Reception class follow the Early Years Curriculum (EYFS). Our teachers plan our learning through playful activities and experiences. We are encouraged to explore, investigate and question the world around us. 

We are a very happy, busy class. We spend time learning inside and outside, developing ideas and making links through our play based learning. We enjoy playing with the water, making sandcastles in our giant sandpit and having races on our scooters. We have a large outdoor area to do this. We have raised beds here too. The grown-ups in our class help us to plant seeds and grow flowers, which encourage lots of small creatures. We enjoy observing them with magnifying glasses and use books from the library to find out about them.

At Wrington Church of England Primary School every child is treated as a unique and special. By working in close partnership with parents and carers we ensure that we understand children’s learning styles, and their particular interests, in order to incorporate these into our planning and continuous provision. This ensures that we can create responsive activities, to extend children’s learning, capture their child initiated understanding, enable them to explore problem solving and to deepen learning links. This approach creates a happy learning environment and helps children make substantive and effective progress in their Reception year, whilst feeling nurtured and valued. We build upon their experiences over time to ensure they leave us as confident, independent and resilient learners with a readiness for Year 1 and beyond.

 

  

We believe positive relationships are fundamental to future learning and success. We provide a nurturing, warm enabling environment with high expectations. We recognise the importance of working closely with parents, carers and external agencies to support children academically, socially and emotionally.

Transition to school, the start of a great relationship

We begin by planning for children’s transition to school, meeting with preschool settings, seeing children in this environment wherever possible, and obtaining and considering transfer documentation to explain what makes children tick. We welcome parents through our parents’ information evening and are available to share our experiences and answer questions to reassure parents about this big step in their child’s life. We hold a coffee morning so that parents can come in and experience school with their child, and run stay and play and story sessions so that children are confident in joining us. We also visit children at home in September each year, to support them further with their transition to school. The foundations for a lifelong love of learning are built in Reception, and a positive and happy start to school life is essential in smoothing children’s future learning pathways.                 

    

 

Our school specific EYFS curriculum overview details what children will learn and experience in Reception. This is available for you to see here:

 Reception Long Term Curriculum Plan 

Our Vision for learning in the EYFS

We aim to offer a fun, rich and varied curriculum where children experience the awe and wonder of the world around them. We seek to go above and beyond the set EYFS curriculum to achieve our vision of confident children who achieve and exceed expectations, both academically and personally. This aligns closely with our school values; cherish and nurture, flourish and aspire. 

Implementation

The EYFS and Our Curriculum

We follow the national statutory EYFS curriculum. The EYFS specifies requirements for learning and development, and sets out the areas of learning and development, which must shape activities and experiences for children in Reception class. We also refer to the Characteristics of effective learning to ensure engagement for deeper learning within each activity or playful experience. You can view the statutory framework for the EYFS here:

Statutory Framework 2023

Children will learn new skills, acquire knowledge and demonstrate understanding through the seven areas of learning and development set out in the EYFS. There are three prime and four specific areas of learning and development, which are planned for to ensure there is a broad, balanced and progressive learning environment and curriculum at our school.

The three prime areas are particularly important for building a foundation for igniting children’s curiosity and enthusiasm for learning, forming relationships and thriving. As children become secure in these areas, they also develop their understanding of the specific areas, through which the prime areas continue to be strengthened and applied.

The 7 areas of learning and development are:

• Communication and language (prime area).
• Personal, social and emotional development (prime area).
• Physical development (prime area).
• Literacy (specific area).
• Mathematics (specific area).
• Understanding the world (specific area).
• Expressive arts and design (specific area).

 The statutory curriculum was updated in the 2021 academic year, and has been revised this September (2023), and we have adapted our curriculum model accordingly. Our EYFS team were early adopters of the curriculum in the academic year prior to the national revision of the curriculum, and our team therefore has comprehensive experience of implementing the curriculum in practice. This has enabled us to create our own EYFS school curriculum, which both encompasses and surpasses the learning expectations of the Statutory Framework for the EYFS. We have designed our school EYFS curriculum with reference to the Development Matters guidance to ensure we exceed the set requirements of the educational programmes when outlining what we want children to experience, learn and be able to achieve in their Reception year. The Development Matters guidance is available here:

Development Matters 2021

Our Long Term Curriculum plan sets out how we guide children’s learning in the EYFS, ensuring quality first teaching, valuable learning experiences and interactions(please refer to the lonk above). We reflect the aims, experiences and learning steps within our Long Term Curriculum plan in our medium term and weekly planning , to ensure that our curriculum vision is implemented in our classroom. 

We aim to make our curriculum exciting, motivating and challenging by setting learning around areas of enquiry which interest the children. We have enjoyed learning about collections, the night sky, growing, stories, pirates and the rainforest! Where possible we enhance our work with trips and visitors.

