Reception Blog Archive

Little STEM Explorers!

This week, we are exploring all things science, technology, engineering and maths! We asked the children what they thought the words science, technology and engineering meant… our classrooms...

In Every House on Every Street

Over the past week, Acorns, Pumpkins and Sunflowers have been exploring the story of the Goldilocks and the Three Little bears. It has been lovely to hear the...

Home Reading

On Friday, all children should have taken home their reading folder. How exciting! The books link directly to the phonics that we have introduced as school each week....

A Spooky Arts Week

A wonderful week of spooky celebrations, exploring stories such as Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson and making our own spiders using handprints and paint; we also...

When I Grow Up

Over the past few weeks, Acorns, Pumpkins and Sunflowers have been exploring what they might want to be when they grow up. It has been lovely to hear...

We Are Family

We have had the best time settling in with all of our friends this week, lots of lovely new friendships are blooming across Sunflowers, Pumpkins and Acorns. In...

Super Duper You!

Our first week of full time school! We have had lots of fun in Reception this week, with the highlight being lunchtime! The children have all got used...

Our First Week at School!

Wow! Our first week at school is complete, what an achievement! We are all so proud of the children this week, they had so many new situations to...

Little Red Riding Hood!

This week in Reception we have been looking at the story of Little Red Riding Hood. We have been writing sentences about the Big Bad Wolf, and in...

Week 2

What an exciting week! This week the children have had the opportunity to try many new sporting activities, supported by the fantastic Year 9 Sports Leaders at St...

First week back

The children have had a fantastic start to the second half of this summer term. We have been enjoying the sunshine (and shade) especially in our new construction...

Week 6 – Robot City

In Reception this week the children have been working hard on their cities. The children have enjoyed constructing homes, volcanoes and schools, alongside many other structures and sharing...

Week 5

This week in Reception we have continued to explore and construct our cities. The children have been inspired by shape and have really enjoyed using the medium of...

Week 4 – Let’s Get Building!

This week our projects have really started to take shape. The children are busy creating a city for Botley (our coding friend!) to live in. We have loved...

Week 2 – Botley

This has been a very exciting week in Reception at UCPS. The children and teachers have welcomed our year group robots ‘Botley’ into their classes. Together we have...

Week 1 – Welcome Back!

What a lovely start we have all had to our first week of the Summer term. We have been so lucky with the weather this week and lots...

Week 5 – Shepreth

This week, the children’s learning has been inspired by all the wonderful animals seen at Shepreth wildlife Park (Tigers, rabbits, turtles and many more). The children were also...

Week 4- Birds

Our learning this week was inspired by the book Billy Loves Birds. This non-fiction book taught us lots about birds, where they live and how to spot them....

Week 3- Under the Sea

This week we dived deep into our new focus books ‘The Big Book of the Blue’ and ‘Surprising Sharks’. We loved sharing non-fiction texts to widen our knowledge...

Week 2- Nocturnal Animals

  We have continue to enjoy our animal focus as we introduced the key texts ‘The Night Animals’ and ‘Packs: Strength in Numbers’. In ‘Night Animals’, we enjoyed...

Week 1- Everything Animals!

This week we launched our new Project ‘All Creatures Great and Small’. We were very lucky to receive a shiny new selection of books funded by the money...

Happy half term

In Reception this week the children have had lots of fun exploring the Little People Big Dreams book series. In Sunflowers and Acorns the children have been learning...

Our New Project: The Past

This week in Reception all three classes have started to think about our project for the half term: ‘The Past’. We are focusing on the children understanding the...

Festive Fun

Wow! What a short but wonderful week it has been. We started our week with a theatre trip to see The Nutcracker, which, we are sure all the...

Here’s my toothpaste, here’s my brush

Over the past two weeks in Reception we have been looking at the places where we live. Exploring Eddington and considering how things have changed in recent years....

In every house on every street

This week in Reception the children have been taking part in lots of different activities inspired by the book ‘In every house on every street’. Some children have...

Fireworks, fun and fantastic learning. 

This week in Reception the children have had lots of fun and in Phonics have been working on saying and writing their Unit 4 sounds (d, e, f...

Welcome Back!

We are looking forward to welcoming the children back for their second term in Reception. Last term, we enjoyed learning about the people that make up our families...

Family Friday and Family Festival

Wow! What a way to end our first half term at school. Thank you so much to all the families who prepared food, activities and joined us for...

Week 5 – Super Duper Reception

Super Duper Reception! The last two weeks we have been reading the story ‘Super Duper You’ by Sophie Henn. The children have been thinking about what makes them...

Week 4, creativity, discussion and confidence

In phonics, this week we have introduced the Unit 2 letters and sounds (n, o, p). All children who returned their Unit 1 books should now have received...

Week 3- Feelings masks, counting conkers and friendships

Well done Reception! Another busy week. It is so lovely seeing the children develop confidence and strong friendships. This week, we began free flow. This means we open...

