Reception
Welcome to Reception’s page…
A warm welcome from myself, Mrs. Aris, Reception’s class teacher. I feel incredibly privileged that you have chosen The Willows for your child!
I am very fortunate to be supported by two wonderful assistants, Miss Dugdale and Mrs. Vallely. I am also lucky to have Mrs. Hayes who leads our outdoor learning sessions and Miss Mallinson who take the children for their Music lesson.
As a team, we work exceptionally hard to make sure your child’s first year at primary school is very special and one to remember! Take a look at the information below to see what we have been getting up to!

This term’s Stars!
Now that we are allowed to have assemblies together again, we have restarted our Star Award Assembly on Friday morning. This is a very special assembly where Mrs. Aris tells us how amazing one of our friends has been this week – our parents are even allowed to come! Well done to all of our recent Star Award winners.
Things to know about…
Reception is very different to all the other classes in a primary school. We don’t sit down for formal lessons like everyone else, Mrs. Aris listens to what we like, what we enjoy doing and then tailors our activities to suit us.
We also follow a different curriculum, it’s called Development Matters; as the year progresses, we move onto the Early Learning Goals.
Like the other classes, we learn about our faith, Catholicism and we also learn about our bodies and exercise in PE.
Reception’s Newsletters
Each week, Mrs. Aris writes a Newsletter to the families of our Reception children letting you know what they have been learning that week. Click the button below to see Mrs. Aris’ latest Newsletters.
Frequently Asked Questions
Whether your child is just starting in our Reception class or has been with us for a while, have a look at our FAQs which you may find helpful. If you can’t find the answer to your question, please do not hesitate to give us a call.
World Book Day – Reception
Today we celebrated World Book Day. The children came to school dressed as their favourite character. Our theme this year is stories with a moral, Reception have been looking at the story of 'The Rainbow Fish'. We started the day with a Family Fun session in the...
Reception celebrate Chinese New Year
This week Reception have been learning all about the Chinese New Year festival. We have been taking part in lots of craft activities; making lanterns, painting Chinese numbers. We have also been dressing up, using chopsticks and looking at the culture in more...
Reception and Year 6 Forest School
Reception and Year 6 joined together for a buddy outdoor learning day. They had so much fun working together to build different things in the Forest School area. They made their own flat breads and then added jam, butter or syrup; They tasted delicious!
Craft Club – Reception and Year 1
This week in Craft Club, we looked at painting carefully, using cotton buds. We chose our favourite colours to make up our rainbows. Next week we will be adding cotton wool to make our clouds. Then, we will be adding ribbon to make our door hangers. The children are...
Reception – Building dens with our Year 6 buddies.
Reception were so lucky to have their Year 6 buddies helping them to make dens for The Gruffalo characters. They worked hard to ensure their dens were strong, the correct size and be comfortable homes for the characters. Mrs Barnett and Mr Wylde thought the dens...
Reception – Our Nativity
Today, Reception impressed the whole school by retelling the story of The Nativity. Every child spoke so clearly and acted out their parts extremely well. I know all the children and staff watching were extremely proud of them all. Well done Reception, you have very...
Reception – Designing baubles for the Kirkham display
Today, Reception have been designing their own Christmas baubles, these will be used to decorate railings in the Kirkham Town Centre. They worked so hard on their design, carefully choosing the different colours to make their design stand out. Well done Reception!
Reception – Glow Dodgeball
This morning Reception have taken part in glow dodgeball. Using the UV face paint, the reception children were turned into cats. We took part in dancing games, dodgeball style games and loved looking at all the different colours glow in the dark.
Reception – Outdoor Day
Reception were so lucky to spend all Thursday day outside with Mrs Hayes. She planned such wonderful activities; creating bird feeders, making paintbrushes, creating beautiful pictures and making potions. We then took part in an outdoor dance lesson. We had so much fun.
Reception Scoot to School Day
On Monday, the Reception children travelled to and from school on their scooters. We also used our scooters in school on the playgrounds. We had lots of fun, showing each other tricks and avoiding lots of obstacles in the playground. We can't wait for the next Scoot...
Diwali Workshop
Reception were so lucky to have Mrs McKee come in to teach us all about Diwali. We took part in lots of different activities and even learnt a dance.
Making Diwali Candle Holders
This week, Reception and Year 3 have been looking at Diwali. The children have enjoyed looking at Rangoli patterns and Mehndi hand patterns. Reception were so lucky to have the Year 3 children as their Art buddies for the past 2 days. Year 3 have helped the reception...
Reception – Maths – More and Less
Reception have started the week looking at comparing quantities using the vocabulary of more and less. We compared jars and decided which jars had more in and which jars had fewer in. We then used conkers and five/ten frames to compare our own quantities.
Reception – Investigating conkers
This week Reception have been looking for signs of Autumn. They have enjoyed painting autumn trees alongside looking closely at pinecones and conkers.
Reception – Our first P.E. lesson
Today the children were excited to take part in their first P.E. lesson. They impressed their Teachers so much by how quickly they changed into their P.E. kits. We worked hard to make sure we had a safe space to do our warm up and then had fun moving around the hall...
Reception – Our Favourite Character
This week, in Reception, we are looking at the story 'Don't hog the hedge.' The children listened to the story of the hedgehog sharing her cosy warm hibernation place with other animals. They then decided which animal was their favourite from the story and had a go at...
Reception Outdoor Learning
Reception are so lucky to have an outdoor learning session in our Forest School area every Thursday. The children have enjoyed exploring the area; looking for signs of Autumn alongside painting and swinging in the hammocks.
Reception – Our First Week
What a fun first week we had in our new classroom. We enjoyed lots of fun activities and made lots of new friends. We met our Year 6 buddies and even had our first Music lesson.
Reception – Our First Day
It was lovely to welcome our Reception children to our Willows family. We showed them around school and together we said the Willow's prayer.