diff --git a/trl/trainer/reward_trainer.py b/trl/trainer/reward_trainer.py
index 1a105abf6a7..cd079499b51 100644
--- a/trl/trainer/reward_trainer.py
+++ b/trl/trainer/reward_trainer.py
@@ -62,14 +62,17 @@
 logger = get_logger(__name__)
 
 
-# AutoModelForSequenceClassification adds a new classification head when loading a CausalLM. That head is randomly
-# initialized and triggers a harmless warning about uninitialized weights. We suppress just that specific warning to
-# avoid confusing users.
+# Loading a CausalLM checkpoint into AutoModelForSequenceClassification triggers harmless warnings:
+#   - MISSING  score.weight    : the new seq-clf head was not in the checkpoint and is randomly initialized.
+#   - UNEXPECTED lm_head.weight: the causal LM head is in the checkpoint but absent from seq-clf (>= 4.57.0 only).
+# Both are expected consequences of intentional cross-architecture loading. We suppress them to avoid
+# confusing users.
 
 
 # Old approach using logging filter (for transformers < 4.57.0)
+# Note: in transformers < 4.57.0, only the MISSING score.weight warning is emitted; lm_head.weight is not reported.
 @contextmanager
-def suppress_from_pretrained_warning(logger: logging.Logger):
+def _suppress_seqcls_cross_arch_keys(logger: logging.Logger):
     pattern = re.compile(
         r"^Some weights of \S+ were not initialized from the model checkpoint at \S+ and are newly initialized: "
         r"\[.*\]\nYou should probably TRAIN this model on a down-stream task to be able to use it for predictions and "
@@ -90,18 +93,27 @@ def filter(self, record: logging.LogRecord) -> bool:
 
 # New approach using scoped override (for transformers >= 4.57.0)
 @contextmanager
-def ignore_seqcls_score_missing_key():
-    # Scoped override: ignore only the expected seq-clf head key.
-    old = getattr(GenericForSequenceClassification, "_keys_to_ignore_on_load_missing", None)
-    merged = list(old) if old is not None else []
-    pattern = r"^score\.weight$"
-    if pattern not in merged:
-        merged.append(pattern)
-    GenericForSequenceClassification._keys_to_ignore_on_load_missing = merged
+def _ignore_seqcls_cross_arch_keys():
+    # Scoped override: ignore the expected seq-clf head key (newly added) and the causal LM head
+    # key (present in the checkpoint but absent from seq-clf).
+    old_missing = getattr(GenericForSequenceClassification, "_keys_to_ignore_on_load_missing", None)
+    old_unexpected = getattr(GenericForSequenceClassification, "_keys_to_ignore_on_load_unexpected", None)
+
+    merged_missing = list(old_missing) if old_missing is not None else []
+    if r"^score\.weight$" not in merged_missing:
+        merged_missing.append(r"^score\.weight$")
+
+    merged_unexpected = list(old_unexpected) if old_unexpected is not None else []
+    if r"^lm_head\." not in merged_unexpected:
+        merged_unexpected.append(r"^lm_head\.")
+
+    GenericForSequenceClassification._keys_to_ignore_on_load_missing = merged_missing
+    GenericForSequenceClassification._keys_to_ignore_on_load_unexpected = merged_unexpected
     try:
         yield
     finally:
-        GenericForSequenceClassification._keys_to_ignore_on_load_missing = old
+        GenericForSequenceClassification._keys_to_ignore_on_load_missing = old_missing
+        GenericForSequenceClassification._keys_to_ignore_on_load_unexpected = old_unexpected
 
 
 # Version-aware wrapper that chooses the appropriate approach
@@ -110,12 +122,12 @@ def suppress_seqcls_warning():
     # Use the new approach for transformers >= 4.57.0, old approach for earlier versions
     # The old approach is needed for 4.56.2 to avoid meta tensor issues with device_map=None
     if Version(transformers.__version__) >= Version("4.57.0"):
-        with ignore_seqcls_score_missing_key():
+        with _ignore_seqcls_cross_arch_keys():
             yield
     else:
         # Get the transformers logger
         transformers_logger = logging.getLogger("transformers.modeling_utils")
-        with suppress_from_pretrained_warning(transformers_logger):
+        with _suppress_seqcls_cross_arch_keys(transformers_logger):
             yield