Intent

Our intent is that, whilst following the EYFS Framework, we will provide a wide range of both discretely planned and child-initiated opportunities for learning through play. Our highly skilled Reception team recognise the many different ways in which adults can help young children learn; this includes the use of quality interactions, observing and noticing children’s interests and responding in a variety of ways. We strongly believe in first-hand experience, valuing the importance of the outdoor environment and the development of children’s thinking and problem solving skills.

Our curriculum is designed so that it is ambitious for all learners and ensures that we provide all children with the best start to their learning. We ensure that all children’s individual needs are met through careful planning and assessment. This enables us to identify and address any issues and implement early intervention or additional support if required.

 

Implementation

At St Thomas Becket we ensure that our Reception curriculum meets the requirements set out in the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage. The Characteristics of Effective Learning are threaded through all learning in Reception; emphasis is placed upon playing and learning, active learning and thinking critically. The ‘Development Matters’ documentation is used to support staff when tracking children’s progress. The sequential building of skills is essential for lifelong learning, so we have carefully planned curriculum maps for English and Maths. We follow the Read, Write Inc. programme for teaching phonics which supports the children when learning to read and write. We also teach maths using the ‘Big Maths’ approach which is in line with the programme of learning used in the rest of the school. Teaching in Reception builds on detailed baseline assessments carried out when children join the setting and progress within the phase is carefully planned for and tracked throughout the year.

We follow a topic based approach to planning day to day. We understand the need to be flexible and adapt what we teach, so each topic is planned to suit the current cohort of children’s interests and needs. Each week we focus on a different, quality book as our ‘Book of the Week’. We read it to the children many times, basing learning experiences and opportunities for independent play around each story, meaning that they become very familiar with each one. A member of our Reception team is recorded reading the story each week and these videos are uploaded to our G-Suite site so that the parents and children can access them at home too. By the end of the year this builds up a large library of texts that the children can enjoy listening to wherever they are. Our curriculum immerses the children in interesting and challenging vocabulary through stories and rhymes, ‘Drawing Club’, exciting challenges and a wide variety of experiences. This vocabulary is crucial as it helps to develop the children’s spoken language, communication skills, reading, writing and creativity.

We are proud of the strong relationship we have with parents at our school. We ensure that we work with parents to ensure that their children have support from both home and school enabling them to make good progress whilst at school. We build positive links with the parents of each child by sending home a weekly newsletter, inviting them in to watch class assemblies, inviting them to come with us on trips out of school, by termly parents’ meetings and by providing a written report at the end of the year. We also invite parents to share any concerns or queries they have directly with us at the end of each day.

 

Impact

We measure progress and children’s learning across the year through formative and summative assessments which are based on the teacher’s knowledge of the child, each child’s learning journey and photographs and videos that we take of the children during their learning. By the end of their year in Reception, we aim for every child to confidently display the Characteristics of Effective Learning and to have made good progress from their starting point. Most pupils will achieve the Early Learning Goals and reach the good level of development in the EYFS profile. All of our children get the best possible start to their school life and develop the knowledge and skills needed to succeed as they continue their learning journey into Key Stage One.