Our reception curriculum promotes effective learning and is designed around the needs of our children. We aim to immerse our pupils in a language-rich environment that is home to plenty of oracy opportunities. We understand the importance of play and have a range of resources to allow pupils to explore, think critically and problem solve. Many of our activities are play-based; however, there is also a need for some direct teacher-led activities to ensure all children gain essential knowledge and skills.
Our children guide their own learning through a carefully resourced continuous provision with enhancements to aid the development of fundamental skills and knowledge. This is done and delivered using the curiosity approach. Within our reception classroom, we prioritise curiosity, creativity, and holistic development to empower our pupils to be curious, have fun and make a difference!
Areas of learning
There are seven areas of learning and development within the early years, which are extremely important to ensure our children get the best possible start at school. These seven areas are made up of three prime areas and four specific areas.
The prime areas of learning and development include communication and language, personal, social and emotional development and physical development. These are vital to ensure our children feel safe, form a range of positive relationships, develop a love of learning through curiosity and as a result are then ready to take on the challenges of the wider curriculum.
The specific areas of learning and development include; literacy, mathematics, understanding the world and expressive arts and design. These areas help to further strengthen the prime areas.
The characteristics of effective teaching and learning describe the behaviours children use in order to learn. The three behaviours are:
1. Playing and Exploring – Having high levels of engagement and being willing to ‘have a go’.
2. Active Learning – Being motivated and demonstrating resilience.
3. Creating and Thinking Critically – Developing own ideas, strategies and making connections.
Effective learning must be meaningful to our children so that they can use what they have learned and apply it to a range of situations. This will allow for our children to make good progress across all seven areas of learning and development.
You can find more information about our curriculum, at the bottom of this page.