Welcome to Reception meeting
It was great to see so many of you at the ‘Welcome to Reception’ meeting this week. For those of you who were unable to attend, please find attached the PowerPoint shared at the meeting.
Welcome to Reception
A reminder that our ‘Welcome to Reception’ meeting is on Wednesday 10 September, 2025 at 6pm. This is held at school.
Following our first welcome session, this is an opportunity to find out some basic ‘need to knows’ about life in Reception.
We look forward to seeing you there.
Reception Baseline Assessment
Packed Lunches
Does your child have a packed lunch at school? If so, please download our Guide to Healthy Packed Lunches.
Did you know that popcorn is a choking hazard for children under 5? Lot’s of people don’t! The Food Standards Agency. has published the following advice on how to prepare food safely for your young child.
Welcome to Early Years
We’ve been busy over the summer holidays washing all the teddies and toys so we’re ready for when you start ‘big school!’
Your classroom is all ready and set up and we’re looking forward to lots of learning, making new friends and having fun!
We’re looking forward to the year ahead, getting to know you and your children.
Mrs. Kendrew, Miss. Feldman, Mrs. Rippon, Mrs. Linton and Mrs. Cairns
Me and my family!
The Fish Who can Wish
This week our focus story was The Fish Who could Wish by John Bush and Korky Paul.
We talked about how the fish was different to all the other fish and used our word of the week Unique to describe him and ourselves.
“I am unique because I have curly hair, my nanny has curly hair but she has glasses so we are not the same.”
“I am unique because nobody can sing like me.”
“I am unique because I am not the same as my sister.”
Sports Day
We’ve also been learning all about Being Healthy and had the best sports day competing in the egg and spoon race, the sack race, the bean bag shuffle and a running race. We made sure we wore our sunhats, stayed in the shade and drank lots of water as part of keeping ourselves healthy in the sun.
Forest School
We’ve had out last forest school this week with Born of the Forest, We enjoyed looking for minibeasts, looking at a birds nest and egg shells and making tea for the woodland animals. We finished by toasting marshmallows over a fire with the help of Sparky. We’ve had the best time and can’t wait to go again in year 1.
“I love forest school, it’s so cool!”
“Let’s go this way and be quiet we might get to stay and have another one!”
Class trip to Nell Bank
Today we had our class trip to Nell Bank using the focus book Tidy by Emily Gravett.
We have had the best day learning about Pete the Badger who likes things very neat and tidy all the time. We did some litter picking and sorted out the rubbish into things we could recycle and not. We were fantastic at this job because we already do it in our class. Just before lunch we went on a minibeast hunt, we used ‘insect extractions tools’ that looked like spoons to search for minibeast with legs and ones that slither. This was quite tricky because it has been so dry, but we didn’t give up and found a few.
After a quick lunch stop we had the best time in the water area using the water wheels and pumps and then we went for a walk in the woods where we worked in small groups to make some little homes for the baby badgers. We did a great job and the baby badgers were well protected.
We had the best day, it was so much fun!
Fairies At Forest School!
Rocksteady Music School!
St James had a very exciting visit from Rocksteady Music School this morning. The key focus of the visit was to engage pupils in music, to learn about various instruments and how to play them. We started the morning with a whole school assembly, where the children learnt all about what it takes to be in a band – we also got to sing along to some of the latest hits! Then, KS1 and KS2 had separate workshops where a pupil band was put together in just 30 minutes! There was lots of resilience, teamwork and happiness shared all morning, particularly when learning to keep a consistent tempo!
We are aiming to introduce more musical connections at St James next year. Rocksteady have given us confirmation that children would really benefit from this. There will be a letter sent home later in the week with more information on musical opportunities in September.
