Reception Class News

PE – throwing and catching!

In PE lessons this half-term, we’ve been developing our throwing and catching skills. We’ve played games where we throw a ball back and forth with a partner, taking a step back after each pair of successful passes. We’ve also practised accurate throwing by creating towers out of cones which we then try to knock down by throwing the ball at them.

Staying safe: Road safety

Yesterday, we were joined by the Leeds City Council Road Safety team for a special assembly focused on keeping ourselves safe. We learned how to stay safe when walking to and from school, travelling in cars, and crossing roads. We also explored the Green Cross Code (Think, Stop, Look, Listen) and met their travel mascot, Arlo!

After the assembly, one of the team stayed to speak with us in more detail about how to stay safe near roads.

Poetry basket: A little shell

This week’s poem is called A little shell.
We’ve been focussing on the words crept (to move slowly and carefully to avoid been heard or noticed) and upon (more formal term for on).

Summer 1: Week 4

Thank you!
As we come to nearly the end of another busy and successful half-term, I would like to say how incredibly proud I am of all the Reception children. They have shown such enthusiasm, resilience and curiosity in everything they do, and the progress they have made across all areas of the Early Years curriculum has been wonderful to see. The children should be very proud of all they have achieved this half-term.

A huge thank you to all parents and carers for your continued support at home. Your encouragement and involvement make such a positive difference to your child’s learning and development, and it is greatly appreciated.

Literacy
This week in Literacy, we have loved exploring Walking Through the Jungle by Julie Lacome. The catchy, repetitive language has really helped us to build confidence with retelling the story.
We loved joining in with the repeated phrases and actions as we travelled through the jungle to find different animals! The predictable pattern of the story supported us in remembering the sequence of events and retelling the story independently.

Help at home: Use the story map in your child’s bag to practise retelling the story together at home.

In our construction area, we have also enjoyed designing and building jungle habitats for the animals from the story. The children worked creatively to add trees, rivers and hiding places, using their imaginations to bring the jungle to life.
Living and Learning
In Living and Learning, we explored the importance of healthy eating. We looked closely at the different sections of the Eatwell Guide plate and discussed how it helps us make healthy choices.

After a thoughtful class discussion, the children drew pictures of healthy meals, carefully including a range of foods from each food group.
Maths
In maths, the children developed their understanding of numbers to 10 through practical activities and games. Using the rhyme 10 Fat Sausages, they explored different ways to make 10 and learned that numbers can be made up of smaller parts.

The children used their fingers, 10-frames and number patterns to investigate ‘5 and a bit’ numbers to 10, helping them understand that numbers such as 7 can be made from 5 and 2 more.

Summer 1: Week 3

This week, we’ve been enjoying the story The Bug Collector by Alex Griffiths.

In the book, George visits a wildlife museum and becomes fascinated by bugs. Inspired by his visit, he collects minibeasts from his garden and keeps them in jars—but soon notices they don’t seem very happy.

We had a thoughtful discussions about why:

The jars are closed, so the bugs can’t breathe.
The butterfly doesn’t have space to spread its wings.
They have no food or water.
They are not in the beautiful natural world.
They don’t have any room to move around.

This led us to explore the idea of habitats and why they are so important for living things.
Help at home: Can your child remember which habitats these minibeasts live in?

Thank you for sharing photos of your child’s home learning minibeast hunts—they’ve been a fantastic link to our story discussions!

Provision
Our construction areas have been especially popular this week, with children creating a range of fantastic models. Once they’ve finished building, we encourage them to photograph their creations using an iPad and add the pictures to the design books.

Here’s a selection of some of their amazing models—and their brilliant photography skills too!
Caterpillar Update
Our caterpillars are growing nicely—some of us think they’re getting fatter, just like The Very Hungry Caterpillar! We’re really looking forward to seeing stage 3 of the life cycle happen next.
Maths
This week, the children consolidated their understanding of the composition of 5, using their fingers to explore different ways of making 5 and recognising parts when some were hidden. We linked this to a familiar rhyme about monkeys/kittens jumping down from the bed, helping children visualise numbers decreasing.

We used this stem sentence to explain our thinking:
5 is made of ____ and ____; ____ and ____ make 5.