Week 2

Thank you to all of our Reception children for another wonderful week! The first full week of full days is always a tricky one and lots of us...

A wonderful first week!

Wow! What a wonderful start to our time at the University of Cambridge Primary School. The EYFS Team are all so proud of the courage, enthusiasm and positivity...

Let’s ready ready for Carnival!

Wow! Yet another busy week of fun, learning and challenge in Reception. In Phonics, we introduced the sounds /ng/ and /qu/. The children have really been working on...

The Gingerbread Man

‘Run run as fast as you can, you can’t catch me I’m the gingerbread man’. This week the children have had a wonderful time exploring The Gingerbread Man...

Jack and the Beanstalk

Our focus book this week was Jack and the Beanstalk. Throughout the week, we shared different versions of the story and became confident retelling key events. We were...

Alternative tales

This week in Reception the children have been exploring alternative versions of traditional tales. The Last Wolf by Mini Grey and Little Red by Bethan Woollvin.  In Phonics...

Traditional tales

This week in Reception the children have been sharing their knowledge of traditional tales including the three little pigs, Gingerbread man and Three bears. This is our theme...

Shepreth Wildlife Park

This week the Reception children have been continuing to broaden their knowledge and understanding of different animals. At Shepreth wildlife park, our first big trip away, the children...

Noctural animals

This week in Reception we have been exploring nocturnal animals through the book ‘Night animals’ by Gianna Marino. We have set the children the challenge of creating their...

Under the Sea

What a fabulous first week back! This week in Reception the children have come back full of energy and enthusiasm. They have been exploring the Big Book of...

Our World

This week our key text has been ‘A Melting Planet’, where we have had lots of lovely discussions on how we can help to look after the world...

Yet another wonderful week in Reception! This week, we focussed on the seasons. We enjoyed reading our key text ‘Seasons come seasons go tree’ continuing our topic of...

Wonderful Weather

This week we have introduced our new theme for the half-term – weather. We have been learning about lots of different types of weather, especially clouds. The children...

A short but wonderful week!

Happy New Year! Reception have had a fantastic start to 2022! This week we have focused on remembering the routines and expectations in the classrooms. Often this is...

Reception Fun!

Another busy week in Reception! This week in Math’s the we have been discussing how we can identify different parts of the whole (total number altogether) using a...

Lights, Camera, Action!

Nativity filming has begun! We have been so impressed with how many of the children can confidently remember and perform their lines, so many thanks for helping your...

Our First School Trip!

This week the Nursery and Reception children enjoyed their first school outing. The children were so sensible during the walk to and from The Storey’s Field Centre and...

A Fabulous First Week Back

This week the children have had a wonderful first week back in school. They have been exploring counting actions, objects and sounds and have also been introducing a...

Exploring Autumn

In Reception this week we have celebrated the final week of our half term by exploring all things Autumnal. We have counted conkers, looked carefully at colour and...

Feelings and Phonics!

Another fun filled week in Reception! This week the children continued their phonics lessons. We are really getting the hang of concentrating during these sessions, looking after our...

Families, friends and fun!

Our first week of full time school has been a huge success. The children are quickly becoming familiar with their classrooms, the grown ups and the expectations at...

A Super First Week!

Wow! What a brilliant first week we have had. Pumpkins, Acorns and Sunflowers all settled in well and are starting to get the hang of their daily routines....

Journey to Reception and beyond!

This is the last blog post of the year before the summer holiday! Gosh how time has flown by…It feels like only yesterday that the children were showing...

Our school trip to Alien School

This week we were surprised to find out that there is a school dedicated to the education of young aliens. We found out about this school in the...

Our Super Creative Arts Weeks!

Wow! What a super busy week we have had in Reception this week. There has been an amazing ‘buzz’ throughout our school and Reception children have loved playing...

Our intergalactic space adventure

We hope you enjoyed the beginning of our intergalactic adventure into space. On Monday morning, we had a mystery object land in our playground. We were super detectives...

Blast off!

This week we have launched our Space topic! The children had a wonderful time creating and exploring the new space themed areas of our classrooms. We have started...

A Fairytale Ending!

May 28, 2021 … and they all lived happily every after. This week we have been teaching the ‘Big Bad Wolf’ to be a ‘Big GOOD Wolf’ and...

Who Is That Trip Trapping Over My Bridge?

One more week to go until the end of this first half of the summer term! As always, it has been super busy and full of excitement! This...

Jack and the Beanstalk

This week in Reception we have been exploring the story, Jack and the Beanstalk. During Group Learning, we have been writing about our first cooking experience, using our...

I’ll Huff and I’ll Puff!

The Three Little Pigs 29th April 2021 Once upon a time there were not one, not two but three classes called Acorns, Pumpkins and Sunflowers, they WOWED all...

Into the Woods with Little Red Riding Hood

We have had a super busy week in Reception as story time detectives, we worked as a team to correctly match all the statements to some of the...

Once upon a time..

