Pre-School 2025 - 2026

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 27th of April 2026

'This week we will learn all about worms and butterflies

Communication & Language:

This week we will enjoy the story 'Superworm' by Julia Donaldson and as we read through this story we will practise rhyming phrases and discuss who is the 'baddy' in the story and who is the 'hero'. What will happen to Superworm and who will rescue him?

   Personal, Social & Emotional Development:

This week we will begin to relate my emotions, such as sad/happy/angry to emotions cards, to begin to communicate about how I am feeling. We will explore the ‘Relax kids process of Meerkat teddy –freezing to think before a reaction-’how do I feel, then how to process’, can I pause before I make an action?

Physical Development:

This week we will continue to practise our ball skills, throwing and catching, rolling and batting. We will have lots of fun on the field learning to race and skip and hop around. We will also be starting new pencil challenges, choosing a dominant hand to practise making letter shapes to correspond to the letter sounds that we have been learning. This week we will trace the letter 's’. We will continue practising our cutting skills, so 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.

Literacy:

This week we will enjoy the very exciting story of 'Superworm' by Julia Donaldson. We will focus on the characters in the story and what their actions are. We will enjoy the rhyming parts together and make a Superhero chant with actions for our Hero...'hip, hip hooray for Superworm!"

We will be focussing on moving across the page of a book from left to right and begin to predict how the other minibeasts can save Superworm from the crow and Lizard. We will begin to notice some familiar graphemes in the words in this story, focussing on hearing and saying the letter sounds s, a and t as we spot them. We will continue with Metal Mike robot speaking challenges this week, we will practise segmenting our rhyming CVC words.

Phonics:

This week we will have lots of fun exploring how to make the pure sound 'r', 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 rat, hat, cat and bat. Practise segmenting each word into its individual sounds r-a-t, then blend together ‘rat’. What other words can you think of to add to the rhyming chain?

  Mathematics:

This week we will Complete simple jigsaws, shape-match puzzles and match objects to pictures. Our challenge this week will be to match objects to shadows and make simple routes in small world play areas with lines and curves, as we follow the worms routes and shapes we will ask which is the longest shadow? and which worm does it belong to?

    Understanding the World:

This week we will explore the fields and forest around us to look for different minibeast habitats. We will find dark and damp places and look under stones and logs to find worms and watch what they do and learn about how they move and eat.

   Expressive Arts & Design:

This week we will enjoy learning about symmetry and how to create closed shapes in our painted butterfly pictures. We will role-play with insects and small world minibeast creatures, acting out the Superworm story line and chant. We will create a new Minibeast cafe and serve funny drinks and snacks too!

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.