Cranborne Primary School

   Key Dates for Spring Term 2026   

• Thursday 12th February - Storytelling Visit (in school)
• Friday 13th February - Last day of term & Friendship Disco
• 16th - 20th February - Half term - School is closed
• Monday 23rd February - First day back for all children
• Thursday 5th March - World Book Day
• Friday 6th March - Friends of Cranborne pre-loved uniform and book sale
• Monday 23rd March -  Easter Fayre
• Friday 27th March - Last day of term. School finishes at 1:15pm

 Link to the school calendar

Extra information  : 

Our PE day is a Thursday. On a Thursday all children can come in to school wearing their PE kit and stay in this all day. 

NEW - Tasty Tuesday - Each week will be trying a new piece of food and looking at where it comes from!

Today was grapefruit (10th February)

Today we tried Mango! (3rd February)

This week we tried pineapple! (27th Jan)

Friday 13th February

Some valentines celebrations in Reception today!  

Thursday 12th February

The children loved the Imajica story telling visit! 

Wednesday 11th February

There were more Lunar new Year celebrations today.

We also measured beanstalks using cubes as well as other objects in the classroom. 

We also used step by step guides to learn how to draw things, such as, a shark, a penguin and a car! 

The children also loved water play today, we were experimenting using the cubes and guttering to make the water travel. 

Monday 9th February

Today we spoke about Lunar New Year as this will be celebrated in the half term. 

We learnt that there are often fireworks to celebrate so we practised patterns. We also used our fine motor skills to match patterns in lanters - lanters are decorated and hung to celebrate.  The chidlren loved seeing the dragon during the parade so we made these too!

We also dressed up to celebrate a special dinner with tranditional food. 

The children used their phonics to make cards to send to others. 

Our  new story is 'Jack and the beanstalk' outside the chidlren found leaves to make their own beanstalk. 

Friday 6th February

We have been looking at an artist called Alma Thomas. It was interesting to hear about her career and how she was a teacher and then later became an artist. She enjoyed using dashes to make her abstract art work. The children were inspired by her pictures so decided to create their own. 

The children also enjoyed a game of bingo today. The had to work out what number representations they had before putting a cube on their number. They loved filling up their whole board. 

Wednesday 4th February

The cildren took different materials and tested them to see if they would be blown down by the wolf. 

The children also thought about aternative versions of the story. For example, a house could be made out of metal and the wolf could not blow it down but if it was made out of feathers the house would fall down. 

The children practised their letter formation. 

Tuesday 2nd February

This week we are reading a new story. The Three Little Pigs! We came in to a letter from the pigs asking for our help! They wanted us to help them build a new house that the wolf could not blow down! 

Thursday 29th January 2026

Today the children used playdough to make the troll from the story. They thought about how many eyes it would have and what it would look like. 

we also played a game where the children have to find their 4 matching characters from their animal family. We had to take turn and remember where our characters were. 

We also sorted pom poms in to different groups, such as, colour and size. We then counted how many there were of each. 

Handwriting- 

This week we have been looking at the curly catapillar letters (c, d, g, q, o and a) and forming these correctly in our handwriting books. 

Tuesday 27th January 2026

Today we continued reading our new story. The children acted it out as we read. We also made our own pictures of the characters crossing the bridge so we could use them as puppets to tell the story. 

We rescued some numbers which had been frozen in ice and had to identify them.

The children made and counted their own number towers. 

Monday 26th January 2026

Today we read the book "The Three Billy Goats Gruff" which the children loved! The children did not like the Troll but we did discuss how maybe he was sad and lonely. 

The children built bridges to help the goats travel. 

We also looked at sorting and couting groups, the children added labels to show the amount. 

As one of our challenges today the children had to follow step by step instructions to make a paper plane - we then measured how far the flew and wrote our names where they landed. 

