mats have gone home or are going home. Please can you make sure they are in your child’s folder so we can tick the sounds your child knows and let you know which sounds to practise at home. I will also make RWI videos that you can scan on your phone or tablet and watch at home, please bear with me as it takes time for me to create them so I will send them home as soon as they are ready.

Reading Books: please can you sign to let us know you have read together at home. These books will be changed every Monday, please can you ensure reading folders are in bags every day so books can be changed and we can listen to your child read in school.

Maths: This week we have been looking at different ways to make 4 and 5. Mr Potato head has stayed out this week and the children have been taking lots of photos of making him whole again. We made our own stampoline (multilink paint prints making 4 and 5 in different ways).

Understanding the World: we have been discussing Autumn, we went on a sign of Autumn hunt outside. The children took their own photos of what they found for our floor book.

DT with Mrs Mathers: We have finished our junk models don’t they look great!

In RHE we listened and joined in with the story Ready Teddy, we even walked into Nursery’s outdoor area and Barbra joined us. We loved retelling this interactive story.

Our Reception Gallery
I have loved teaching the children how to take their own photo’s and they have taken some amazing ones, can they see any photo’s they have taken below?


Toy photos:

I will be sharing our photos on Monday so if you email me some photos that would be great. Photos of: your child’s favourite toy and photos of you/grandparents playing with a toy or have a discussion asking what their favourite toy was when they were your age.

This is an optional homework task but we do enjoy sharing photos and discussing our families in class and it provides a wonderful opportunity for the children to learn about the past.

Optional Homework Challenges:

It is wonderful that the children are so excited about their learning and to see how keen they are to continue this outside of school. We welcome any opportunity to share these learning experiences with you at home, which is why we have created ‘optional challenges’ across each year group which can be explored over this Autumn 2 half term.

These challenges link to the wider area of our curriculum, there are some activities to help with retrival and some with topics that are coming up.

Below you will find the optional challenges linking to the topics and areas of learning that we will be exploring this half term. These fun challenges are designed to cover a range of skills without being stressful or time consuming for you at home. You are welcome to complete them in any order you wish and it would be lovely to see pictures or examples of things that the children have enjoyed at home.

As always, thank you for your continued support.


Let’s Celebrate:

Lunchtime awards:

Our lunch time certificates are awarded by the lunch time team to those children who they see being wonderful role models and using marvelous manors:

Well done to our Role Model Eddie and Maritta for her Marvellous Manners.

Thank you both for being such wonderful role models and for remembering those acts of kindness everyday!

Well done to our certificate awardees: a ‘Cooper Crab’ for trying really hard to focus during our input you have been sitting very smartly on the carpet and during assesmblies. A ‘Bobby Bee’ for your enthusiasm for your Nativity part you have remembered your lines and always deliver them with a loud clear voice.

Whole School Virtues - Intentional and Prophetic:

Thank you for being intentional with your learning, especially in Maths you have enjoyed making 4 and 5 in different ways.

 Henry the Dog: Henry is going home with this person for having a brilliant week it has been lovely to see your happy face every day.

Important Information and Upcoming Events

As part of our Star Charter, we will be raising money for a charity close to our hearts, if there a charity that has a special meaning to you please let me know.

On Wednesday 11th December we will be visiting the residents at Clarence House with Nusery to give them a christmas card and perform a few of our Nativity songs. We will be going in two groups one in the morning leaving at 9:15 and the second session leaving school at 1:30.

We really encourage parental engagement so it would be wonderful if we could have some adult helpers. If you are free and would love to join us please can you send me an email and let me know which session you can help us with. Please note mobile phones can not be used around the children or to take photos of the children. There will be school iPads and photos will be uploaded to the blog.

Show and Tell:

Please look below to see which day your child can share their show and tell news. We love to celebrate each child’s achievements in class. So we use show and tell as an opportunity to share things that they are proud of, or to share something that is important to them. Great show and tell examples are: sharing photos, bringing in certificates or medals, a souvenir  from a trip out or something that they have made at home.


Important Reminders:

Nativity Follow that star

Our nativity performances will be on Wednesday 4th December at 9:30 and Thursday 5th December 9:30 please can you keep practsing their lines at home, then work on a loud voice.

Travelling Nativity: each day a child will take home our travelling nativity, you will receive a text if you child is taking the nativity home. There is a book inside where you can add photos or draw pictures and then return it the next day. You can email any photos to me and I can share them with the class.

  • Polite reminder that we are a Nut free school. Please can you bring in healthy snacks please refer to the poster for suitable snacks, we always have fruit avalible too.

  • PE
    Our PE days are Tuesday (outside) and Wednesday (inside). On these days, children can come to school in their PE uniform and will remain in this for the day. We kindly ask that velcro trainers (white, black or navy) are worn as this allows the children to be indepoendent when taking their shoes off and putting them back on. Polite reminder that for health and safety reasons, no jewellery is to be worn on PE days. We kindly ask that this is removed at home before coming into school.

  • Art T-shirt
    Please can you bring in an art T-shirt, if you haven’t already, these help us keep uniforms as clean as possible.

  • Jumpers: please can you check that your child has brought the right jumper or PE jacket home, they can easily get mixed up when bags are being packed, there are a few missing in class, thank you.

    if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact me at:
    d.drummond@ourladystarofthesea.lancs.sch.uk

Thank you for all of your support 

Have a lovely weekend

Miss Drummond, Mrs Summersall, Mrs Kroll and Miss Forster