Welcome back Reception, we hope you have had a fantastic Easter break and have been enjoying the gorgeous weather these past two and a half weeks. Are you...

So Good To Be Back Together Once Again!

It has been absolutely fabulous to be back together in harmony once again and there has been a glorious buzz in Reception once more! We are so proud...

Online Learning – WB 11.01.20

We hope you enjoyed our first week of online learning, we are excited to launch our second week of online provision with an adventure into deepest darkest space...

Online Learning

The Fox and the Star booklet

Ready Steady ……..And Action!

What a busy week! This week has been our intense practice week ahead of our big performances, we are so excited to release the new Block Buster Reception...

The Wedding bells are ringing out!

We have had a lovely week in Reception. We have continued our learning about different celebrations, this week we have focused on Weddings. We used the book: ‘When...

Carnival Celebrations!

We have had a very exciting and busy week in Reception thinking about all the sights and sounds at Carnivals. We were impressed with the wonderful hat designs...

Birthday Celebrations!

Although it was only a short week we still managed to fit in lots of learning! We all loved reading Kipper’s Birthday and exploring our own birthday celebrations....

We Love To Get Messy!

This week has been an eventful week in Reception! We have been busy immersing ourselves in paint and enjoying watching and discussing fireworks, becoming conductors of our own...

Hubble Bubble, Potion Making

This week: We began the week by reading and enjoying the story of Meg and Mog. Can you tell your parents what happened in the story? What happened...

Hip Hip Hooray! We have made it through this first half term!

We have reached the end of our first half term together and are so impressed with the way the children have settled and bonded as a cohort and...

Super Duper Reception!

We have had another fantastic week in Reception. This week we read ‘Super Duper You’ and discussed what is special and unique about each of us. It was...

How is The Colour Monster Feeling?

9th October 2020 It was brilliant to see so many of you at our ‘Reception Curriculum Meeting’ last night; thank you for the kind feedback we received. We...

Have you filled a bucket today?

2nd October 2020 Our teachers say: We have had a very busy week thinking about the book- ‘Have you filled a bucket today?’ The children have made us very...

Our First Full Week!

September 25th, 2020 Our Teachers say… Thank you for a thoroughly enjoyable week. The children have been fantastic in their first full week at school. They have enthusiastically...

First week complete!!

Our Teacher’s Say… We are so proud of the start to school our Pumpkins, Acorns and Sunflower children have made. After the home visits last week we have...

Finding our way to Year 1!

This is likely to be one of our final posts before we bid you all adieu for the summer holidays. With that in mind we hope that you...

Let’s get Non-fictional!

Children and families! Did you have a fantastic week exploring Alien School with Albie? We sure did at school and at home, we used our imaginations and participate...

An out of this world experience at alien school!

We hope you enjoyed the beginning of our intergalactic adventure into space. You all showed compassionate and empathy when we had a visitor from outer space land in...

Our Space Adventure Begins!

We hope you enjoyed the learning last week and have found both the Colour Monster and Grandad’s Island’s enjoyable texts to support talk around feelings. Next week we...

Week Beginning 15.06.20 – Grandad’s Island

Dear children and families, We hope you thoroughly enjoyed learning about ‘The Colour Monster’ last week – it was fantastic to see so many children excited about how...

Week Beginning 8th June: How is The Colour Monster Feeling?

We hope you enjoyed your first week back at school or at home during our final term together in Reception. This year seems to have just flown by!...

Welcome Back to Summer 2!

    Welcome back Reception, we hope you have had a fantastic half term break and have been enjoying the gorgeous weather this past week. Are you feeling...

A Fairytale Celebration!

It’s time for a celebration of story and legend – this week our focus will be on stories from around the world, the grand finale of our topic...

Who is that trip trapping over the bridge?

Watch out! Who is that trying to cross the bridge? We hope you enjoyed the story of ‘The Great Fairy Tale Disaster’  last week, it was fantastic to...

Oh What a Messy Disaster, Mr Wolf!

Stop Jumping into My Story Mr Wolf! Wk Beginning 4th May, 2020 We hope you enjoyed the story of Little Red Riding Hood last week. Today, we continue...

Into the Woods with Little Red Riding Hood

We hope you enjoyed the launch of our new topic ‘Once Upon a Time’, we continue on our fairy tale theme this week with the classic story of...

Three Little Pigs – Day three

Wow! We are super impressed with how resilient and courageous you have been getting back into your school routine after the Easter holidays. You have produced some superb...

Three Little Pigs – Day 2

Wow! It was lovely to see so much fantastic learning on Tapestry yesterday. Thank you to all for sharing these with us. You must be curious what learning...

A Fairy Tale Beginning – The Three Little Pigs – Monday

One Monday morning, the children were getting ready for an exciting beginning to their ‘Once Upon a Time’ topic. They are ready to go and excited to learn...

Once upon a Summer term,

Once upon a time, there were three classes: Sunflowers, Acorns and Pumpkins who bravely dived into the unknown world of ‘online learning’. As teachers we have been super...

