Teacher Contact Information 

Your teachers are: Mrs Horton and Miss Parker

You can email them at:

Mrs Horton (Horse Chestnut)

sophiehorton@stratton.cornwall.sch.uk    

Miss Parker (Sweet Chestnut)

cherylparker@stratton.cornwall.sch.uk

 Weekly Update 12/09/2025 

Wow! We are so impressed with how well the children have settled in this week. They have come into the classroom with a smile and are doing a brilliant job learning where to put their belongings. The children have been exploring our outdoor and indoor areas, which they loved!

We asked the children today what their favourite thing has been this week. Here are some of their replies: everything, making friends, the slide, riding the bikes, school lunches, writing, drawing, and playing with the teachers. What a busy and exciting week! We are very proud of all of your children.

We have really enjoyed sharing some of the children’s All About Me books with them this week. If you haven’t brought yours in yet, please bring it in as soon as possible and let a member of staff know when it is in your child’s bag. This means that we can have some one-on-one time with your child, getting to know them more next week.

Reception Phonics Meeting: Wednesday 17^th September 5pm

We are inviting you all of you to attend this meeting. Your child is just about to start the very exciting journey of learning to read and write. Even if you have attended similar meetings with older children, we still strongly recommend you come along as it is slightly different year-to-year. The meeting will explain how we teach your child to read and write in school and how you will support them at home.

After a busy week, we have a few reminders…

• We have struggled a little bit returning belongings to the right children. Please make sure all water bottles, jumpers, coats, bags and spare clothes are named. Thank you very much, we don’t want your things to go missing!
• Please ensure that your child brings their book bag, water bottle and coat to school every day.
• Thank you for naming your child’s book bag. It would really help us to have a name on the outside of the bag. This could be either a named key ring or sticker. 
• Please make sure your child has a pair of wellies that are left in school. We have a sand pit and mud kitchen which will soon get muddy as winter approaches. We also encourage children to wear wellies to avoid getting their feet wet when engaging in water play. In the coming months, the children will only be able to access outdoor areas when wearing wellies.
• Please ensure your child has shoes they can be independent with as they change in and out of their wellies regularly. No laces please.
• Every child needs a change of clothes, including underwear, either kept in their school bag or left in a bag on their peg. 

Snack Time in School

There are two opportunities for the children to have a fruit or vegetable snack during the day with their water, one provided by school, and one brought in from home. Please pack your child a fruit or vegetable snack every day. If you are providing grapes, please ensure that they are cut in half due to the age of the children.  

Tapestry

We have set up all the Tapestry accounts and we have added some photos already. During the school year, we will share photos with you of the children’s experiences. There will not be many individual observations, which might be different to your child’s nursery/pre-school, this is because the children have transitioned into school.

Please make sure that you have activated your parent account. An activation email will have been sent to you last week. If you are having any difficulties, please let a member of the Reception team know. When you have viewed an observation on Tapestry, please click ‘like’ to let us know that you have seen it.

Thank you all for your patience this week whilst we have been setting up our systems and routines. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Mrs Horton and Miss Parker

Dates for the Diary:

Wednesday 17th September at 5pm – Phonics meeting for parents (see details above)

Thursday 23^rd October – Halloween Disco

Friday 24^th October – Last day of half term

27^th – 31^st October – Half Term

Monday 3^rd November – Back at school

4^th – 6^th November – Reception Parents Evening

With your child, please carry out a variety of the following tasks at least 5 times a week, recording in their reading log each time.

• Practise recognising letter sounds using flashcards daily – this is essential practise to get your child reading.

• Engage in 'Fred Talk Games'. These are games that support your child to orally blend sounds into words. For example, "Fred says, tap your h-ea-d... your head!" Please see the PDF document in the 'Read Write Inc. Phonics' section below for further 'Fred Talk Games' that you can play at home. 

• If your child is consistently recognising most of the single letter sounds from their flashcards, make simple words out of the flashcards for them to practise reading. For example, sat, tap, dog, bed. Encourage your child to point to each letter as they say the sounds. Once they have said each sound, they need to blend them together to say the whole word. For example, s – a –t, sat. They may need you to demonstrate this initially before they have a try.

• Share your child’s lilac book. This book has no words. Your child needs to look closely at the picture and talk about what they think is happening to tell a story. This develops their oracy comprehension and inference skills.

• Based on your child’s most recent phonics assessment, the may also bring home a 'blending book' or a 'ditty sheet' to read at home.

Please keep all of the above in your child’s book bag. They need to bring their book bag to school every day.

Homework tasks need to be recorded in your child's reading log at least 5 times a week so that we know that your child is practising their reading at home. Reading logs are checked every Friday to see how your child is getting on at home. Please make sure that you date and initial each time you record in your child's reading log to show that your child has read their lilac book/blending book/flash cards.

Please speak to any member of the Reception team if you have any questions.

Thank you for your continued support in helping your child learn to read.

The YR Team