Here is a powerpoint of the new parents meeting.

1. Welcome to Orchard Primary
Nursery and Reception
Early Years Foundation Stage

2. Our Early Years Team
Mrs Jones – Class Teacher
Mrs Bhatti – Nursery Nurse
Mrs Say – Teaching Assistant
Mrs Vines/Mrs Ciftdal –Teaching Assistants

3. What is the Early Years?
The Early Years is the first couple of years your child will
have at school or pre school – it is Nursery and
Reception.
It is such an important time of their learning as it forms
the basis of their enjoyment of school and what
learning is all about. The skill of socialising and making
friends, learning how to express themselves, learning
the boundaries of school and experiencing a range of
different activities.

4. Early Years Foundation Stage
These are the curriculum areas we cover every
day:
 Personal Social and Emotional Development
 Communication and Language
 Physical Development
 Literacy
 Mathematics
 Understanding the World
 Expressive Arts and Design

5. Our Curriculum
• There are 3 prime areas of learning:
Communication and Language, Personal, Social and Emotional development
and Physical development.
We focus on these first as they form the basis of all other
learning!
• There are 4 specific areas of learning:
Literacy, Maths, Understanding of the World and Expressive Arts and Design
Children learn through a combination of child initiated and adult led
activities every day. Learning takes place both inside and outside of the
classroom.

7. We work very hard to plan activities that cover all of
these different areas of learning that will engage,
stimulate and encourage your child to develop all the
skills they will need. Every half term, there will be a
particular topic for example Colour and Transport!
We model and reinforce skills and support if they need
extra help and extend and move the children on to the
next step if they are ready.

8. Characteristics of Effective
Learning
We will also focus on and support the different skills
and attributes that your child needs to learn! We want
them to be fantastic little learners!
These are:
Playing and Exploring
Active Learning
Creating and Thinking

11. How Early Years Works
When your child comes to Nursery/Reception they will:
• Explore and discover new experiences
• Learn through play
• Take risks and be challenged
• Be encouraged to be independent
• Problem solve
• Investigate
• Use their senses
• Socialise with others
• Watch/listen/absorb everything
• Most importantly have lots of fun – learning can only take
place when this is happening!

12. Our Routine
We have a similar routine every day – we use a visual timetable
to show the children what will be happening!
It will usually follow this kind of schedule:
• Good Morning time
• Carpet input time - Maths
• Free flow (indoor/outdoor learning – child initiated)
• Focus activities – adult led
• Tidy up time
• Snack time
• Carpet input time - Phonics
• Story time /song time
• Home time

13. Assessment
When your child starts Nursery/Reception we will
monitor their progress by doing the following:
• Taking lots of photographs
• Labels detailing adult observations
• Assessments during adult led activities
• Discussions with children and parents
• Learning journeys/other books
• Rainbow book challenges and tasks to do at home
• Sharing learning with you through Class Dojo app
• Sharing learning with you on the school website

14. Other Activities
• As well as being in the classroom – your child will take part in
these activities during their school week as well:
• Assemblies – Gold Book (every Friday morning)
• Special times of the Year e.g. Harvest Festival and Nativity
• Computer suite
• PE sessions
• Cooking
• Trips
• Forest School
• Special theme days
• Write Dance - Ribbons

15. Settling In
At Orchard Primary we place a lot of importance on the children’s transition into
school and want to make this as smooth and happy as possible!
These are some of the things we hope will be able to happen before your child comes
to either Nursery and Reception.
• You will be sent our parent information meeting on a video and the written
information via email for you to read.
• Starting Nursery/Reception transition video and pictures on the school website
• A Phone call to each parent from Mrs Jones in July to have a one on one
discussion – chance to ask questions.
• All About Me Books – to complete at home and bring in on your child’s first day
• At least one come and play morning in September before they start, so that they
can actually visit their new school, see their teacher, see their new friends and
have a play!

16. • Home Visits in September before the children start – if not possible –
maybe parent meetings in the school
• Nursery children and possibly Reception children will start in small groups
of 5/6 – then we have time to really comfort and support any children who
are distressed and upset.
• Staggered finish time for the Reception children over the course of several
weeks – building up to a full day
• Splodge, Cecil and Patch photo books and special welcome teddy bears
with letters given at the home visit
• Children will receive a postcard from me over the summer – welcoming
them to our school
• Discussions with previous settings
Many of these things are dependent on the COVID-19 Pandemic and we will
follow Government guidelines and review our practice before the children
start in September - you will be informed of any changes to our plans

17. Starting School
Whatever happens regarding the current situation there will be
a gradual transition into school.
We are unable to give you your child’s start dates as yet, but as
soon as we know what the Government recommends, then we
will send out the information to you as soon as possible.

18. Home Visits
• If your child is new to our school and even if your child was in
our Nursery and we have already visited you, we would still
like visit you at home in September.
• We feel that this is very important especially with the
lockdown measures over the last few months– that the
children see us in their environment, where they are most
comfortable, before entering school.
• Obviously if the Government guidelines haven’t changed by
then and we are unable to visit you at home – we will
organise meeting in school instead observing social distancing
measures.
• Mrs Williams or I will be in touch to organise the date and
time of your visit.