Communication and Language first and foremost 

The new statutory curriculum now emphasises the significance of the crucial area of communication and language. It clarifies that without a secure foundation in this area and the linked aspects of learning, children will fail to achieve across the curriculum. Our curriculum plan therefore addresses the importance of developing children’s comprehension, vocabulary  and experience sharing books throughout Reception year.

Our School Library Link, and a love of books and stories

In Reception class we love books, stories, poems and rhymes. We thoroughly enjoy our weekly visit to the school library, reading to the adults in the class and sharing books with our book buddies. We explore stories  in our weekly Open the Book assembly, and we plan learning which gives us the opportunity to experience stories in different ways, including through music, dance, story soap and story square. Our teachers read lots of stories to us and we get very excited when we have a mystery reader at the end of the day.   

Personal, Social and Emotional Development  

In Reception class we know that developing as a good friend, and a happy learner are essential life skills. We plan for children to have opportunities to develop their knowledge and understanding, to work as a team and to solve problems cooperatively. We also provide support in play based contexts where children learn develop these skills while learning at the highest possible level; and this is why play based learning remains at the heart of our curriculum.  

At Wrington Primary School we also follow the Jigsaw PSHE scheme for schools, and this furthers our PSED teaching and learning using fun games and tasks to build awareness of significant PSED issues which children face day to day, throughout their time with us. This learning helps to equip children with the skills to address and solve problems. 

Physical Development 

We offer children daily opportunities to explore our well resourced and extensive outdoor learning area, in order to support their learning and physical development outside the classroom. The outdoor area gives children access to our large sandpit, large scale block building, and use of balance bikes, tricycles and scooters, to develop control and coordination.  We also have an outdoor mark making area, to support writing and expressive art and design in and outdoors. 

In addition to play based learning, our curriculum plans to develop physical skills on a termly basis, and we offer twice weekly PE sessions to encourage a love of sport and the growth of the skills needed in a range of sporting activities. 

Phonics as the basis of Literacy 

We learn to read and write using phonics, and have a daily phonics lesson to support us to develop our literacy skills. We have adopted the systematic synthetics phonics programme (SSP), Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised. The programme has been accredited by the Department for Education, and aligns with the National Curriculum.

The Little Wandle phonics programme provides clear progression, guidance and resources to support teachers in helping children learn to read. The programme also enables children to enjoy their reading and to build fluency, understanding, confidence and expression.  Our school has also invested in the accompanying teaching resources, such as flash cards, picture and word cards and linked reading books to ensure children have the best possible start to their Literacy learning in school.

Our EYFS staff are experienced phonics practitioners, and have embraced the Little Wandle scheme. Little Wandle aligns closely with the approach to phonics sanctioned by the Department for Education, which we had previously used in Reception. The scheme has however brought some subtle but important changes in how phonics is taught throughout our school.  This is to ensure that we are following best practice in terms of  recent educational research about how children learn to read, such as introducing our new ‘Wrington Mantras’- little phrases and actions that are used throughout the school in phonics lessons to build consistency, and introducing specific reading practice sessions during the week. We are also continuing to invest in varied, interesting, high quality, decodeable reading books that align closely with the phonics taught in class. 

Little Wandle have produced some really useful resources for parents, which explain how phonics is taught in school, and how you can help to support your child with saying their sounds and writing their letters.   There are videos and downloadable resources specifically designed for parents, and will provide you with a greater understanding of the new Little Wandle phonics programme.  We highly recommend that you take a look on the parents section of the Little Wandle website: 

Little Wandle Phonics

In addition to reading regularly with our children, and reading and writing daily in phonics, we plan regular weekly writing activities to enable us to support children's emerging writing in a small group setting. We use Literacy Tree as the basis of our class learning, with activities based around a class text which we explore together in detail for 3 weeks at a time. This helps to build children's confidence and familiarity with the writing they undertake.

We also offer opportunities to explore writing on a child initiated basis and we praise children's efforts when they share their special independent work with us, adding this to our Wow Work board. 

Mathematics in the EYFS 

Children also learn maths every day in their Reception year, working with practical resources indivdually, in pairs, and small groups to begin to understand number and numerical pattern, space and shape, measures and early mathematical concepts. We extend our mathematics through play based learning and small group work, which provides the opportunity to question and dive deeper into children's mathematical thinking. 

Understanding the World 

Our curriculum covers Understanding the World, which gives children early insight into scientific concepts, and the exciting worlds of history and geography, both human and physical. Children learn about the culture of groups of people in this country and abroad, they also explore different places, such as Africa, the Caribbean, the rainforests of the world, and are introduced to maps and our class globe.

We use stories and role play to enable children to explore the world and life in past times. Our class are able to spend time in our extensive school grounds and in our Reception outdoor learning area, so they have ample opportunity to experience and observe the natural world.

