Reception Year Intake 2024-2025
Welcome!
We are delighted that you have been offered a place at Merton Park Primary School, and welcome you to our school community. Below are some helpful guides and tips to enable you to get 'Reception Ready!'
We look forward to meeting you soon!
Pupil Enrolment
Please can you complete the forms provided in the links below before your child's first day at school:
Emergency medical consent form
NHS Reception Health Questionnaires
Wrap Around Care
Here at Merton Park Primary School, we provide a Breakfast Club and After School Club for children from Nursery through to Year 6.
Our goal is to provide all children in our care with a happy, safe, caring and stimulating environment before and after school. The Breakfast Club and After School Club is a team effort, sharing responsibilities with families to provide the best care for all children. Any issues are openly or confidentially discussed. Please fell free to contact us to discuss anything, or pass on information.
The Breakfast Club, organised solely by the school, is usually open Monday thru Friday from 7:45am until the start of the school day.
The After School Club, also organised solely by the school, is open from the end of the school day until 6:00pm. Both clubs are open during term time only, and excluding INSET Days.
More information can be found here.
School Uniform
Information about the school uniform can be found on the link below:
https://www.merton-park.org.uk/Parents/Uniform/
Education Wellbeing Practitioner Service
At Merton Park Primary, we offer parent workshops through the EWPS: "We are the Wave 6 Merton Education Wellbeing Service. We are an early intervention service, set up to provide mental health support for families. We offer two programmes; both programmes consist of 6 to 8 sessions with parents and are FREE of charge (funded by the NHS). Sessions can take place at school or video call via MS TEAMS.
Child anxiety programme:
This is for parents seeking support in managing their child’s anxieties. It’s aimed at children aged 4 – 11 and often feeling worried (e.g. shy, panicky or fearful of things such as separation, monsters, the dark, friends, school).
Challenging behaviour programme:
This is for parents seeking support in managing their child’s common behavioural difficulties (e.g. not following instructions, difficulties at bedtime, outbursts, tantrums, being rude). This programme is aimed at children aged 3 – 10 years.
These sessions aim to empower parents/guardians by helping them understand their child’s difficulties and by providing tools and coping strategies they can use with their child. We call this Guided Self-Help. This focuses on building confidence and resilience and involves trying techniques with your child at home."
Helping To Get Your Child 'Reception Ready'
Starting school is a big change in a young child's life, and quite an adjustment for parents too! Being well prepared will help to make it a more positive and exciting experience for them, and you too.
This guide will offer some useful tips to make it all go smoothly.
Writing and recognising their own name
It would be helpful if your child could write and recognise their own name. Help them practise this before they come to school by showing them what their name looks like, and by helping them write it.
Then, if your child sees their name on a name card, a coat peg or on their belongings they will be able to find their own things.
Going to the toilet independently
Teach your child how to use the toilet and to clean themselves afterwards. Explain the importance of flushing to leave the toilet clean for the next child to use.
Turn practising into a game by asking them to 'what comes next?' so they remember to flush each time.
Encourage them to wash their hands thoroughly with soap before drying them.
An adult is always available if they need help at school, and our toilets are very easy for small children to use as they are designed with them in mind.
Being able to sit and concentrate
It is important that children become used to stting still and concentrating. Practise this with your child at home. Make sessions fun as you encourage them to sit still and listen while you talk about something that intersts them.
Ask them easy questions to keep their attention and get them used to focussing on what you are talking about.
Developing independence
It is helpful if children are able to put on their own coat and shoes (no laces please) and are able to use cutlery to eat their school dinner.
Being able to handle books properly and enjoy a story
We use reading and enjoying stories a lot to help the children learn about the world as well as helping them with their reading and writing.
Help them get used to handling books and enjoying stories by sharing and reading books with them at home.
Allow them to hold the book and turn the pages sometimes as you read them a story.
This will help make them feel 'in charge' of the story, and will be an important step for them towards handling and reading books of their own.
Reception Year
In Reception, we follow the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage issued by the Department for Education (DfE).
The curriculum consists of seven areas of learning:
- Personal, Social and Emotional Development
- Physical Development
- Communication and Language
- Literacy
- Mathematics
- Understanding the World
- Expressive Arts and Design
There are then 17 Early Learning Goals (ELGs) which are part of these areas of learning. If a child achieves these goals by the end of the Reception year then they are said to be working at the expected level.
To support children with working towards these ELGs we use a document called 'Development Matters'. This breaks down each goal into different age bands and is used by staff throughout the year to assess how close children are to reaching the goals. 'Development Matters' can be found here.
In The Classroom
Early Years learning and development is provided through purposeful play and through adult led structures and routines that build confidence and provide intellectual stimulus and challenge.
Throughout the day, children will have direct teaching sessions for maths, literacy and phonics, either as the whole-class or in small groups. The rest of the time they will be taking part in activities inside and outside the classroom. Some of the activities will have been prepared by the teacher and will focus on specific objectives. They may be led by an adult or modelled initially and then the children can access them independently. The children will also be able to choose activities from any of the other resources available.
Teachers choose which activities to set-up by assessing the children’s levels of understanding across all areas of the curriculum and identifying any ‘gaps’ in their learning. Teaching inputs and activities are then planned to address these gaps and evidence is then gathered to show the children have then achieved this learning.
All the teaching staff will be engaging with the children during the activities and helping to support their learning and development. Children’s learning is assessed by observing what they say and do during these times. These are recorded and are then shared with parents.