Reception - Brambles (Early Years)
Welcome to Brambles! We are a hard working year group and enjoy investigating and exploring all areas of the Early Years Curriculum.
In Reception there are three prime areas of learning and four specific areas of learning. The prime areas are:
In Reception there are three prime areas of learning and four specific areas of learning. The prime areas are:
- Communication and Language,
- Physical Development,
- Personal, Social and Emotional Development.
The specific areas are:
- Literacy,
- Mathematics,
- Understanding of the world,
- Expressive Arts and Design.
Progress and attainment is achieved through on-going observations in the prime and specific areas of learning plus the three characteristics of effective learning:
playing and exploring – children investigate and experience things, and ‘have a go’
active learning – children concentrate and keep on trying if they encounter difficulties, and enjoy achievements
creating and thinking critically – children have and develop their own ideas, make links between ideas, and develop strategies for doing things
We provide a happy, safe, caring and stimulating environment both indoors and out. The children enjoy a range of practical learning experiences which encourages their understanding of the world around them and enables them to develop physically, intellectually, emotionally and socially.
Children's ideas and opinions are valued and respected by adults and the other children, creating an environment in which children are not afraid of making mistakes and taking risks. We encourage the children to become independent and self-motivated in their learning, using their interests to lead their learning in a topic based curriculum which is designed by the children.
We have fabulous grounds here and the children particularly enjoy regular visits to our forest area and love to visit the different challenges in our indoor and outdoor environment. This consists of areas where the children can experience: mark making, role play, arts and craft, listening station, construction area, water and sand play, board games, working with letters and numbers and of course getting messy!
We aim to give the children in Reception the best start to their education through child initiated and adult led activities, based on the structure of the Development Matters guidance Development Matters - Non-statutory curriculum guidance for the early years foundation stage (publishing.service.gov.uk) through which children work towards the Early Learning Goals within the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework Statutory framework for the early years foundation stage for group and school providers (publishing.service.gov.uk)
Children's ideas and opinions are valued and respected by adults and the other children, creating an environment in which children are not afraid of making mistakes and taking risks. We encourage the children to become independent and self-motivated in their learning, using their interests to lead their learning in a topic based curriculum which is designed by the children.
We have fabulous grounds here and the children particularly enjoy regular visits to our forest area and love to visit the different challenges in our indoor and outdoor environment. This consists of areas where the children can experience: mark making, role play, arts and craft, listening station, construction area, water and sand play, board games, working with letters and numbers and of course getting messy!
We aim to give the children in Reception the best start to their education through child initiated and adult led activities, based on the structure of the Development Matters guidance Development Matters - Non-statutory curriculum guidance for the early years foundation stage (publishing.service.gov.uk) through which children work towards the Early Learning Goals within the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework Statutory framework for the early years foundation stage for group and school providers (publishing.service.gov.uk)
A cross curricular approach is used which enables links in their learning from one area to the next. A high emphasis is placed upon all children acquiring a good level of development in all areas and securing early learning goals in reading, writing and mathematics. To ensure that our children are prepared for their journey through school, we map our curriculum to whole school learning pathways (See Curriculum Pages)
To help develop these areas we use child friendly materials including Phonics Shed and The Write Stuff and yearly mental math targets for the children to work towards. These mental math targets move with them through the school, too.
To help develop these areas we use child friendly materials including Phonics Shed and The Write Stuff and yearly mental math targets for the children to work towards. These mental math targets move with them through the school, too.
Our Learning
Our curriculum newsletters summarise the learning that we will be doing this term. If you have any questions or want any more information, please speak to our team.
You can see our Curriculum Newsletters here
Learning at Home
There are so many ways that you can support your child's learning at home. Getting out and about, exploring the world and talking about experiences are all invaluable.
As part of our homework policy, we ask that all children
- Read with an adult (5-10 mins per day)
- Practice Letter formation (5-10 minutes per week)
- Practice Phonics/tricky words recognition (5-10 minutes per week)
We will send out information and guidance about this through the year.
Pupils will change their reading books on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday (if appropriate). Pupils are expected to read each night and parents/carers should sign the home reading diary when they have heard their child read. Pupils will complete a smiley face each time they read. When they complete a row of smiley faces they will receive a fluffy award in class. When they have completed their smiley face chart, they will receive a gold token for our book vending machine!
Homework will be set each week on ClassDojo by the class teachers. Feedback will be given verbally to the children when the homework is discussed in class time .
Assessment
When they start school, children undertake the Government's Baseline Assessment Reception baseline assessment: information for parents - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
We also carry out our own teacher-led assessments to ensure that learning is matched to children's starting points.
Assessment throughout reception is primarily through teacher observation and children's daily activities. This allows us to make sure that our curriculum takes account of, and responds to the children’s developmental needs and allows them to make progress related to their differing abilities.
At the end of the year, teachers complete a Early Years Foundation Stage Profile for each child, assessing them against the 17 Early Learning Goals. This profile is shared with parents and Year 1 teachers.
Parents will be informed about their child's progress through ongoing informal conversations with the teacher, twice yearly formal parent consultations and their end of year report. Parents or teachers can request a conversation about their child's progress at any time and teachers will make parents aware of any concerns.