So long, Spring term – Have a lovely Easter, everyone!

Well, it has certainly been an eventful ending to our Spring term! Today is our last day of online learning for the next few weeks and we hope...

Week 2 Day 3 Wednesday 1st April Lessons and Resources

We hope you all enjoyed your Tuesday’s learning videos and the learning tasks that followed. So you must be curious – what can we expect for tomorrow’s learning?...

Week 2 Day 2 Tuesday’s Lessons and Resources

We hope you all enjoyed your Monday learning videos and the learning tasks that followed. So you must be curious – what can we expect for tomorrow’s learning?...

Finale of Animal Kingdom – Monday 30.03.20

Good morning children and welcome to Monday’s learning activities – The Animal Kingdom, a phonics review and an introduction to time.     Group Learning: This week will be...

The online journey has begun, where will it take us next?

Dear Reception Families, What an exciting but bizarre week it has been for everyone at UCPS. We want to say thankful for all the kind wishes, your understanding...

Daily Blog: Onward to Thursday 26th of March!

We hope you enjoyed your Wednesday learning videos and that they weren’t too messy! We are so grateful to all families for sharing their children’s learning with us....

Prepare for Wednesday – Peak of the Week!

We hope you all enjoyed your Tuesday learning videos and the learning tasks that followed. So you must be curious – what can we expect for tomorrow’s learning?...

Our Online Classroom Begins!

We hope you enjoyed your first day of online learning, Reception! Please do email the Enquiries email address if you have any questions about the learning that you...

Bugs, bugs, BUGS! (+ Information for our Online Classroom)

What an exciting and peculiar week it has been for everyone at UCPS. Our focus this week has been on minibeasts (and not just the garden variety!). We...

Nature Explorers and Outdoor Adventurers: Celebrating STEM Week!

We have had a fantastic week engaging in a range of outdoor learning activities, from orienteering, microscope investigations to allotment exploration and planting. So much science, technology, engineering...

Spots or Stripes!

Wow! Another super busy fun filled week in Reception! Children have thoroughly enjoyed all the rainbow challenges and have worked very hard in a joyful way! Our focus...

Why you do not want wild animals as pets in your house!

What a busy first week back! Reception children have been super excited to start their new topic-‘Animal Kingdom’ and there has been some great discussions about why some...

Here We Are – It’s Book Week!

This week has been a fun filled adventure to learn about our Book Week book ‘Here We Are’. We’ve loved reading the story, learning about our special character...

Welcome Polar Scientists!

This week marked the end of our topic on Polar Explorers and what a super exciting week it has been! On Wednesday, Reception children had a fantastic time...

Writers and Explorers venture North!

This week we’ve moved on from our Antarctic exploration and ventured north to the Arctic tundra to learn about the animals that inhabit this part of the earth....

Inventors and Explorers

This week in our ‘Polar Explorers’ topic we have been helping Jade the Explorer pack her rucksack with all the objects we think she needs for her adventure...

Pointy Penguins Galore!

All our Reception children have demonstrated a real love for learning this week and there has been a hive of activity! Well-done Pumkins, Sunflowers and Acorns! The Rainbow...

A COOL start to the new term!

We’ve had a fantastic first week back at school, returning fresh and ready for all the new challenges that 2020 has to offer us. We’ve been recalling the...

A frosty beginning to 2020!

We hope you’ve all had a restful break and made lots of happy memories with family and loved ones, we are looking forward to welcoming you all back...

No room at the inn – take 2!

*Apologies for those trying to access this blog, we’ve reposted it and hope this one works. We have had a super busy week in Reception!!! All Reception children...

No Room at the Inn?

We have had a super busy week in Reception!!! All Reception children have contributed to making the ‘Nativity’ such a wonderful and joyous experience, which we know that...

There’s a Miracle in Reception!

What a busy week! This week has been our intense practise week ahead of our big performances, we are looking forward to welcoming you all to see our...

Weddings

We have had a lovely week in Reception. We have continued our learning about different celebrations, this week we have focused on Weddings. We used the book: ‘When...

Celebrating in Carnival Style!

We have had a very exciting and busy week in Reception thinking about all the sights and sounds at Carnivals. We were impressed with the wonderful hat designs...

Mr Muddles and Mr Snapples surprise Birthday Party

We have had a very exciting week in Reception thinking about different ways we can celebrate birthdays. We have been very busy becoming party planners, and planning a...

Fireworks and Fairy Fun!

This week has been an eventful week in Reception. We have been busy immersing ourselves in fantastical fairy forest adventures, enjoying watching and discussing fireworks, becoming conductors of...

Hubble Bubble

This week: We began the week by reading and enjoying the story of Meg and Mog. We were very interested in the idea of potion making and we...

Autumn Adventures, Chilly Air and Change

We have reached the end of our first half term together and are so impressed with the way the children have settled and bonded as a cohort and...

What a SURPRISE!