They also practised subitising (quickly recognising amounts) and explored how numbers 6 to 9 can be made as ‘5 and a bit’, using a range of practical resources and representations.
Help at home: Re-enact the rhyme about monkeys/kittens jumping off the bed using soft toys and a simple ‘bed’ (e.g. a shoebox). Encourage your child to join in and use their fingers to show how many are on and off the bed.

Living and Learning: Staying safe themed week 18 May

Our next whole school themed week, based around Staying Safe, will be taking place from Monday 18 May 2026.  The key message is how to be safe in a range of situations – at home, at school, online and in the environment.

A variety of events and visitors are planned to help us deliver this key aspect of education including road safety (Leeds City Council); water safety (Canal and River Trust and RNLI); fire safety (West Yorkshire Fire Service); first aid; safety in our community (PCSOs), martial arts (BMMA) and drug education (d:side). Some of the events require parental permission and these letters have been sent out separately.

There are also some opportunities for parents and carers, from all year groups, to get involved in the week.

Thursday 14 May from 8:30am West Yorkshire Police bike register event

Pupils are invited to bring along their bikes to be registered at this bike security marking event at school. Registering your bike helps police and retailers identify and verify the legitimate owner of bikes that have been stolen or are being resold.

Tuesday 19 May 3pm – 3:30pm d:side drug education drop in information session (playground)

A representative from d:side, a health education provider, will be available to discuss details of your child’s drug education learning in the themed week.

The themed week is a good opportunity to continue to think about healthy, active and safe ways to travel to school.  Children are encouraged to travel to school in a sustainable way, keeping safe along the way.

For a chance to win one of three £10 vouchers, we’d love to see their active travel staying safe photos, maybe using a traffic crossing or wearing their bike helmet (send photos to [email protected]). Photos should be sent by 10am on Thursday 21 May and winners will be announced on the same day.

Due to the rising costs of visitors to school, this year, we are requesting a voluntary contribution of £2 per pupil to go towards paying for visitors. This can be made on Arbor. Thank you for your support with this.

Finally, can you help? Does your job involve an aspect of safety?  If you are able to support our Staying Safe themed week by coming into school to speak to the children, please contact me via the office or your child’s class teacher.

We will keep you up to date about events during the week on the class news pages on our website.

Thank you for your support to keep Moortown a happy, healthy and safe school.

Poetry Basket: Under a stone

This week’s poem is called Under a stone.
We’ve been focussing on the words earth (land eg soil, dirt) and firm (a solid surface).

Summer 1: Week 2

On Monday, a very special parcel arrived at school… inside were five tiny and very hungry caterpillars!

The children were full of excitement as I carefully opened the box. We spent time observing the caterpillars closely, noticing their size, movement, and how eager they were to begin feeding.
Over the next few weeks, we’re looking forward to watching them grow and change. The children will have the opportunity to observe each stage of their journey. This links perfectly to our word of the week: metamorphosis—the process some living things go through to become adults.

We can’t wait to share updates as our caterpillars continue their incredible transformation!

DT
In the creative area, we’ve been exploring how to safely use hand drills to make holes in pieces of wood. The children have been learning to handle the tools with care, applying the right amount of pressure and control to create their holes. They showed great concentration and enthusiasm as they developed these new practical skills.
Next week, we’re excited to put these skills into practice by working together to build a class bug hotel for our outdoor area. Thank you to everyone who has collected natural resources to help fill our bug hotel—we really appreciate your support!

Stay & Learn
Thank you to everyone who attended our final Stay & Learn session today.  We hope you found the session helpful and came away with some useful tips and ideas for supporting your child’s fine motor skills. If you were unable to attend, click here to view the slides.

Home learning activity

Living and Learning: I know the importance of sleep.

Yesterday in Living and Learning, we talked about  the importance of sleep. We were so impressed by their thoughtful and mature contributions as they shared their ideas about why sleep helps our bodies and minds. The children talked about feeling more energetic, happy, and ready to learn after a good rest.

Lu – I want to sleep because I want to grow.
Ha – If I don’t sleep enough, I get tired.
Ar – If I can’ sleep, I ask my Dad to hug me.
Ken – Sleep helps your body recover from things.
Ro – Sleep is important because it helps you recharge your brain.
Imo – Sleep gives us more energy.
Ka – Sleep is good for you because it makes you intelligent and good at writing.
Sal – It gives you lots of energy so you can grow.

Help at home: Continue the conversation at home by talking about bedtime routines and why a good night’s sleep is so important.

Summer term after-school clubs