We want to wish a very warm welcome to Twin Oaks Primary School to all our new families. We are delighted that you and your child will be joining us and cannot wait to meet you!
This page is just for you and we hope you will find it really useful! We know your child starting Reception can be an anxious time, but please let us assure you that it is a priority for us to make sure that you and your child feel prepared, confident and excited to start at Twin Oaks.
Your child’s development and happiness is at the heart of everything we do, and we feel that children learn best whilst having fun, feeling safe and being happy. Our aim is to feed your child’s curiosity and to inspire them to aim for the stars. We use concrete, meaningful and practical learning opportunities that support the children to become independent problem solvers, who are continuously eager to expand their knowledge and skills and have a conscientious attitude to their own learning.
Welcome Letter
Forms and Documents to read and return
- Pupil Registration Form
- Twin Oaks New Starter Questionnaire
- Photo Consent Form
- Ethnic Background Form
- Computer use agreement form
- Privacy Notice
- AIP Allergy Letter
- AIP Allergy Form
- Local visits permission
If you are do not have Microsoft word on your computer, which is needed to open and edit the forms, or are having any difficulties please request a paper copy from the school office.
All children will be invited to attend a Stay and Play event with their parent or carer so that you can get to know us and we can get to know you.
We ran these in June. See Miss Cartwright's powerpoint here:
School Uniform
Please label everything with your child’s name. We strongly recommend Velcro fasteners not laces.
We encourage all children to wear a school uniform. All school uniform can be bought from local supermarkets and high street retailers. Children should wear a white plain t-shirt, black/grey trousers or dresses/skirts, royal blue jumper and plain black velcro shoes to school. We ask that you purchase a plain royal blue jumper or cardigan for the beginning of Reception from a local supermarket.
We have branded jumpers available to order see here: https://www.twinoaks.lewisham.sch.uk/School-Uniform/
For PE, we encourage children to wear royal blue shorts, plain white t-shirt and black plimsols or trainers with velcro.
No jewellery is allowed, except small stud earrings.
Curriculum
We follow the Early Years Foundation Curriculum and use the Development Matters guidance.
We teach through
- Short direct teaching activities
- Learning through play
- Group work
- A different topic each term
Despite having exciting and stimulating topics planned for each term, we will also have the flexibility to follow the children’s interests on a daily basis. For example, if they spot a snail in the garden that they are interested in, we may start learning about insects, building bug hotels, measuring snail trails, etc.
Children are observed and assessed on a regular basis.
Targets are set and progress reported at academic review days and parents evenings.
We learn through all types of weather, wellingtons and spare clothes in a bag are welcome!
What is the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Curriculum?
Your child will be learning skills, acquiring new knowledge and demonstrating their understanding through 7 areas of learning and development.
Children should mostly develop the 3 prime areas first. These are:
· Communication and language
· Physical development
· Personal, social and emotional development
These prime areas are those most essential for your child’s healthy development and future learning.
As children grow, the prime areas will help them to develop skills in 4 specific areas. These are:
· Literacy
· Mathematics
· Understanding the world
· Expressive arts and design.
These 7 areas are used to plan your child’s learning and activities. The activities will be tailored to meet your child’s individual needs.
Our approach to the curriculum helps to embed those early skills in a rich and exciting way. We teach children not what to think, but how to think.
Getting your child ready for school
- Get your child in a good routine
- Talk to them about their new setting and how to ask for help from adults
- Practise doing up buttons and doing up their zips on coats
- Practise getting dressed by themselves- your child will be changing for P.E. lessons into their P.E. kits
- Practise writing their names (not in all capital letters- capital letter for the first letter of their name and lower case for the rest)
- Count items in your house and identify numbers in your environments e.g. door numbers, bus number etc.
- Share a book and read a story before bedtime, don’t forget to talk about it! Here are a few suggestions:
Phonics
Phonics is an important part of the curriculum that we teach. Children will be taught daily phonics as a class, in small groups and pairs. We will talk o you about how you can support with this when you start with us.
We use Read Write Ink to teach phonics and more information can be found on our phonics page here: https://www.twinoaks.lewisham.sch.uk/Phonics-support-for-parents/
Workshops
At the start of the year, we provide a phonics workshop for parents which focuses on how you can support your child at home with their reading. Later on, we also do a maths parent and child workshop as well as a reading & writing parent and child workshop. These workshops are a great way to work alongside your child and see in person some live activities that we use in class. They also provide a better understanding of skills and knowledge of how we teach in Reception.
Evidence Me
We use an app called 'Evidence Me' to collect and share the learning your child has done in school and at home. This is a great tool which we highly recommend to use so that we can celebrate their achievements together. We also share home learning challenges to complete with you which they will then be able to share in class with their friends. Each child will have their own profile and log in details will be provided at the start of the academic year. 
Starting Reception