19. Parental and Family Involvement
We appreciate that you know the most about your child and we want to share
in that. These are the kinds of things that you will be encouraged o be
involved with when your child starts Orchard Primary School:
• Stay and Learn sessions every half term with a different focus – you can
come into the classroom and take part in activities with your child..
• Parents afternoons twice a year – to discuss progress
• WOW vouchers
• Reading Record
• Creative Homework each half term
• New learning updates each week via Class Dojo
• Special days for grandparents, aunties, uncles e.t.c.
• Class Dojo reward system and app for communication with parents/Parent
Pay – positive
• We are always here to help and support where possible

20. Parent Workshops
When your child starts our Nursery/Reception class you will
be invited to attend some workshops during the school
year to show you the kinds of things your child will be
learning and to show you the ways in which we teach
them.
These will include:
Language
Fine motor skills
Maths
Phonics
Little Scientist/Little Numbers

21. Uniform
When you child comes to Orchard Primary School, they will
need to have a uniform.
Our uniform supplier is Kacey’s – on Blackfen Road in Sidcup
You can buy plain white polo shirts from supermarkets/Primark
etc
Winter uniform
Blue sweatshirt with school logo, blue or black track suit
bottoms
White or blue polo shirt (does not need the school logo
Black shoes or plain black trainers
Warm coat with a hood for outdoor play all weathers

22. Summer uniform
Grey/black shorts, white or blue polo shirts or blue checked
summer dresses/sun hat
PE Kit (Reception Class only)
White t-shirt, black shorts, black plimsolls
Forest School Kit
Any clothes from home that you don’t mind them getting
dirty/muddy and wet – no uniform
Waterproof all in one or jacket and trousers and wellie boots
They will also need a book bag!
PLEASE, PLEASE NAME ALL UNIFORM – THANK YOU!

23. Illness/Punctuality
Please be on time dropping off and collecting!
This can distress the children if you are late – although we
understand this can happen unexpectedly!
Please call the school office if you are delayed – we will reassure
your child and let them know what is happening.
Also please bring the children to school on time (8.45-9am – our
gate is locked at 9am) as this starts their day the same as
everyone else and they get to be a part of the early morning
routine and early work at school!
If you are running late, please come to the school office

24. Different people collecting from
Nursery
Let us know in the morning, on class dojo or in
the contact book, if a different person will be
collecting your child.
Where possible introduce us beforehand or
show us a photo – give a description
Please let your child know that it won’t be you
collecting them if possible.

25. Snack time
We are a Healthy School so we will provide your
child with the following:
• Free fruit every day – variety of
apples/bananas/oranges/tomatoes/pears etc.
• Milk (please complete online form).
• Water
• No other drinks or snacks in the classroom.

26. Forest school
• The children will take part in a Forest school session every
week – no matter what the weather is.
• This will involve a variety of outdoor activities such as digging,
den building, painting with mud, tree climbing and looking for
mini-beasts.
• Information about appropriate clothing will be sent out once
the children have started school.

27. Application to Reception Class
2021
Unfortunately coming to our Nursery doesn’t mean you
will get an automatic place in our Reception Class –
when it is time you will be given the information on
how to apply and the deadline that the application
needs to be in by.
If you need help with this – we are here to support you
in any way we can.

28. Medical Information, Injuries and
Accidents at School
We will need to know any medical information about your child – for example
asthma, eczema, ongoing conditions, medication that they take and so on.
Most importantly we will need to know of any allergies and dietary
information so that we can keep your child safe whilst they are at school.
If your child has an injury or accident at school you will be notified:
If it a minor injury like a small graze, then we will give first aid and complete a
form that your child will bring out with them – this will detail what happened
and what first aid was given
If is more serious, like a bump to the head or anything that we are remotely
concerned about – then we will call home as well and you can decide if you
want to collect them or if they are fine to stay in school
For bumps to the head – the children are given a green wristband to wear

29. Reception School Dinners
If your child is coming to Reception – the
children have School Dinners
Our school dinners are cooked on site and are
now free for all children in Reception,
Year 1 and Year 2.
Good variety of meals on offer usually on a
weekly rota, they are nutricious and cater for all
dietary needs.

30. If you have any concerns, issues,
problems
It is very important that you contact me or talk to me if
you have any questions or concerns or just want
someone to listen, that way I can sort out any issues
and provide support where needed as soon as possible.
You can do this face to face in the morning and at the
end of the day
Via the Class Dojo app – weekdays only
In the contact book
I am always here to help in any way I can!

31. What can you do to help?
Please support your child to be able to do some of these things
before they join Nursery/Reception in September:
• Talk to your child about the changes they are soon to experience.
• Look on the school website at the transition film.
• Use the toilet confidently and independently/wash hands
• Put on and take off their own coat
• Put on and take off their own shoes and socks
• Begin to count/talk about numbers/shapes
• Enjoy sharing books with adults
• Be able to sing a wide range of Nursery Rhymes and songs
• Practising turn taking and sharing skills
• Developing vocabulary so the children can express needs and talk with others
during play
• Practice writing their name or their first initial

32. Other Important Information
• Nursery Session runs from 9.00-12.00pm (although you can drop
your child in the morning from 8:45am)
• Reception Session runs from 9.00-3.15pm (although you can drop
your child in the morning from 8:45am)
• All dates/times and details of your child’s start to school will
be sent to you by the school office via email – please make
sure they have the correct email address for you and that
you check and read emails you receive from them - it will
contain important information.

33. I appreciate this is a huge amount of information to give you in
one go – please write down any questions you have – no matter
how small!
There will a couple of chances to ask those important questions
before your child starts with us in September – these are:
• There may be a Zoom video meeting – if this does happen Mrs
Williams will inform you of the details/date/time of this in due
course!
• I will personally phone you to talk one on one in July
• Emailing the school office
• Discussions at the Home Visit

34. Thank you!
We are very much looking forward
to working with you and your
children in September!