Reception
We are delighted to welcome you to our Reception classes!
Please have a look around our two classes, Willow and Rowan:
Here is our outdoor classroom area that both classes share:
Curriculum Intent:
At Greenfields, we are dedicated to providing the best possible foundation for all our Reception children. We understand that development during this crucial stage significantly influences their happiness, educational journey, and the individuals they will grow into.
We endeavour to give the children the Cultural Capital they need for future success i.e. giving each child the best start in life and the support that enables them to fulfil their full potential and achieve future success. We are passionate about creating opportunities for children to communicate successfully and articulately, through developing language and communication skills and specifically teaching vocabulary.
We have a balanced approach – we combine motivating adult led activities, core experiences (for example, gardening and cooking), and targeted phonics sessions with early years best practice – learning through play, enabling environments, outdoor learning, following children’s interests and teaching though adult-child interactions. The balance shifts as children move through the year groups. Our provision is developmentally appropriate, and children are taught the skills they need throughout. Expectations are stepped up at each stage, and we build on previous learning, ensuring progress.
Curriculum Implementation
The Early Years’ curriculum follows the Guidance as provided by DfES for the Early Years’ Foundation Stage. Our curriculum is designed to give children the foundational knowledge and understanding needed to prepare them for year 1 and beyond. This is taught mainly through our whole class discovery time and enhancements in continuous provision. As part of our whole school connected curriculum, we have developed early years unit plans for the subjects which clearly link our provision to the concepts and knowledge in the national curriculum taught in key stages 1 and 2.
Half termly Unit plans:
Marvellous Me! In the Night Sky Footprints in the snow Off to the castle, into the woods
Our Natural World Seaside
Language development
A key feature throughout our provision is developing children’s language and vocabulary. We do this through the stories we read, our interactions with children, and our language and communication rich environments (things to talk about and adults ready to talk). We provide lots of opportunities to develop children’s familiarity with stories, songs and rhymes throughout early years. Everything we do is designed to promote language development – our learning environments, the structure of our day, the way focus activities and interventions are organised, and the high quality training we provide for all our staff. We use tales toolkit to develop children’s communication and language skills. Through the resources, children tell their own stories. Stories about the things that interest them, stories that use props and materials from their world. Keeping materials open-ended encourages imaginative play. In Tales Toolkit, anything can be part of a story, from a wooden spoon to a favourite toy making links with hobbies, cultures, and the natural world.
Reading and writing
Reading is central to our curriculum. Understanding and enjoyment of books is supported through daily 'cosy reading' time.
In Reception, we have introduced Drawing Club. Drawing Club incorporates story sharing, speaking and listening, drawing, writing, vocabulary, mathematics, imagination and collaboration. Each week we have a focus story or animation. The children learn new vocabulary linked to the story or animation and are invited to Drawing Club, where they may draw a character, setting or event. They can innovate their drawings and add secret passwords, magic powers or spells, hidden symbols, letters or numerals. At the start of reception, the sessions may be purely drawings based but this will progress on throughout the year to labelling their drawings with initial sounds, CVC words and eventually writing sentences about their drawings.
The children love coming to Drawing Club!
Phonics
Song of Sounds is a foundation for reading and writing. It teaches all of the letter sounds in an enjoyable and practical way and, like many other phonics programmes, is designed to support children to read and write words by blending and segmenting the taught sounds. Children who need extra help are given additional group work.
To find out more and how you can support your child with phonics, please visit our phonics page.
Maths
Children have daily, ‘Maths Moments’ and meaningful opportunities to develop fluency, revisit key concepts and address misconceptions in meaningful ways. We use the ‘Mastering Number’ scheme to inform our planning in Reception, supplemented by activities and experiences planned to support the specific learning needs of our children, for example our emphasis on mathematical language, explanation and concrete experiences. Children develop a love of maths through games, songs, rhymes, and play using concrete manipulatives and pictorial structures and representations which are then rehearsed applied and recorded within their own child-led exploration.
Our Learning Environment
We place a strong emphasis on creating an engaging physical environment and utilising resources that enrich the children’s experiences. Our indoor and outdoor classrooms feature designated areas for Construction, Block play, Small World imaginative play, Dry Sand, Water, Playdough, a realistic Home Corner, Open-Ended Roleplay, as well as stations for Maths, Literacy and Creative activities.
The environment encourages children to engage deeply in purposeful play based on their own interests and choices. Resources are thoughtfully displayed on open shelving units, ensuring they are always accessible. This allows children to decide where to go, what to use and how. We also have a selection of texts as well as writing resources throughout the room in various areas.
Forest Learning
Early Years Classes enjoy weekly sessions exploring and learning in our ‘forest’ area. The forest offers opportunities for outdoor learning in a natural environment. Children learn about team work, collaboration, problem solving and lots more, through a range of practical activities such as building shelters and dens, hunting for bugs and creating natural art work.
Interactions and the characteristics of effective learning
Much of our teaching is through interactions. Adults observe the children closely, and join in (‘intervene’) sensitively with their play, to extend their language and thinking, and develop their knowledge and skills. We support the ‘Characteristics of effective learning’ (‘playing and exploring’, ‘active learning’ and ‘creating and thinking critically’) developing confident, resilient, independent learners throughout the early years. We encourage good attitudes to learning, like curiosity, concentration and willingness to ‘have a go’, in everything we do.
Impact
By the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage, all children will have reached their personal best and have achieved at least good progress across all areas of learning, aiming for a good level of development (GLD). Impact is also evident through our successful transitions into Year 1. EYFS staff have a good understanding of how ELG’s link to the National Curriculum, and through our robust planning and delivery across the spectrum of subjects – both core and foundation - children leave the EYFS stage with the skills, knowledge and confidence to continue their journey as scientists, historians, artists and geographers.
Parent workshops, useful resources and guides
Parent workshop on Early Literacy skills presentation
Tapestry for parents/relatives:
Setting up your account
At Greenfields EYFS we use the Learning Journey Tapestry to record and celebrate your child's progress and achievements for you to enjoy as parents.
This video runs through how to set up your account as a parent or relative on Tapestry. Your child's school, nursery or childminder will need to initially set you up Tapestry.
//www.youtube.com/embed/n7ROkDnb4I0#t=0.5