This week has been an exciting week, we officially began our rainbow challenges and enjoyed listening to the story of Handa’s Surprise and recalling the different animals and...

Have you filled a bucket today?

Our teachers say: We have had a very busy week thinking about the book- ‘Have you filled a bucket today?’ The children have made us very proud this...

We’re going on a Dr Biddulph Hunt…….

September 27, 2019 Our Teachers say… Thank you for a thoroughly enjoyable week. The children have been fantastic in their first full week at school. They have enthusiastically...

Let’s get ready for a new start!

In Reception, change is in the air and our children have spent their week reflecting on their achievements in Reception and looking forward to moving into Year 1....

All about Space

We have been very busy this week in our Reception classes thinking about the difference between fiction (stories) and non-fiction (fact) books. We enjoyed looking at the different...

A School for Aliens???

This week we were surprised to find out that there is a school dedicated to the education of young aliens. We found out about this school in the...

Zoom, zoom, zoom… we’re going to the Moon!

This week got off to a BLAST (off) as we read about Baby Bear’s trip to the moon for a picnic in the story Whatever Next. We learnt...

Who Is That Trip Trapping Over My Bridge?

Well our last week of this first half of the summer term has been super busy as always and full of excitement! Our final Traditional Fairy Tale has...

Change your ways Mr Wolf!

Fairytale land has needed more help this week from the Reception Police Officers. We came back to school after the Bank Holiday to find a letter from  Little...

“Not By The Hair On My Chinny Chin Chin!”

Once upon a time there were three super spectacular Reception classes called Acorns, Pumpkins and Sunflowers, they WOWED all their grown ups with the super work they did...

A Fairytale Start

This week has been short but sweet. The children have returned from their holidays refreshed and ready to take on our final summer term and all that it...

Did you know that Cockroaches can chirp and sing?

We have thoroughly enjoyed this week in Reception, our focus has been on creepy crawly Mini-beasts! We started the week with small groups going into the forest on...

Marvellous Minibeasts!

All our Reception children have enjoyed a week of busy learning! There were Rainbow certificates for ALL the children across all three classes- this is very impressive! This...

Zooology!

Surprize! Surprize! Yet another week of busy learning! Reception children have been working so hard all week and as a result were presented with so many ‘Rainbow Certificates’...

Spots or Stripes?

Wow! Another super busy fun filled week in Reception! Children have thoroughly enjoyed all the rainbow challenges and have worked very hard in a joyful way! Our focus...

You can’t take an elephant on a bus!

What a busy first week back! Reception children have been super excited to start their new topic-‘Animal Kingdom’ and there has been some great disscussions about why so...

Jungle Explorers

There has been a real love of learning throughout Sunflowers, Pumpkins and Acorns this week. All the children have really impressed their teachers… well done everyone in Reception!...

And Tango Makes Three

The children in Acorns, Sunflowers and Pumpkins have shown a real love for learning this week and they have really impressed their teachers… well done everyone in Reception!...

Fantastic Facts

We have all experienced a fun-filled week in Reception and have shown our teachers ‘our brilliance!’ Congratulations to Pumpkins, Sunflowers, and Acorns! Everyday we have learnt more new...

We are Polar Explorers!

We have had a wonderful week in Reception with lots of learning taking place. The children have loved their learning this week and they have really impressed their...

P P P Penguins!

All our Reception children have demonstrated a real love for learning this week and there has been a hive of activity! Well-done Pumkins, Sunflowers and Acorns! The Rainbow...

Welcome back!

Welcome back Sunflowers, Acorns and Pumpkins and your lovely families. We have had a wonderful start to the new term with children settling straight back into the routines...

Christmas Celebrations!

We have had a super busy week in Reception! All Reception children have contributed to making the ‘Nativity’ such a wonderful and joyous experience, which we know that...

Nativity preparations

We have had an extremely busy week making the final preparations for our Nativity performances. We are delighted to report that all Reception children are singing beautifully, remembering...

Weddings

We have had a lovely and busy week in Reception. We have continued our learning about different celebrations, this week we focused on Weddings. The children have been...

The sights and sounds of the Carnival

We have had a very exciting and busy week in Reception thinking about all the sights and sounds at Carnivals. We were impressed with the wonderful hats and...

Happy Birthday to you!

We have had a very exciting week in Reception thinking about the different ways that we can celebrate birthdays. What a very busy week…We have been making lists...

Fizz! Bang! Whizz!

We have had a very exciting week in Reception thinking about the colours and sounds that fireworks make. We were impressed with the way the children used their...

Hubble Bubble

This week: We began the week by reading and enjoying the story of Meg and Mog. We were very interested in the idea of potion making and we...

Autumn Colours

We’ve made it – our first half term in Reception is complete. We’ve been on quite a journey since getting to know each other during our home visits...

Handa’s Surprise

Wow! What a fantastic week we have had in Reception. The children have amazed us with their enthusiasm for the brand new Rainbow Challenges and their wonderful attitudes...

Have you filled a bucket today?

