Welcome to Pre-School Summer Term 1 2026  

Welcome Back! We hope that you have enjoyed your Easter break together. This week we will be starting our first Summer topic 'Minibeasts and the Natural World' please enjoy looking at the topic web in the file section below.

We have lots to look forward to this half-term including all our walks around the school grounds and our minibeast hunts talking place in the woods and field areas of school and our mini Pre-School garden.

Routines, Reminders & Messages for Children starting Reception 2026: 

• Tapestry – If you have not yet sent any family photos or photos of special times for your child then we would love to share them in class. Please upload a photo of your child’s family as soon as you can, thanks so much!  

• Book Bags – Please look out for your child's book bag day. Each week we will continue to add a new letter and sound to explore and practise togteher.

• Reading for Pleasure' books - Your child will choose a 'Reading for Pleasure' every week.  These are lovely books for you to share with your child at home and are wonderful as a bedtime story or snuggling up on the sofa to read together. These books are also changed on your child's specific Book-Bag Day and again we have a limited supply, so would appreciate your support in ensuring they are returned on time to be available to be chosen by another child.  

• Phase 1 Phonics- We will be learning about how to hear and say sounds at the beginning of words. We will start with letter s and work on a new letter each week will follow. Each week you will receive a small poster with instructions on how to model the pure sound and practise new words at home together. 

• Lunches - You may change lunch option at any time for your child so if you wish to switch to a school lunch provided by our kitchen, please do not hesitate to let us know, an order form and menu can be obtained online or from the school office.   

• Passwords - We require a password for every child. If you have not provided a password on your registration form, then please inform myself or Miss Moss at drop-off or pick-up time so that we can update our records. Also, if there are any changes to normal collection routines, please let us know on the day or contact the school office.  

• Tapestry Learning Journey - If you are new to Tapestry as a family then please look out for an email with instructions on how to get started by the end of this week. If your child has an older sibling and you already have an Tapestry login then please reactivate your previous account, it will be accessible by the end of this week. If your child attends another setting we can share accounts with the other setting with your permission. If your child had a previous account at another setting then we can continue their Learning Journey by accessing a Key Code from the manager, please contact your previous setting and ask the manager to email Rode Heath Admin with the key code and we can then transfer the data to our Pre-School. As always, please let us know if you have any problems.

Week Commencing: Monday 18th May 2026

'This week we will learn all about clebrations' 

Communication & Language:

This week we will enjoy the story 'Don’t wake the Bear Hare' by Steven Smallman and Caroline Pedler. As we read through this story we will practise saying ‘please don’t wake the bear’. We will enjoy finding out all about the bear and the springtime party. We will answer questions like what will he eat? What jobs do the animals do to get ready for the party?

   Personal, Social & Emotional Development:

This week we will be practising using positive words and kindness. We will use the strategy of ‘colour friendship bears’ and talk about how different friendship bears help each other through tricky times. This week we will be having a simple discussion about what a good friend can do and look at the important words that Happy Yellow Bear says: ‘This teddy is cheerful and has a big smile. He is very kind and likes to help his friends. He loves to wave and cuddle. This teddy likes to make new friends with other teddies and boys and girls and to make them feel happy too. Would you like to have a friend like Happy Teddy Bear?’.

Physical Development:

This week we will continue to practise our ball skills, throwing and catching, rolling and batting. We will also be starting new pencil challenges including writing our names from memory We will focus on pencil grip and starting points for our capital letter and lower-case letters. This week we will continue practising our cutting skills using our dominant hand. We will try to hold the scissors using the correct finger positioning, thumb at the top and cut along a straight line. We will complete the the balloon party challenge.

Literacy:

This week we will enjoy the rhyming story 'Please don’t wake the Bear. We will focus on the characters in the story and what happens first, in the middle and at the end. We will enjoy the repeating phrase and make a chain of rhyming words that sound like POP. We will be focussing on moving across the page of a book from left to right and begin to discuss what happened at the beginning and the end of the story. We wil focus focussing on hearing and saying our new letter sound: f, for fairy, f for fun, f for forest and think about the initial sounds for the name sof the woodland animals.

Phonics:

This week we will have lots of fun exploring how to make the pure sound 'f', have a look at the I spy game and the pure sounds poster to show you how to make this sound in your child’s book bag. This week we will be practising the rhyming CVC words pet, net, jet and vet. Practise segmenting each word into its individual sounds v-e-t, then blend together ‘vet’. What other words can you think of to add to the rhyming chain?

  Mathematics:

This week we will practise using all of the skills we have learned this half term. We will make our own party games with dice and different objects around the room. We will play a memory party game and guess what is missing and use our wands to change what is hiding in the box. We will design party invitations using different patterns and make presents with a variety of wrapping paper and stencils with repeating patterns.

    Understanding the World:

This week we will explore the different places in the story, the forest especially, and ask have we ever seen them? What do they look like, how do we interact with those places in our countryside? We will also talk about what party invitations look like and what springtime parties would be like in a forest with the animals, how do we celebrate birthdays?

   Expressive Arts & Design:

This week we will enjoy making party invitations, creating party designs and making a fairy wand to take to the party using different weaving techniques.

We know that the first few weeks at Pre-School can be a bit of a scary time, even for mums and dads! If you have any worries then please come and talk to us- mornings at the door can be a bit busy but we have more time to talk at the end of the day. Please email the office directly if you would like a phone call or a meeting.

Our door is always open, please contact us for help at any time.  At busy times, please telephone to leave a message or email and we will respond as soon as we can.