Starting Reception

In the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) at Yohden Primary School our aims are to:

• support children to make a planned, confident transition from home to school
•  provide a happy, caring, safe and secure environment for learning
• plan learning experiences that meet the individual needs and interests of the children through a balanced provision of adult led and child initiated opportunities
• support children to become competent and confident learners so they are able to reach their full potential
• provide a broad and balanced high quality curriculum in line with the Early Years Foundation Stage guidance
• foster positive home school links with parents and other care providers.

We follow The Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum as detailed below. This framework is a means of ensuring high standards of early education and care that will reassure parents that their child’s development is being fully supported. It underpins all future learning by supporting and fostering the children’s personal, social and emotional wellbeing. It encourages positive attitudes and dispositions towards learning in the children and promotes learning through play.

All children in the EYFS at are encouraged to enjoy and share books with each other, individually and with an adult. Upon starting the school the children follow the DFE Letters and Sounds programme using support material from the Jolly Phonics scheme. Children are taught in a daily lesson to hear and blend sounds in words and our early reading books are heavily phonics based. In order to develop variety for the reader we use a number of reading book schemes in both fiction and non-fiction.

Assessment

Assessment in Reception is carried out in line with the ‘Early Years Foundation Stage’ and staff observe the children to create a ‘learning journey’ which evidences the child’s progress through the Foundation Stage.

In partnership with parents and carers, your child will be a focus child once a half term. During their focus week the staff will record your child’s experiences in a Learning Journey. When the week is over your child’s teacher will send you a copy of their learning across the week and you are able to add comments about their progress.

The information below is taken from the Department for Education Document ‘Statutory framework for the early years foundation stage’.

The Early Learning Goals –The Prime Areas

Communication and language

Listening and attention: children listen attentively in a range of situations. They listen to stories, accurately anticipating key events and respond to what they hear with relevant comments, questions or actions. They give their attention to what others say and respond appropriately, while engaged in another activity.

Understanding: children follow instructions involving several ideas or actions. They answer ‘how’ and ‘why’ questions about their experiences and in response to stories or events.

Speaking: children express themselves effectively, showing awareness of listeners’ needs. They use past, present and future forms accurately when talking about events that have happened or are to happen in the future. They develop their own narratives and explanations by connecting ideas or events.

Physical development

Moving and handling: children show good control and co-ordination in large and small movements. They move confidently in a range of ways, safely negotiating space. They handle equipment and tools effectively, including pencils for writing.

Health and self-care: children know the importance for good health of physical exercise, and a healthy diet, and talk about ways to keep healthy and safe. They manage their own basic hygiene and personal needs successfully, including dressing and going to the toilet independently.

Personal, social and emotional development

Self-confidence and self-awareness: children are confident to try new activities, and say why they like some activities more than others. They are confident to speak in a familiar group, will talk about their ideas, and will choose the resources they need for their chosen activities. They say when they do or don’t need help.

Managing feelings and behaviour: children talk about how they and others show feelings, talk about their own and others’ behaviour, and its consequences, and know that some behaviour is unacceptable. They work as part of a group or class, and understand and follow the rules. They adjust their behaviour to different situations, and take changes of routine in their stride.

Making relationships: children play co-operatively, taking turns with others. They take account of one another’s ideas about how to organise their activity. They show sensitivity to others’ needs and feelings, and form positive relationships with adults and other children.

The Specific Areas

Literacy

Reading: children read and understand simple sentences. They use phonic knowledge to decode regular words and read them aloud accurately. They also read some common irregular words. They demonstrate understanding when talking with others about what they have read (at the bottom of this page is a link to a site which can help you practise phonics).

Writing: children use their phonic knowledge to write words in ways which match their spoken sounds. They also write some irregular common words. They write simple sentences which can be read by themselves and others. Some words are spelt correctly and others are phonetically plausible.

Mathematics

Numbers: children count reliably with numbers from 1 to 20, place them in order and say which number is one more or one less than a given number. Using quantities and objects, they add and subtract two single-digit numbers and count on or back to find the answer. They solve problems, including doubling, halving and sharing.

Shape, space and measures: children use everyday language to talk about size, weight, capacity, position, distance, time and money to compare quantities and objects and to solve problems. They recognise, create and describe patterns. They explore characteristics of everyday objects and shapes and use mathematical language to describe them.

Understanding the world

People and communities: children talk about past and present events in their own lives and in the lives of family members. They know that other children don’t always enjoy the same things, and are sensitive to this. They know about similarities and differences between themselves and others, and among families, communities and traditions.

The world: children know about similarities and differences in relation to places, objects, materials and living things. They talk about the features of their own immediate environment and how environments might vary from one another. They make observations of animals and plants and explain why some things occur, and talk about changes.

Technology: children recognise that a range of technology is used in places such as homes and schools. They select and use technology for particular purposes.

Expressive arts and design

Exploring and using media and materials: children sing songs, make music and dance, and experiment with ways of changing them. They safely use and explore a variety of materials, tools and techniques, experimenting with colour, design, texture, form and function.

Being imaginative: children use what they have learnt about media and materials in original ways, thinking about uses and purposes. They represent their own ideas, thoughts and feelings through design and technology, art, music, dance, role-play and stories.