Our teachers say: We have had a very busy week thinking about the book- ‘Have you filled a bucket today?’ The children have made us very proud this week-...

We’re going on a Dr Biddulph Hunt…

Our Teachers say… Thank you for a thoroughly enjoyable week. The children have been fantastic in their first full week at school. They have enthusiastically engaged with lots of...

Welcome Reception 2018-19

Our Teacher’s Say… We are so proud of the start to school our Pumpkins, Acorns and Sunflower children have made. After the home visits last week we have...

Happy Holidays!

Wow! What an incredible year it has been in Reception. We would like to thank every single Acorn, Pumpkin and Sunflower for a truly wonderful year. We would...

Moving on Up!

In Reception, change is in the air and our children have spent their week reflecting on their achievements in Reception and looking forward to moving into Year 1....

As a matter of fact

We have been very busy this week in our Reception classes thinking about the difference between fiction (stories) and non-fiction (fact) books. We enjoyed looking at the different...

A School for Aliens???

This week we were surprised to find out that there is a school dedicated to the education of young aliens. We found out about this school in the...

Aliens, Underpants and Other Things

What a week… We have been very inspired by our story for this week ‘Aliens Love Underpants’ and all the associated challenges that have come with it. The...

Zoom zoom zoom, we’re going to the moon! 

This week got off to a BLAST (off) as we read about Baby Bear’s trip to the moon for a picnic in the story Whatever Next. We learnt...

Zoom zoom zoon, we’re going to the moon!

This week got off to a BLAST (off) as we read about Baby Bear’s trip to the moon for a picnic in the story Whatever Next. We learnt...

We Have Lift Off!

What an uplifting three days we have had in Reception. It began with a shocking scene… a flying saucer had crash landed into our playground, and with it,...

A Fairytale Ending!

… and they all lived happily every after. This week we have been teaching the ‘Big Bad Wolf’ to be a ‘Big GOOD Wolf’ and have, we are...

Face the Consequence, Mr Wolf!

Fairytale land has needed more help this week from the Reception Police Officers. We came back to school after the Bank Holiday to find a letter from  Little...

The Big Bad Wolf… or the Big Bad Pigs?

This week has been yet another fun-filled week in Reception as we built on our story from last week ‘The Three Little Pigs’, but this time, with a...

The Three Little Pigs

Once upon a time there were not one, not two but three classes called Acorns, Pumpkins and Sunflowers, they WOWED all their grown ups with the super work...

A Fairytale Beginning

This week has been short but sweet. The children have returned from their holidays refreshed and ready to take on our final summer term and all that it...

Under the Sea

We have had a wonderful week in Reception thinking about the animals that live under the sea. Our group learning focused on the book ‘Shark in the Dark’,...

Mad about Minibeasts

We have really enjoyed this week in Reception, our focus has been on Minibeasts. We started the week with our own minibeast hunt around school. Look at this amazing...

We’re Going to Zoo!

We are getting excited as we prepare for our trip to Shepreth Wildlife Park next Tuesday. This week has been, fittingly, all about zoos. We have been:  ...

Rainbows, Snow and Patterns

There’s ‘snow’ such thing as bad weather in Reception this week as blizzards and ice became part of our learning experiences and the topic of conversation. We have...

You can’t take an elephant on the bus

The children were welcomed back to school with a ‘PAW-some’ new topic- Animal Kingdom and some roaring new challenges. Our focus this week has been what makes a...

Special BLOG: Keep your child safe online

This is a special BLOG to give you guidance about how to keep your child safe online. The internet is amazing. Children can play, learn, create and connect...

And so our Polar Exploration comes to an end…

This week marked the end of our topic on Polar Explorers. We really enjoyed the story ‘And Tango Makes Three’, this led to lots of thinking about baby...

Carry on, up the iceberg!

In our penultimate week of our ‘Polar Explorers’ has taken us on a journey to the north to learn all about about animals that live in the Arctic...

Antarctic Adventure

                    We took our learning to a whole new level this week with thanks to our very special visitors...

Our Antarctic Expedition gets real!

We took our learning to a whole new level this week with thanks to our very special visitors – the British Antarctic Survey. Tuesday’s visit has left a...

The Blue Penguin

Thank you to all of the children in the Pumpkin, Acorn and Sunflower classes for a wonderful week. All the staff have thoroughly enjoyed the learning this week...

Happy New Year!

It has been a fantastic start to 2018 in Reception, with all the children returning happy, refreshed and ready to engage in our new topic ‘Polar Explorers’. So...

S

Wow! We are so very proud of all the children in Acorns, Pumpkins and Sunflowers for their wonderful performance in our Nativity. We hope that you all enjoyed...

A Christmas Story

What a nativity filled week it has been it has been in Reception. We have been rehearsing our performance and making our grown ups very proud. This week...

I can hear the bells!

This week has been another week of celebrations as we have been trying to help Mr Muddles and Snapples the Crocodile find a partner and prepare for their...