W/C 12th January

What an excitimg monday we had in Reception! The lovely grown ups from the DFE came into us and had such a wonderful time observing the children and learning what goes on in class! The children were amazing and we were complimented on how articulate and confident our children are!  In English this week, we read 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears'.  The children loved completing activities relating to the story, including retelling the story with masks, writing their own stories, making their own puppets and using playdough to make the three bears.  In Maths this week, we investigated 2d and 3d shape.

W/C: 6th January

Happy New Year everyone!  We do hope that you all had a lovely restful holiday with your loved ones.  The children were so excited to return to school on tuesday and tell us all about their Christmas presents!  The children settled so nicely back into our school routine, though there were some definate sleepy children at the end of the first day back!  This week in English we looked at the story 'Ruby's Worry', talking about who we can tell our worries to and how we can solve them.  In maths we investigated 2-D shapes and talked about their properties.  

W/C: 15th December

We were so proud of all the children in our amazing 'Wiggly Nativity'! All the children were truly fantastic!! We've had a wonderful last week. On Monday we met the reindeer and Santa, as wll as going to the Christmas fayre.  On Wednesday we had the most wonderful Polar Express Day! The children loved the festive activities and having a hot chocolate on the Polar Express Train! We loved seeing all the Christmas jumpers for Christmas Lunch day!  We wish all our children and lovely families a very merry Christmas! 

W/C: 8th December 

The week's are truly flying! The children are doing so well rehearsing for their Nativity, we had a practice dress rehearsal this week and they did amazingly.  The teaching staff are definately going home with the songs in their heads so we're sure the children are too! In Maths this week, we began creating repeating patterns and noticing differences between patterns in our natural environments.  In English we have began looking at the story 'The Jolly Christmas Postman'.  We talked to the children about how a letter is laid out and how we might start a letter (to, dear etc).  In RE we have been learning about the Christmas story and being able to sequence events.

W/C 24th November 

What a lovely week we have had! This week we enjoyed such a lovely walk to the church to meet our lovely vicar Emma.  Emma told us the story of the first Christmas and we enjoyed singing some songs - we even had some juice and a biscuit too!  The children behaved beautifully and we were every proud of them all.

In Maths this week we continue to learn about measure and using the comparitive language to describe the height and weight of an object.  In english, we finished our mini books all about our chosen special person - some children decided to make their book about their chosen friend which was very sweet.  We used our new found knowledge of phonics to sound out the words we wanted to write.

The children are very excited to now be taking home reading books.  Can we please ask that you read each day with your child, and that reading records and reading books are in school everyday - manhy thanks!

WC 17th November

Where are the weeks going? With hints of Christmas around the corner, nativity practice is in full swing!  Thank you to all the parents for practicing children's lines at home, they're all doing so well!  A reminder that our Christmas performance is on Friday 12th December and allocation for the hall is two seats per child. 

In English this week, we have been continuing to make our own special books, learning about adding pages and using our phonetic knowledge to sound out the words we want to write.  The children are loving their phonics lessons and we have noticed a real new-found confidence in them wanting to write down sounds they can hear.  In maths we have been learning about the concepts of measure, such as longer and shorter, thinner and thicker.  In art we have been investigating colour and mixing to create our own artwork.

WC 3rd November 

What a lovely week we have had! We are doing so well with our phonics and learnt sounds i, p and n this week!  Thank you for supporting your child to complete the handwriting sheets that come home in their folders.  In Maths we have been practicing counting different quantities of objects and writing the total.  In PHSE we talked about what we were good at.  The children shared their ideas really well with the rest of the class.  We learnt about why we celebrate with Fireworks on the 5th November each year.  The children made their own firework pictures and enjoyed exploring colours!  In English we have began making our own book, this week about someone who is special to us.  The children have been encouraged to iuse their phonic knowledge to sound out simple words.

