EYFS Curriculum

The Reception Class follows the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage. The curriculum is organised into seven areas of learning:

Personal Social and Emotional Development

We help children to develop a positive sense of themselves and others. We enable them to develop relationships with other children and adults, and we teach them how to behave appropriately as part of a group.

Physical development

The children are given lots of opportunities to develop their large muscles, and to keep fit through exercise and healthy snacks. We also help children to develop their fine motor skills so they will be able to control things such as scissors and pens. We regularly access the Pirate Ship and Trim Trail in the school grounds.

Communication and language

Being able to communicate effectively with other people is crucial to your child's development. We encourage children to talk to each other and we teach them to listen too! Lots of opportunities are given to extend your child's vocabulary and we teach them how to ask questions effectively.

Literacy

We want the children to leave the Foundation stage with a love of reading and books, and the ability to express themselves in writing. We will help them learn words and sounds, and will explore ways of writing and expressing their thoughts. We use Little Wandle Phonics Programme and begin teaching sounds as soon as children start with us.

Mathematics

We provide opportunities for your child to develop their counting skills, and we encourage them to explore number problems. We also learn about shapes, pattern and measurement.

Understanding the World

This covers the early stages of history, geography, science and computing. We explore the local environment, engage with different cultures and explore our own families. We use technology in a range of ways to support other learning such as teaching the children to use an iPad to help with their maths, or using a camera to record some lovely work.

Expressive Arts and Design

Children need lots of opportunities to explore art, music, movement, dance, role play and design and technology. We provide a varied range of activities to fulfil these needs.

The Characteristics of Effective Learning and the Prime and Specific Areas of Learning and Development are all interconnected.

'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 Characteristics of Effective learning support the development of the Unique Child in how children are learning.

3 Characteristics of Effective Learning

Playing and exploring – curious caterpillar

• Finding out and exploring
• Playing with what they know
• Being willing to 'have a go'

Active learning – busy bee

• Being involved and concentrating
• Keeping trying
• Enjoying achieving what they set out to do

Creating and thinking critically – thinking owl 

• Having their own ideas
• Making links
• Choosing ways to do things

The children will learn through practical hands-on experiences, which will ensure they are well prepared for future learning.

By the end of the Reception year children will have covered all areas of the Early Learning Goals and will be ready to work on the National Curriculum.

Continuous Provision 

The Reception unit consists of one large classroom and a partially covered outdoor area. We also have access to smaller, quiet working areas for reading and handwriting work.

Most of our activities are delivered through high quality, open ended continuous provision with weekly/ daily enhancements driven by the children’s interests and topic.

• Fine Motor Skills – activities to strengthen fine motor control, in particular pincer grip. The activities are differentiated to meet varied skill needs of our children.
• Maths area – A working wall shows the weekly maths focus. A selection of maths items are always available from here for children to take and use as they wish. These items include dice, numerals, tape measures, timers, shapes, sorting media, pencils and paper and numicon.
• Small world area- Mini me characters are available for the children to use as they wish.
• Book Nooks – We have multiple book nooks. They have traditional tale finger puppets and language prompts to help with telling stories. There are blankets and bears to cuddle too.
• Construction area - A variety of natural wood blocks, community playthings blocks, rainbow blocks and shiny construction materials are free for children to access. Natural resources are available too.
• SMART board - the children are able to access games, watch power points etc that are put on by staff.
• Sand tray- children can dig, pour and sieve sand. They can create patterns in the sand or hunt for treasure. We have a blackboard here too so children can stand to mark make. The area can also be changed into a stage for their perfomances too!
• Creation station – table with shelving stocked with resources for the children to collage, junk model, cut, fit, join and build. Differentiated glue and tools provided for skill building. Second shelf to display their creations.
• Investigation area – activities to promote exploration, questioning and thinking skills are changed every week. These can include exploring how ice melts, natural materials, magnetism, colour, light, etc. We have a lightbox and magnifying glasses to aid exploration
• ICT area – there is a selection of ICT equipment always available for the children to access. This includes two I Pads and mini I pads with a selection of apps and camera function, bee bots, talking discs, real non-working mobile phones, real non-working cameras, calculators, rugged racers and torches.
• Home Corner –Always incorporates some form of mark making opportunities, enhancements added based on child’s interests or themes
• Water Tray -children can pour, measure, whisk and stir water. 
• Writing resource area - this area is kept well stocked with all the tools and materials needed to freely write and draw. This is designed for the children to gather what they need and write for a purpose alongside their play and is not an exclusive area.

OUTDOOR AREA

• Blackboard, white board and mirror on wall and children encouraged to use these freely.
• Channelling – a mix of bamboo and plastic guttering systems and changing media to roll.
• Tyres to use in their play.
• A 1 to 10 number line and a 100 square are on the wall.
• Texture Kitchen – an area with mud, kitchen utensils, microwave and pots and pans all in a purpose built wooden kitchen. The children can explore and use their imagination and physical skills to create mud dishes.
• P.D Area – By opening our gate and coning off an area of the playground, the children have a safe area to use bikes, scooters, balance boards etc that allows the rest of the continuous provision to run smoothly without disruption.