RECEPTION (Foundation Stage)
But Jesus said, "Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them! For the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."
Matthew 19:14
We recognise the crucial role that Early Year’s education has to play in providing a secure foundation upon which the rest of a child’s education is successfully based and have designed our Reception curriculum to ensure our pupils gain the knowledge and skills required to develop as individuals as well as prepare them for future learning. We engage pupils in learning from the very start and our goal is that they leave us as happy, confident, skilful communicators who develop physically, verbally, cognitively and emotionally and who have a sense of awe and wonder and curiosity about the world around them.
We work hard to create a stimulating and language-rich learning environment to provide learning opportunities, through a careful balance of adult directed and uninterrupted child-initiated play, that promote independence, challenge, exploration, adventure and a real love of learning.
Positive, caring and supportive relationships between staff and pupils, as well as consistent routines are key to ensuring our pupils feel secure and happy in school. We aim to foster a sense of belonging so that our pupils believe in themselves and interact positively with others, recognising how we serve others through being inclusive and working alongside our peers..
We know that pupils do their best when their physical, emotional and social needs are met. With this in mind, we work to develop two-way relationships with our families, as well as strengthen links with local pre-school and nursery settings in order to ensure we know our pupils as unique individuals and can support and challenge them to achieve their best from the moment they start. By providing a high level of wellbeing this in turn leads to high levels of child development and the ability to create ideas and think critically, as well as pupils who demonstrate resilience and ownership of their learning.
We are fully inclusive, and the emphasis is very much on helping each individual to achieve their full potential. It is our intent to provide our pupils with the knowledge, skills and experiences in a hands-on, holistic way so that all learning is embedded in a meaningful context. We aim to enable our children to have the skills & understanding to serve others and to discover their own individual God-given potentials
We do this through a personalised, flexible curriculum that engages and motivates our children. Our curriculum covers all seven areas of learning (Prime areas: Communication & Language, Personal, Social & Emotional Development, Physical Development and Specific areas: Literacy, Mathematics, Understanding the World and Expressive Arts & Design). Religious Education is also a core element of the learning journey in Reception.
IMPLEMENTATION
In order to translate our vision into practice, we plan to give:
- Pupils choice in many aspects of their learning
- Planned opportunities for children to acquire and practice vocabulary and language
- The knowledge, skills, and attitudes to enable pupils to learn independently
- A learning environment that stimulates enquiry, imagination and creativity, and which is based on pupils' needs and interests in order to build upon previous skills & knowledge
- Meaningful opportunities for pupils to learn beyond the classroom
- Opportunities to set high expectations and aspirations for all pupils
- Responsibility so that pupils can be accountable for their own learning
- Time to learn and practice the social and emotional competencies to prepare pupils for the next phase of their learning
- Opportunities that motivate, challenge and are accessible to all pupils, ensuring that we respond quickly to the pupils’ learning needs by enhancing ideas and experiences
We will also:
- Plan opportunities to quickly find out about previous learning at nursery or at home
- Teach in mixed ability classes with small groups for activities such as phonics, reading & maths
- Maintain our daily routine to allow pupils to settle to learning quickly
- We give the children the opportunity to engage in a board and balanced curriculum, offering opportunities for enjoyment and success
IMPACT
As a result, we will see learners who:
- Reflect the teaching and ethos of our Catholic faith
- Confidently contribute to the learning of themselves and others
- Ask and answer their own questions and those of others
- Use and apply language competently across all subjects
- Access resources and help independently commensurate with their age
- Can make links in learning because they know more and remember more
- Interact and co-operate with others
- Have good communication and language skills
- Have developed personal, social and emotional skills
- Demonstrate good coordination and have fine and gross motor skills
- Are competent with the phonics phases 1 - 4 and are beginning to be confident readers and writers
- Have a solid, deep understanding of number and pattern
- Have a good understanding of the world around them
- Can expressive themselves creatively through different media
- Have the self-belief in their ability to achieve.
- Are ready for the next stage of their learning journey and are ready for life in modern Britain.