Reception
Welcome to Reception!
At Redhill, we are committed to creating imaginative, inquisitive and independent learners, who are ready for school and life-long learning.
In Reception children build on their prior knowledge and expand their horizons and experiences of the world. Reception children continue to develop independence and resilience to tackle learning across a wide range of subject areas.
For some children, this may be their first time in school. We wish to create a safe and welcoming environment, where children feel comfortable and supported to learn and make mistakes.
We work in partnership with families to build relationships, understanding our children’s interests so that we can tailor our curriculum and environment to suit their needs. Practitioners help to influence the home learning environment by providing advice and interesting activities for families to help their children at home. We are dedicated to supporting children and families in our community to ensure they are successful in their first steps in education.
Our Curriculum
In Reception, children will develop their skills by exploring the following top layer learning themes. Using these learning themes as a guide, practitioners will plan learning opportunities to develop essential knowledge, skills and vocabulary needed in order for children to be ready for their next steps in learning. However, each year, we aim to personalise and tailor our curriculum to offer experiences that capture our children’s imagination and instill a love of learning (digging deeper).
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Have a look around our Reception classroom
COVID Statement
Top Layer Learning Themes
We aim to:
• Learn about our feelings and emotions and different ways to manage them.
• To build positive relationships and become a member of our class and school community.
• Expand children’s knowledge and vocabulary through the use of Use High quality stories, traditional tales, poems and multi-cultural stories.
• Use stories as a stimulus for imaginative play, expressive arts, mathematical problem solving and scientific investigation. Stories and non-fiction texts are used to explore a wide range of themes based on children’s learning needs and interests.
• Children learn to recall and retell a range of stories, learning about a range of authors and illustrators.
• Explore the features of books including information / non-fiction texts such as leaflets, maps, recipe books and encyclopaedias.
• Learn to perform and create music and movement.
• Explore special times in our lives and how these events are celebrated in different cultures.
•Begin our synthetic phonics programme Read Write Inc. Learning to blend and segment simple words
- Learn about different occupations and jobs in the future.
- Learn about inventions and inventors that changes the world.
- Take part in scientific investigations and design experiences such as nature walks, constructing, modelling and exploring magnetism.
- Learn the seasons and changes in the environment.
- Learn about how humans affect the planet and how we can help ( pollution, global warming etc.).
- Provide maths activities and problem solving opportunities based around real life experiences, exploring money, counting, shape and measurement.
- Learn about maintaining good physical and mental health including healthy diets, oral hygiene, sleep, exercise and mindfulness.
- Learn how to stay safe at home, in the community and online.
- Learn about caring for plants and animals. Find out how humans, plants and animals change over time.
- Learn about technology and how to operate a range of computer equipment and programmes safely.
- Learn about researching and finding information from books and computers.
- Learn about how technology, music and art have changes through time.
- Learn about key historical events and significant people such as the Queen, Neil Armstrong and Martin Luther King Jr.
- Build a sense of self identify and talk about where they live, what they enjoy and what makes them special.
- Exploring more stories, poems, songs and art from a range of cultures.
- Explore different habitats and environments around the world such as the British Coastline, the Amazon Rainforest and the Sahara Desert.
- Learn about how these habitats are changing and what we can do to protect them.
- Celebrate diversity, learning about how different people and communities live their lives.
How we learn in Reception…
In partnership with parents, we are dedicated to ensuring all children develop their basic skills in spoken language, reading, writing and mathematics.
At Redhill, we work as a team to embed our school values, creating an ethos of respect, ambition and resilience. Adults act as role models for children, helping them to develop good learning behaviours and remain safe. We feel that children’s ability to identify, express and regulate their own emotions is a vital skill they will need to achieve in later life. Using stories, songs and role play, we help children to build resilience, form relationships and develop their self-esteem.
Physical Development is key to children’s life-long learning. We place particular importance on helping children to develop physical strength, move with control and improve their fine motor skills. This will ensure they are physically ready to write. We work closely with children and families to improve children’s handwriting and writing skills. We maintain high expectations for all and work tirelessly to help children to be independent learners, helping them to manage their own health, hygiene and well-being. Children are encouraged to managed risks and learn by trial and error.
In Reception, we understand the importance of developing children’s speaking and listening skills. We aim to create confident communicators. We prioritise talk, providing opportunities and time for children to share their ideas, have conversations and ask questions about their learning. We provide a language rich environment and adults model high quality talk through their interactions and stories. Children are encouraged to actively engage and immerse themselves in story. They use imaginative play, storytelling and performance to widen and deepen their knowledge, expand their vocabulary and help them to make sense of the world around them.
Adults carefully plan practical and purposeful activities to introduce and embed mathematical knowledge and skills. In Reception, children are asked to practise counting and engage in a range of problem solving in their play. This helps them to develop and embed basic number sense ensuring they are ready for more complex mathematical concepts in the future. We aim to make maths purposeful using real life experiences using money, time, counting and measure. They will experience shape and measure first-hand, through construction, cooking activities and sensory play. We support children to be independent, developing and embedding maths knowledge and adults use progressive maths vocabulary by sharing number stories and songs.
We look forward to working closely with your family, as your child begins their journey on the road to Year 1.
Ambition
Never Give Up
Teamwork
Love Learning
Equality & Fairness
Respect
