Reception

Reception is led by Miss Coy and supported by Mrs Jackson.

Reception is the year that your child becomes ‘school-ready’; developing their independence, confidence, resilience and curiosity. This year your child will continue to learn by doing things for themselves, by exploring and investigating, watching and listening, talking and discussing, playing, creating and communicating.

All children in Reception follow a curriculum called the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and this is broken down into 3 prime aspects and 4 specific areas of learning.

Personal, social and emotional development

One of the prime aspects of your child’s first year at school will be a focus on their personal, social and emotional development. We will support children to form positive relationships, build confidence and self-awareness, as well as manage their feelings and behaviour.

Physical development

Physical development is important as children in Reception start to move in a variety of ways with greater skill and confidence, as well as begin to understand how to look after themselves and be healthy.

Communication

The final prime area is communication. Children learn through speaking and listening first and foremost, through stories, in conversations with adults and their friends, or through facial expression, movement or dance.

For the specific areas of learning, children learn the basics of literacy — reading, writing and phonics. We follow the Letters and Sounds phonics scheme, and use Jolly Phonics resources. In maths, Reception covers reading, writing, and ordering numbers 0-20, simple addition and subtraction, shapes, spaces and simple measuring.

Children will also learn about the world, exploring different people and communities, and how we can use different forms of technology in our learning. Finally, imagination and creativity are taught through expressive arts. Your child will explore different media and materials and be encouraged to use their imagination in a range of different experiences. We will go on at least one school trip every half term linked to our half termly topic.

Our topics this academic year are:

Autumn One - Ourselves

Autumn Two – People Who Help us

Spring One - Transport

Spring Two – Toys and Robots

Summer One – Plants and Animals

Summer Two – Traditional Tales

The ways in which the child engages with other people and their environment – playing and exploring, active learning, and creating and thinking critically – underpin learning and development across all areas and support the child to remain an effective and motivated learner.

The prime areas begin to develop quickly in response to relationships and experiences, and run through and support learning in all other areas. The prime areas continue to be fundamental throughout the EYFS.

The specific areas include essential skills and knowledge. They grow out of the prime areas, and provide important contexts for learning.

For more information regarding the Early Years Curriculum, please visit:

https://www.early-education.org.uk/development-matters