Aut 1 topic web Reception.pdf
Aut 2 topic web Reception.pdf
Spring 1 topic web Reception.pdf
Spring 2 topic web Reception.pdf
Summer 1 topic web Reception.pdf
Summer 2 topic web Reception.pdf
Welcome to Reception
In Reception we follow the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum. This is organised into seven areas of learning:
- Personal, social and emotional;
- Communication and language;
- Physical education;
- Literacy;
- Mathematics;
- Expressive Arts and Design;
- Understanding of the World.
Each term we have a broad theme which is the springboard for focussed teaching and learning. Our topics this year are; Super Me, Super You; Let's Celebrate; Once Upon a Time; Here, There and Everywhere; Growing and Changing; Brilliant Beasts. That said, we know that much of the best learning happens as a result of the children's interests and ideas. Therefore the children spend much of their day engaged in self-initiated and play-based activities ("Discover and Do"), where the adults facilitate and support learning and deepen it through open-ended questioning. This approach allows our children to consolidate their skills and knowledge, and explore their interests and schemas fully.
Learning doesn't just happen within the classroom though, our children have access to our fabulous outdoor environment where they can develop their skills and learning further.
Outside they have opportunities to develop their core strength, by riding bikes and scooters, climbing our apparatus - and even trees! - digging in our woodland area or our enormous sandpit. They have space to run and to use their 'big voices', and to take and manage risks. The children work together - or alone - to develop ideas, or role-plays around real and imagined worlds and use props, costumes and resources they make themselves. They use bricks, blocks and planks to build, developing their creative and mathematical skills in the process. They talk, negotiate and take turns... and build valuable life skills as a result.
We foster the children's reading and writing skills from the very beginning by embracing the Drawing Club approach, storytelling becomes a powerful tool to spark inspiration, nurture creativity, and deepen learning. Through imaginative narratives and shared drawing experiences, children are encouraged to explore ideas, express themselves, and bring their stories to life in meaningful and playful ways.
We teach daily synthetic phonics (to help them read and spell words) and we encourage the children to develop the skills they need to be effective writers...through activities designed to develop their coordination and fine motor skills. Our children also have open-ended opportunities to write and make marks in lots of different ways, including on paper, on vertical whiteboards, in chalk on the playground, in shaving foam, paint...and even mud!
Our maths approach harnesses the power of noticing to help children see that maths is not a stand-alone subject but woven into everything we do. While mathematical skills are spotlighted daily through short, focused sessions and embedded in our everyday routines, children deepen their understanding through independent exploration and adult-initiated tasks. Maths emerges naturally throughout the day — whether children are writing numbers on whiteboards, creating chalk number trails in the playground, using blocks to explore shape and design, or applying their subitising skills to share toys with friends. By encouraging children to notice and make sense of these moments, we nurture confident, curious mathematical thinkers.
The children develop skills in ICT using tablets. They use our interactive whiteboard to explore a range of activities and games linking to developing their skills in maths, phonics and creativity, and enjoy exploring Beebots and remote-control vehicles to develop their skills and understanding.
As well as our adult focussed and their child-initiated learning, the children also enjoy a number of additional discrete activities each week:
PE is timetabled for Friday mornings with our Sports Coach, Laurence Clark.
The children take part in music sessions which forms part of the Early Years Expressive Arts and Design curriculum.
They also have a Religious Education session which forms part of our Early Years Understanding the World curriculum. The children look at key questions across the year and look at a variety of teachings from different worldviews.