It’s Carnival time!

What an exciting week it has been in Reception! The Acorns, Pumpkins and Sunflowers have had a really enjoyable week preparing for and joining in with our very...

It’s Party Time!

We’ve had a fantastic week preparing for the birthdays of Mr Muddles and Snapples the Crocodile. We have been busy writing, wrapping, baking and decorating and have achieved...

Fizz, bang, pop!

It has been an exciting, firework filled week in Reception! This week we have been busy learning about fireworks and how to stay safe around them. We have...

Hubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble!

What a spooky week it has been! We’ve been making potions, building cauldrons and designing pumpkin faces. Our focus this week has been: asking questions and giving thoughtful...

Happy Half Term!

Our first half term has come to an end, we have settled into our classrooms and have made some great new friends! This week we have been: Learning...

Books, books and more books – it’s BOOK WEEK!

Book week has come to an end (and a new chapter will begin next week!). We have fully embraced books this week, with many of us sharing our...

Sssslither down the snake, round the a-a-apple and down the leaf!

This has been another milestone week for us in Reception. We have wowed our teachers with our appetite for phonics as this week we have started hearing, saying,...

Bucket-fillers, whole body listeners and tidy up superstars!

Have you been a bucket filler today? Reception certainly have been, in fact, they’ve been bucket fillers all week long! Inspired by our story this week, ‘Have You...

We’re Going On a Mr Biddulph Hunt

Our first full week of school has been an exciting one… we even got to go on a hunt around the school for a very tall man (Mr...

What a Wonderful Week!

And what a week it has been for all of our new Reception children. Our school now feels complete, full of new faces, new smiles and such amazingly...

Summer Time

Farewell and Thank you: This is the last blog post of the year before the summer holiday! Gosh how time has flown by…It feels like only yesterday that...

Future thinking

This week In our classrooms this week, children have been using imaginative role play to think about what they want to do when they are older. In the...

Investigators and problem solvers

This week We have been looking at inventions. We have taken a closer look at typewriters, cameras, torches and laptops and asking questions such as: – What does...

Inventors and Inventions

This Week This has been a very hot week in Reception! Thank you to everyone for remembering water bottles, hats and sun cream. We have continued with our...

Aliens Love Underpants!

This week: We have been really enjoying our new space topic this week. We have shared the story ‘Aliens Love Underpants’ and talked about what it would be...

3, 2, 1, BLAST OFF!

Although this week has been, short it has been packed full of fun. We started on our space theme and we have all been creating things for the...

Summer has arrived!

This week We have been making the most of the amazing weather by turning our sandpit into a beach and creating water storage systems using our digging skills...

Oh my, what big learning we have had!

This Week We have been developing our learning about Fairy Tales by looking at Little Red Riding Hood, using Talk for Writing skills to learn the story, including...

If the shoe fits…!

This week we have been exploring the story of Cinderella. We have been writing invitations to the royal ball and some of us have been challenging ourselves to...

“In Summer…”

This Week This week has been short but busy in Reception. We have been learning about the story of the Snow Queen. After sharing the story we decided...

The Book Monster and the Gingerbread Man

This Week This week has been a very busy one in Reception, a book monster was on the loose in our classroom! Nibbles has broken free from his...

Run, run as fast as you can!

Welcome back! We hope you all had a lovely holiday and feel ready for the exciting term ahead!   Learning Celebration Event! We are so proud of the...

Happy Easter!

Learning Celebration Event! We are so proud of the children’s learning so far this year. Please check your emails for details of an event about your child’s learning...

‘Turnipping’ up the learning

This week We have continued our topic learning on plants by looking at the story ‘The Enormous Turnip’, discussing the size, shape and weight of different vegetables. We...

Ch…Ch…Ch…Changes

Quick Reminders: Please can you ask your children not to play with the equipment before and after the school day. Please can you bring your reading books into...

Week 3 in Reception

This week On Monday each class had an exciting physical development session with Little Gym. The children explored using balance beams, trampettes, and bars, as well as experimenting...

Flying high… thinking big.

This week Reception enjoyed learning about the books of Alexis Deacon for book week. We spent the first day learning about Henry Finch and the power of thought....

We have a spring in our step

This week: This week has been a busy welcome back to school. On Monday the Reception children took part in a whole school diversity day where we talked...

What would you do if you went to the zoo?

This week The children have been learning about Zoos. We read the book Dear Zoo and talked about the types of animals that can be found in zoos...

Mini-beast Madness!

Shepreth Trip Thank you to everyone who volunteered with us on the trip, you were a huge help and it could not have happened without you!. The children...

Pets, vets and new friends met!

Trip information: Thank you to everyone who has volunteered to come with us on the trip. We needed a total of 15 parent volunteers. We have emailed all...

No more yielding than a dream…

News flash: We are still looking for parents to help with our trip to Shepreth, if you can be available on 30th January please speak to your class...

Welcome back to our learning habitat

Exciting News: On Monday 30th January we are going on a school trip to Shepreth Wildlife park! If you have not received an email about this please let...

