Reception Curriculum

Reception Welcome Presentation 2024

7 Areas of Early Years Learning

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is the framework followed by all early years settings following the British Curriculum. This is a child centered curriculum, which places play and exploration at the forefront of the child’s learning journey. 

The EYFS framework guides staff to provide meaningful learning opportunities across 7 areas of learning and development, outlined below:

 The Learning Environment:

Our Reception classrooms are organised to allow children to explore and learn securely and safely. There are specific areas where the children can be active, be quiet, creative etc. Through our enriched learning environment, we aim to promote learning across all 7 areas of the EYFS framework.

All of our staff are passionate about promoting outdoor learning, and students have access to both the inside and outside areas across the school day. Being outdoors offers opportunities for doing things in different ways and in different scales than when indoors. The children can explore, use their senses and be physically active and exuberant. All areas of the curriculum can be explored outside.

What learning looks like:

Play and exploration is fundamental within our Early Years classes. This means children are able to choose activities where they can engage with other children or adults or, sometimes, play alone. During these activities, the children will learn by first-hand experiences; by actively ‘doing’ as well as through scaffolding and modeling by adults. We will provide them with sufficient space, both indoors and outdoors, time and choice with a range of activities.

There is a range of planned and prepared activities by the teachers, as well as allowing time for the children to initiate their own learning. Activities will be planned through discussion with the children around their current interests, as well as taking into account their learning styles and stages of development. Our environment enables  children to try things out and make sense of relationships. As the children progress through Reception, the academic learning activities increase. Each child continues to be supported and challenged through a lively and motivating curriculum, which caters for each child’s individual needs and abilities. In Reception, we have structured literacy and numeracy sessions every day.

Literacy

Developing Number Sense

Maths and Number Blocks

We follow White Rose Maths with Number Blocks in Reception with an emphasis on studying key skills of number, calculation and shape so that pupils develop deep understanding and the acquisition of mathematical language.  Pupils learn through games and tasks using concrete manipulatives which are then rehearsed and applied to their own learning during exploration.

We teach Maths using the National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Maths material. Animation and loveable characters combine with engaging storylines introduce key concepts of number and mathematical language to support early mathematical understanding. Below are units to support parents. Each unit matches an episode from either series 1 or series 2 of the programme.
S1 E7	S1 E8	S1 E9	S1 E10	S1 E11	S1 E12	S1 E13
S1 E14	S1 E15	S2 E1	S2 E2	S2 E3	S2 E4	S2 E5

Assessment

Children in the Early Years will still be tracked using the Development Matters bands of the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum. By the end of their Foundation Year in school it is expected that they reach the ‘Early Learning Goals’. Children are tracked through their reading, writing and maths development by what they write down, through careful observation of what they can do, how they interact with others and how they explain what they know.
A learning Journey is kept of their development—which we will share with you throughout the year, parents can contribute to this to include what children can do and are interested in at home.
At the end of the EYFS year the EYFS Profile Assessment completes the picture of everything they have learnt, and are able to do. This is reported to parents in July, so parents know if their child is at the age related expectation. Most importantly it shows how much progress has been made during the year, and so teachers in Year 1 are ready to teach them their next steps in the National Curriculum.

Home Learning

Some learning support activites to use at home