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 11/07/2025 

We are so proud of how well the children have transitioned into their new Year 1/2 classes during their transition days this week! Everybody went happily to their new teacher and had lots of fun exploring the Year 1/2 classrooms and outdoor spaces. What a fantastic start to their Year 1 journey!

At the beginning of this week, we continued our topic about Summer and the Seaside. This week, we have focused on sun safety and beach safety. First, we practised the saying ‘Slip, Slap, Slop’ to help us remember how to keep safe in the sun. We talked about how we need to ‘slip’ on a top, ‘slap’ on a hat, and ‘slop’ on some sun cream. Then, we considered other ways that we can keep safe at the beach, such as the role of the lifeguard and what different flags in the sea mean.

Next week, we will be continuing our Summer and Seaside’s topic by looking at the similarities and differences between what the seaside is like now compared to how it was in the past.

Forest School Day:

On Monday (14.07.25), we will be having a Reception forest school day!

For our forest school day, your child will need to come to school:

• already wearing full length clothing that covers their arms and their legs (this doesn’t have to be school uniform);
• wearing suitable footwear for the forest (they can wear their wellies that are at school if you would like them to);
• wearing a sun hat;
• with sun cream already applied before school and a bottle of sun cream to top-up;
• with their usual water bottle and snack;
• with a lightweight waterproof jacket in case of showers.  

Your child will not need to bring their book bag on this day.

Educational Visitor:

On Tuesday afternoon, we have a visitor from Bude Castle coming into class to run a Seasides in the past workshop. The children will explore photos and artefacts to support their understanding of the past and the present.

Phonics:

This week, the children engaged in their final RWI lessons of the year. In order for the resources to be checked and re-distributed next year, the children have now handed back in their RWI ‘Book Bag Books’ and their RWI Ditty story books. If you find any other phonics books at home, please ensure that they are returned to school as soon as possible.

Next week, we will be continuing to engage in daily phonics learning, however, the children will be based in their classes instead of their RWI groups.

Maths:

During our maths lessons this week, we have developed our knowledge of 2D shapes. After revising the properties of the 2D shapes that we already knew, we began using the shapes to make other shapes or to make pictures. In order to do this, we had to think carefully about how the shapes were positions and if they needed to be rotated.

Have a fantastic weekend!

Mrs Horton and Miss Parker 

Dates for the diary:

Monday 14^th July – Reception Forest School day

Friday 18^th July – Last day of the year

Wednesday 3^rd September – INSET Day (no school)

Thursday 2^nd September – First Day of Year 1 

With your child, please carry out a variety of the following tasks at least 5 times a week.

• Practise recognising letter sounds using flashcards daily – this is essential practise to get your child reading.
• If your child is consistently recognising most of the letter sounds, 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. Eg. s – a –t, sat. They may need you to model 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. This develops their oracy comprehension and inference skills.
• Based on your child’s most recent phonics assessment, the may also bring home a Read, Write, Inc 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.

Complete this reading record at least 5 times a week so that we know that your child is practising their reading at home.

Please make sure that you date and initial to show that your child has read their lilac book/blending book/flash cards.

We will check the reading logs once a week. Please speak to any member of the Reception staff if you have any questions.

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

The YR Team