Holiday reading and learning

Well done on finishing your first term in Reception at University of Cambridge Primary School. We are really proud of all the learning that your Acorn, Pumpkin and...

Lights, Camera, Action!

As the term comes to a close we just wanted to say well done to everyone for a fantastic first term at school! We have all learnt so...

Setting the Stage

Mystery Readers! Call for mystery readers in Reception classes next term. To support the children developing a love of reading we are inviting parents to come and share...

Creativity and Curiosity: A Perfect Match

  This week: We have been learning all about weddings and partnerships this week. During group learning we have been working as a team to create wedding cakes...

Nativity update

This week, nativity rehearsals have got into full swing. We are using our stage in the school hall so as to feel familiar and confident in the space...

1,2,3,4…5!

This week: Thank you to everyone for coming on time to school each day, it has really helped us to start our learning at 9:00am. It has been...

The Colours and Sounds of Carnival

This week: We have been learning about carnivals. We looked at the masks worn at Venice Carnival, the snow sculptures made at Quebec Carnival and the instruments used...

Zoom, Pop, Bang!

This Week: It was a real pleasure to see so many of you at the learning conversations on Thursday. We are so proud of the children and their...

Diwali: sweets, patterns and lights.

This week: It is wonderful to be back at school after the holiday. Thank you for bringing your decorated plates back, we have really enjoyed talking with the...

Musicians and mathematicians reaching for the stars

This week: This week, we looked at the book How to Catch a Star.  The book inspired us to dream big and set ambitious goals for our play and...

Music and nature

This week: This week the story of Owl Babies has given us lots of opportunity to take our learning outside. We have been building dens and nests in...

Porridge that is just right!

This week: We can hardly believe how quickly this week has gone! We have been so busy in Reception learning about the story of Goldilocks and the Three...

Artistic Elephants

This week We have had another exciting week in Reception, packed full of playful and exploratory learning.  We continued our “All about me” topic by looking at the...

We’re going on a Mr Biddulph hunt…

This week This week we explored the book ‘We’re going on a bear hunt,’ so we decided to have a hunt of our own. Mrs Bray wrote to...

First week together

It was lovely this week to see the classrooms filled with smiling faces and happy children. This week we spent a lot of time getting to know each...

First steps lead to epic journies

We would like to thank you all for welcoming us into your homes this week. It was lovely to get to know you and your family. We have...

Transition Week

Thanks to everyone that came out to Sports Day on Monday! We learned about inclusive sports in the morning with John Wallis from Power2Inspire. We participated in many...

Our Science Week

This week we’ve been exploring the world through science! In small groups we made butter by shaking double cream in a jar. It took a lot of shaking...

Blue Sky Week

Blue Sky Week has been a week of art and exploration, we looked at various types of art including the temporary art installation of Alfred Wallis paintings hanging...

Paralympics

This week we have been looking at the ‘Paralympics.’ We focused on inclusion and diversity. Some children were blindfolded and their partner needed to instruct around an obstacle...

There’s no ‘i’ in team!

This week we have been focusing on the term ‘cooperation.’ We focused on working together as a team, completing different challenges. Some children were blindfolded and their partner...

On the road to Rio

Welcome back, we hope you enjoyed your half term! This week we have started our new topic ‘The Olympics.’ We focused on healthy living and well being, looking...

Run run as fast as you can you can’t catch me I’m the gingerbread man!

This week we have been learning about the story ‘The Gingerbread man.’ At the beginning of the week a crime had been committed, a gingerbread man was found...

The paper bag princess

This week we have been learning about the story ‘The Paper Bag Princess.’ At the beginning of the week a trail of bones and burnt clothing appeared in the...

Aladdin

This week we have been learning about the story ‘Aladdin.’ At the beginning of the week a magic carpet and a golden lamp appeared in Reception. We took...

Rapunzel

This week we have been learning about the story ‘Rapunzel.’ Rapunzel left a note asking for the children to write to her because she didn’t have many books...

The Elves and the Shoemaker

Last week we were learning about the story ‘The Elves and the Shoemaker.’ Many of you may have heard that last week some Elves took up residence in...

The enormous turnip

This week we have been reading the story ‘The Enormous Turnip’ and talking about working together as a team. During literacy we have been learning how to write acrostic poems and...

Jack and the Beanstalk Week 2

This week in reception we have been writing messages to Jack and the giant to post on our classroom beanstalks. Some of the children think that Jack shouldn’t...

Jack and the Beanstalk

Finally after weeks of technical difficulties the blog is back! This week in Reception we have been exploring the story, Jack and the Beanstalk. During literacy we have...

Farm animal fun

This week in Reception we have been learning about farm animals. During literacy we looked at the story ‘Old MacDonald had a farm’ and have been labelling a range...

Happy New Year

Happy New Year and welcome back! We are excited to be settled into our new space and embrace all the fantastic learning that will come from it. The...