In the classroom we also have class computers, our large interactive board and iPads to support our learning and develop our ICT skills.  

Expressive Art and Design 

Reception class have a specialist art area which gives them free daily access to a range of resources and materials which they can use to explore, and create with. Children develop skills in cutting and joining, mixing colours, using different artistic techniques and explaining their thinking and creations. 

Our outdoor area has a mark making shed and children are encouraged to take inspiration from the world around them when sketching and drawing. 

Our role play area, well resourced small world resources and puppets give children the ability to put on shows and tell stories with their friends. Our school curriculum offers children a specialist weekly music lesson, as well as opportunities for dance, and moving expressively to music. 

            

   

Our curriculum is responsive and so children 's interests inform our continuous provision and the activities we offer, in addition to activities and teaching being planned across the curriculum. 

Success for every child

We understand that children’s learning and development is not nebulous, nor linear. Children make learning connections in varied and diverse ways, and this understanding is central to our curriculum approach. Every conversation, exploration or engagement is a learning opportunity not to be missed!

Our carefully designed curriculum ensures children engage in a range of teaching and learning opportunities, experiences and activities, which create a secure foundation for the learning and development of every child. We ensure that our curriculum is carefully sequenced and ambitious to ensure children are challenged to achieve their best outcomes, to aspire and to flourish. 

Our indoor and outdoor environments are regularly reviewed to ensure we offer challenging, high quality and well organised activities, which enables children to resource and develop their ideas in order to maximise play based learning. The environments are also focused around children’s interests to ensure that they learn at the highest level and make valuable learning connections.

Whenever possible, we endeavour to build links within our local community and wider world cultures encouraging children to have an open mind and respectful understanding of difference, and to offer them an interesting range of learning to ignite their enthusiasm.

Our EYFS curriculum policy sets out in detail how we implement the EYFS within Reception class at Wrington Church of England Primary school, and a copy is available here.

Reception Currciulum Policy   

The EYFS and Inclusion

We are deeply committed to equality of opportunity and anti-discriminatory practice, ensuring that every child is included and supported. We work closely with our SEND coordinator to ensure that any child who requires support, receives this as a priority. 

We offer quality first teaching in our Reception class to ensure that every child makes good progress and no child is left behind. We work hard to incorporate the seven key features of effective practice into our Reception teaching and planning, understanding that creating a safe, stimulating learning environment with the right balance of child initiated and adult led activities is essential to ensure children fulfil their potential.

  

“Every child deserves the best possible start in life and the support that enables them to fulfil their potential. Children develop quickly in the early years and a child’s experiences between birth and age five have a major impact on their future life chances.”

Statutory Framework for the EYFS 

Assessment in the EYFS

We regularly assess and review what children have learned in order to offer early support and intervention, as children need this. We ensure that children make progress in all areas of the curriculum, and regularly update parents on children's progress and incredible learning achievements. Our approach to assessment ensures children stay on track and continue to enjoy learning, with confidence.

Continued parental involvement 

We acknowledge the key role that parents and carers play in children's learning and development. We share our learning with our grown-ups at home using Tapestry, so that they know what we are learning and can talk to us about this, and our interest driven discoveries. Parents and carers have access to their child’s Tapestry account and we encourage them to add to their child’s online diary. We enjoy celebrating each child’s learning journey and talking about their next step’s during parents evenings, so that parents and carers feel involved in the direction of their child’s learning at all times.

We also keep in touch with our parents using Class Dojo. This enables us to share our class story, remind parents of important upcoming events and send and receive messages. We are also able to let parents see the fun things we have been doing in our class! 

Impact

The Early Learning Goals

The Early Learning Goals are the knowledge, skills and understanding that all children should have at the end of the EYFS, when they complete their Reception year. Our specialist team and our effective curriculum together ensure our children achieve the Early Learning Goals. 

Excellent results

We monitor children’s progress as soon as they start school. This enables us to plan activities to support and stretch the children based on their individual needs. Targeted support and consistent high quality teaching throughout the year results in children making good or outstanding progress against the Early Learning Goals. Our Good Level of Development, the measure of the proportion of children achieveing the Early Learning Goals in the prime areas of learning and Mathematics and Literacy, has been consistenly high and significantly above the National level. Last year 80% of children at Wrington Primary achieved a Good Level of Development. 65.2% achived a Good Level of Development nationally. This means that the Good Level of Development for Wrington Primary School is  14.8% higher than the National average. 

Children who do not achieve a Goof Level of Development are closely monitored on entry to Year 1 to ensure they receive the right support for progress and success. This ensures the children have a smooth and effective progression into Year 1, and can move towards the expected level in Key Stage 1.

Parents leave the Early Years Foundation Stage aware of their child’s progress and development. Parents know how to support their child’s future learning at home and are aware of their next steps.