Welcome to Reception

    

Ladybirds                               Butterflies                          Dragonflies

 

 

In the Reception Classes, children progress within a language rich environment. A language rich environment is about using every available opportunity to use language, to interact, to take turns, to share and to talk.

 

The Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum comprises seven areas of learning and development. All areas of learning and development are important and are interconnected. Three areas are particularly crucial for igniting children’s curiosity and enthusiasm for learning, and for building their capacity to learn, form relationships and thrive. These three prime areas are:

Communication and Language	giving children opportunities to experience a rich language environment; to develop their confidence and skills in expressing themselves, and to speak and listen in a range of situations.
Physical Development	providing opportunities for young children to be active and interactive; and to develop their co-ordination, control, and movement. Children must also be helped to understand the importance of physical activity, and to make healthy choices in relation to food.
Personal, social and emotional development	helping children to develop a positive sense of themselves, and others; to form positive relationships and develop respect for others; to develop social skills and learn how to manage their feelings; to understand appropriate behaviour in groups; and to have confidence in their own abilities.

 

We also support children in four specific areas, through which the three prime areas are strengthened and applied. The specific areas are:

 

Literacy	encouraging children to link sounds and letters and to begin to read and write.  There is a focus for children to read whole words and start to comprehend what they have heard or read.
Mathematics	opportunities to develop and improve their skills in counting, understanding and using numbers, calculating simple addition and subtraction problems; and to understand and use numerical patterns.
Understanding the World	guiding children to make sense of their physical world and their community through opportunities to explore, observe and find out about people, places and the environment, as well as learning about the past and present.
Expressive Arts and Design	enabling children to explore and play with a wide range of media and materials, as well as providing opportunities and encouragement for sharing their thoughts, ideas and feelings through a variety of activities in art, music, movement, dance, role-play, and design and technology

Our staff will ensure there is a balance between activities led by children, and activities led or guided by adults. Learning takes place indoors and outdoors, through play, exploration and creative thinking. As children grow older, and as their development allows, there will be a gradual shift towards more activities led by adults. This will help children prepare for more formal learning, ready for Year 1.

In planning and guiding the children’s activities, our staff will reflect on the different ways that children learn. These characteristics of effective teaching and learning are:

• 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.

Partnerships with Parents

We believe children learn best when we work in close partnership with our parents and the wider community. There will be many opportunities to actively participate in your child’s learning through end-of-term showcases and family learning events.

We also use Tapestry online Learning Journal to record children's learning and communicate these with parents in real-time.  At Chestnut Park we encourage parents to comment and share the learning that happens at home, via Tapestry.  If you are unable to access Tapestry, please contact your class teacher or the EYFS lead.

We encourage every family to become actively involved in the school; this forms our community of learning.

 

GLF Wider Curriculum

We are currently starting to adopt our new GLF Wider Curriculum and are excited to share some of our learning pictures with you all soon.  Please see the questions we have been learning about so far.

The children in Reception have made a great start to their school journey, they have been busy learning the routines of the day and making new friends in their classes.

 In Reception this half term our big question is 'Which bread from around the world do you like the most?' We have spent time looking at different breads using our senses to describe how it feels, looks, smells and tastes. We will soon be making our own bread rolls using the different ingredients we have explored. We have enjoyed the story of 'The Little Red Hen and thinking about how important it is to share and help our friends.