Welcombe Avenue, Park North,
Swindon, Wiltshire, SN3 2QN
01793 342342
Reception
Welcome to Reception
The Reception Team
Class Teachers and Class Names
Mr Gale Owls Class 1
Mrs Pitter Squirrels Class 2
Miss Catling Otters Class 3
Mrs Skene SENCO (EYFS and Y1) Otters (Thursday pm and Friday), Owls (Tuesday pm)
Support staff
Ms Davenport
Mrs Powdrill
Miss Mason
Mrs Mobey
Ms Begley
Miss Moore
Newsletter
We send a weekly newsletter to parents through Parent Pay which includes a range of information, links, QR codes, dates for the diary and curriculum information. Currently, these are sent weekly. Our newsletter from this week can be seen below:
29 eyfs newsletter 24th april.pdf
28 eyfs newsletter 17th march.pdf
With so many children making such incredible progress, we have provided the following QR Codes for parents to during the Summer Term - and beyond - to get your child into Red group, then Green group and beyond before they enter Y1. We have sent these home as paper copies too to make learning at home even easier. Thank you for your continued support in ensuring that our children make such amazing success!
Our previous newsletters from throughout the year can be found below:
The Reception team can be contacted by telephone: 01793 342342 and on our email earlyyears@goddardpark.co.uk
Early Years Foundation Stage
In EYFS at Goddard Park Community Primary School, the curriculum is designed to recognise children’s prior learning and their experiences at home, provide first-hand learning experience, whilst allowing the children to build resilience, ambition and integrity in a language rich environment.
Every child is recognised as a unique individual and we celebrate and welcome differences within our school community. The ability to learn is underpinned by the teaching of basic skills, knowledge, concepts and values fostering a love of reading. We provide enhancement opportunities to engage learning and believe that our first experiences of school should be happy and positive, enabling us to develop a lifelong love of learning. Throughout their time in EYFS, the children develop a sense of belonging to our community, ready to transition to year 1 the following academic year.
Providing the opportunities that give the children the confidence and skills to make decisions and self-evaluate, make connections and become lifelong learners.
Learning opportunities are provided in a rich learning environment for the children to explore the seven areas of learning:
Prime Areas
- 1) Communication and Language
- 2) Physical Development
- 3) Personal, Social and Emotional Development
Specific Areas
- 1) Literacy
- 2) Mathematics
- 3) Understanding The World
- 4) Expressive Arts and Design
Characteristics of Effective Teaching and Learning
Alongside the seven characteristics of learning, opportunities are also planned for, provided and developed to encourage children to explore how to learn, play, be creative, sustain growing concentration, reflect on what they see and apply learning to new situations with their own ideas. These key areas are best described in these three key areas:
Playing and Exploring
- Finding our and exploring
- Playing with what they know
- Willingness to "have a go"
Active Learning
- Being involved and concentrating
- Keep trying
- Enjoying achieving what they set out to do
Creating and Critical Thinking
- Having their own ideas
- Making Links
- Working with ideas
Our Curriculum Provision
For home learning, you can use the QR Codes and flashcards which we regularly send home with your child to support working with your child on their phonic and maths development. We have recently shared new QR codes for children and families to learn together during the Summer Term 2026.
Our curriculum for Reception, split into the six terms...
Enhanced Continued Provision - building through the year...
Whilst our children learn through play, selecting their own resources, develop their own games with friends and independently, we also plan for an enhanced provision using books as the basis for learning. A timetable of the books we use can be found below...
From the books, we plan a range of activities to support the children in their learning - linked to the Development Matters Document. You can view Autumn Term 1's plans here to find out more about what your children will learning about in our Enhanced Continuous Provision...
Autumn Term 2's plans for our Enhanced Continuous Provision can be found below - 7 weeks, 7 books leading up to our Nativity and Christmas celebrations...
Spring Term's plans for our Enhanced Continuous Provision can be found below - 7 more weeks, 7 more books focusing on healthy lifestyles and choices and the careers of people who help us
Spring Term 2 brings together another five books to support our Enhanced Continuous Provision. You can see books, activities and subject links below:
The Summer term is here - and so are our plans for the Enhanced Provision we will be providing beyond Continuous Provision, daily Phonics sessions, Handwriting lessons and maths learning. We are also introducing daily toothbrushing for all Reception children as part of an NHS initiative. Please take the time to have a look at what your child will be experiencing - you can also use these ideas at home - and why not read the story to them too - the more versions of the same story your child hears, the more they will learn it and can pick out and discuss the differences in each version too.
PE Days
Children must have their PE kits in school for the term and will be returned home at the end of each term for washing, ready for the new term ahead.
PE days are Thursday and Friday.School Library Books
We change our books every Tuesday. Please enjoy reading the books with your child and bring them back each Tuesday ready for them to be changed for another book.
Assemblies
Reception Year group attend the Whole School Assembly on Mondays and Story and Singing Assembly with Year 1 and Year 2 on Tuesdays. Star Learner's are also celebrated each Friday within their own assembly where excellence in learning, progress and achievements are shared.
Homework
Homework will be sent home on Friday and will link to the learning in the class or reviewing skills which have been taught. From November, alongside their chosen library books, children in Reception also bring home reading books linked to their learning in Read Write Inc (RWI). These should be returned to school each Tuesday to be changed for the next book.
Your child would benefit from reading every evening with an adult - either reading their library book together and talking about what has been read, favourite part, favourite character, or, if a non-fiction book, some facts and information which they have read. For blending books (RWI), daily practice of blending the three letter words before saying the word would be perfect! We also send home QR codes for sound recognition and learning as well as lessons for blending which can be done at home.
Weekly newsletters will often include suggestions for further activities linked to current learning, needs or a specific development point (for example, learning to zip up a coat, put on fingered gloves, write their name, learn their address and so on) as well as more traditional "blending" and counting activities linked to reading and maths.
The Adventures of Fred the Frog is a diary which each child has the opportunity of taking home. Once taken, children can share with the class the adventures (real or imaginary) that Fred got up to whilst staying with them. It can include writing, photographs, pictures and more - the more creative the better. This is then shared with the class and built upon throughout the year.