The first year of a child’s schooling is critical to building a foundation for their future learning. Our Reception classes offer a play based curriculum where we build on children’s own interests so learning is exciting and fun. Children learn through engaging in a mixture of self-initiated and adult led experiences. Reception helps to prepare children for a more formal approach to learning in Phase 2 and beyond.

What your child will learn

One of the prime aspects of your child’s Reception year will be a focus on their Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PSED). We aim to give them a good start to their school experience by helping them form positive relationships, build confidence and self-awareness, as well as manage their feelings and behaviour.

Reception is where children become more confident to communicate with their peers and staff using sentences rather than single words. We believe that children gain lots of language through stories. Therefore, we base a lot of themes and activities around traditional tales and stories.

For the specific areas of learning, your child will learn the basics of literacy — reading, writing and phonics.

Children will learn letters and sounds and use them to read, write words and later, to write sentences.

In Maths, Reception classes will cover numbers to 20, simple sums, shapes, spatial awareness and simple measuring, through hands on practical fun activities.

Outside Learning

Outdoor environments offer children freedom to explore and use their senses.

Our Reception children have access to their own outside area throughout the day as we believe that it is important not just to learn in a classroom but to take our learning outside. This enables children to begin to understand about the environment, animals and plants that surround them.