Children enter full-time education in our Reception class in the September after their 4th birthday.

The majority of children move up from Bluebird Nursery, but others may join us from local nurseries. For these children, towards the end of the summer term, teachers visit each child in their nursery setting to get to know them and to speak to their key person. This helps our teachers to gain a fuller understanding of each individual child. If this is not possible, for example if a child is new to the area, a home visit is offered.

We continue to develop the children’s love of learning in a large, bright classroom with two distinct teaching areas. The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Curriculum is still followed at this stage and the children extend their ability in learning to live and work together. Emphasis at this stage is on providing even more opportunities for them to discover new passions and to start to learn about themselves as individuals.

Every child is encouraged and supported in their literacy development through a robust programme of phonics, which takes the form of a 'Success for All' session every morning. This is then consolidated through both practical activities and also individual and group reading. Once a child has built the foundations, we link with phonics to begin their writing journey. They are encouraged to ‘have a go’ at writing less familiar words by applying their phonics knowledge, which enables them to make essential links between their reading and writing skills.

With numeracy, the children are introduced to strategies for performing simple calculations and use both every day and mathematical language to talk about concepts such as size, weight, capacity, position, distance, time and money. Practical approaches are employed to teach the children and resources such as Numicon, help them see the connections between numbers.

The specialist subject teachers continue to deliver weekly Forest School, Swimming, Music, Games, Computing and French lessons and the Eco Outdoor Learning (EcoOL) programme ensures that our children access our wonderful grounds to enhance their learning across the curriculum.

To support with the transition from Reception to Year 1, children are allocated buddies in Year 5 to provide reassurance and a friendly face.

Playing and exploring, active learning, creating and thinking critically all remain of vital importance, however, once in Years 1 and 2, the children start to broadly follow the Primary National Curriculum. 

We continue to develop literacy and numeracy skills and subjects such as Science, Design & Technology, Humanities and Art are taught using a seamless, topic-based approach. This encourages the children to make links between the various subject areas which ultimately deepens their understanding.
 
The topic-based timetable is then enhanced with a range of lessons taught by specialist teachers that is continued from Reception – Forest School, Swimming, Games, Computing, French and Music. Year 1 pupils also benefit from an Art lesson with our specialist teacher in our art studio. 
 
Where possible, we try to tailor the curriculum to foster individual interests, for example, linking in with families or members of staff within the school to reflect their backgrounds and experiences.

Please click below to view our curriculum maps:
Reception
Year 1
Year 2