Does the school follow a curriculum for reception children?
Yes, we use the Development Matters curriculum to plan activities and to assess your child against the age related milestones.
Should my child be a certain level when they come into reception?
No, there is no expectation about what you child should be able to do.
However basic skills such as toileting, dressing, putting on shoes and being able to recognise their own name are valuable skills to have when joining reception. A ‘Getting Ready for Reception’ help sheet is available.
How is the school day organised?
- Children come into school via the pencil fence
- Register, lunch orders are taken and *special day child is announced (*see below)
- Phonics is taught using the ‘Letter and sounds’ programme.
- Children are taught in small groups, these are called focus activities.
- These activities include: speaking and listening, reading, writing, maths, art and design and all areas of learning from the Development Matters curriculum.
- Children will have access to the EYFS garden and child-initiated activities within the classroom.
- Whole class maths session
- Lunchtime
- Register
- Whole class taught activity i.e., circle time, handwriting, shared reading, shared writing, philosophy.
- Focus activities
- Whole class activity i.e., story time, music, role play etc.
What is special day?
Special day is when a child is chosen and they get to take the register to the office, sit on a special chair, stand at the front of the line and take home Barnaby Bear. Barnaby Bear comes with a diary and the children or parents write in the diary telling the rest of the class what Barnaby did when he visited your house. Barnaby Bear and the diary then return to school the next day and the diary is read out to the class.
What other activities will my child do during the week?
The children will do PE in the hall, visit the library and take out a library book, visit the environmental area, ride bikes in the infant playground and visit the Computer suite (summer term).
Will my child receive homework?
Yes, your child will take home 2 reading books each week to read with you. A reading diary will accompany the books and parents are asked to write a short comment about how their child read that day. Key persons will read the comments in the diary and may comment if necessary.
Children will receive 4 sounds and 4-5 high frequency words to learn each week. Children will be tested on these and given new sounds and words when they are secure in their understanding. Children may be asked to write words into a sentence.
In the spring and summer term, a weekly maths activity will be sent home to reinforce what they have been learning that week or to prepare them for what they will be learning the following week.