WC 20th October

As we enter the last week of our first half term, we can't believe how the half term has flown! The children have settled really well and made new friendships which is lovely to see! Your child may come home singing snippets of Christmas songs - don't be alarmed! We have actually begun playing the children songs for our Christmas show (the time will fly once we return!).  In English this week, we have been looking at the book 'Room on the Broom' by Julia Donaldson.  We have been learning about simple rhyming and describing characters.  In Maths, we have been ordering numbers and practicing forming them.  We have also been creating simple arrays to 5.  In Art we have been using our new found knowledge of mixing secondary colours to create our own paintings!  The children are all very excited for the Halloween Disco on friday! Happy half term everyone! 

WC 13th October 

We've had a lovely week singing Harvest songs and we even made our own bread!  The children loved mixing the dough and tasting the bread! In Maths, we focussed on numbers 6 to 10 and then ordered digits 0 to 10.  The children enjoyed working in teams to find different quantities of objects to match to the digit card.  In English we were looking at the story 'The Stick Man' by Julia Donaldson.  We focussed on labelling the character, creating speech and made predictions about what might happen next.  In PHSE we created a class charter full of classroom rules that we carefully thought about.  In Art we began mixing secondary colours - and sang a song about it!

WC 6th October 2025

The weeks are simply flying by! The children have enjoyed exploring the character 'Stickman' by Julia Donaldson and have labelled the character and added speech to the character.  Some of the children decided to draw pictures of the Stickman and describe him and how he was feeling about being lost! In maths this week, we focused on counting and ordering numbers zero to five. 

We enjoyed practicing having a try at writing numbers too.  In art, we experimented with primary colours to create our own paintings. We learnt how to look after our brushes and used them to try and keep within the lines. In music, we sang our harvest songs.  In PHSE we talked to the childen about using gentle hands.

WC 29th September 2025

What a lovely week we've had! We have now completed the Reception Baseline Assessments and have been so proud of how well the children have done!  The children have enjoyed continuing their own books this week.  We were creating pages about our homes, our favourite foods, favourite toy and family.  We have been singing Harvest songs including 'Big Red Combine Harvester', 'autumn leaves' and ';Dingle Dangle Scarecrow'. 

We did some leaf rubbing and drew our own self portraits, looking at ourselves in mirrors.  In PHSE, we talked to the children about resolving minor conflicts with peers and how to be a good friend.  

WC 22nd September 2025

We've been really impressed with how the children have settled into school life! We have played some lovely 'getting to know you' games and the children have began to share their 'all about me' books with the class.  We have talked about Autumn and given the children opportnities to explore leaves, conkers, acorns and all things autumnal!  Some children even decided to draw some of the objects.

We are still continuing with the Reception Baseline Assessment and hope to conclude by the end of next week.  We started making our own books in literacy that are all about them.  We started to use our phonics to write words on the front cover and inside the first three pages.  Children have really enjoyed this activity and having ownership of their books.

WC 8th and 15th of September 

The children have been enjoying their first few weeks in Reception! They have settled really well and made lots of new frends. 

We have spent most of our time these few weeks finding out what areas are available to us and what resources we have. The children have enjoyed playing in the sandpit, using the resources to transport water, getting in to character in the role play area, building with construction resoruces and so much more! We have also started each day with a wake up dance and song! 

We have read 'Hello Friend' and spoken about how we treat other people and talking about how to make new friends. 

We also read 'The Everywhere Bear' and predicted where the bear may go on an adventure. We also drew a story map of the bears journey. 

RA Classroom

RB Classroom

Bespoke Curriculum and Curriculum Map

Below you will find our Bespoke Curriculum and Curriculum Map which outlines the learning across the year!

Home reading

Some things to think about when reading with your child- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHMl70ZmxIQ - 

 
OXFORD OWL

Oxford  owl is a website we register for where you can access free online e-books linked to our phonics scheme. 

https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/ 

Username: cranborne

Password: school 1 

https://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/find-a-book/library-page/

Herts Library Service

Herts Library Services are offering free online books too however again, these will be sharing books.

Follow this link to access it.

https://www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/services/Libraries-and-archives/Books-and-reading/Ebooks-and-Audiobooks/ebooks-and-audiobooks.aspx