Reception Class

In Reception we believe that a consistent daily routine is key, both for the children and the adults in the setting. We teach daily phonic and number sessions, but alongside this, the children have the opportunity to practise a range of skills independently at their own developmental level. We also teach daily small group activities covering a broad and balanced curriculum e.g. art and science tasks, but allow for flexibility if an alternative learning point arises. We ensure that the children have time for Plan, Do, Review sessions, where they have control over their learning, but allowing for thought and reflection.

As part of the daily routine, the adults also become ‘play partners’ with the children, which allows for modelling play ideas and observing for assessment purposes. Each child has one piece of evidence added to Earwig weekly, which indicates where the child is at in that particular observation and assists us with determining their next steps. We also carry out other forms of assessment in Reception including phonic assessment, book banding, number assessment and termly narratives.

The environment is enhanced regularly to reflect half-termly themes and children’s interests. We see the indoor and outdoor space as a mirror image of each other and spend just as much time outside as we do inside. The half-termly themes look like this:

We pride ourselves on nurturing the children and supporting them to meet their full potential in Reception, both through structured teaching and independent child-initiated activities. We get to know the children extremely well, and constantly review how we approach their learning and make changes accordingly. We sing, we dance, and we value everyone’s individual input as we are all unique!

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