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, attention and understanding: 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. 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

Gross Motor skills: children show good control and co-ordination in large and small movements. They move confidently in a range of ways, safely negotiating space. 

Fine Motor skills : children will hold a pencil effectively in preparation for fluent writing. They can use a range of small tools including scissors, paintbrushes and cutlery. Children are beginning to show accuracy and care when drawing. 

Personal, social and emotional development

Managing self: children are confident to try new activities, and show independence, resilience and perseverance. Children can explain reasons for rules and know right and wrong. They can manage own basic hygiene and personal needs and understand the needs for healthy food choices. 

Self-regulation: 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.

Building 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

Comprehension: children will demonstrate understanding of what has been read to them by retelling stories and narratives. Children can anticipate key event sin stories. They can use and understand recently introduced vocabulary. 

Word 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 know sounds for each letter of the alphabet and at least 10 digraphs. 

Writing: children use their phonic knowledge to write words in ways which match their spoken sounds. They write simple sentences which can be read by themselves and others. Some words are spelt correctly and others are phonetically plausible. They write recognisable letters, most of which are correctly formed. 

Mathematics

Number: children will have a deep understand of numbers to 10 including the composition of each number. They can subitise numbers to 5 and they will have automatic recall of number bonds to 5, some number bonds to 10 including doubling fact.  

Numerical pattern: verbally count beyond 20 recognising the counting pattern. They will compare quantities up to 10 in different context, recognising when one is greater than , less than or the same as. They will explore and recognise patterns with numbers up to 10 including odd and eve, doubling facts and sharing.

Understanding the world

People, culture and communities: children describe their immediate environment including maps and stories. They know similarities and differences between religions and communities in this country. They can explain similarities and differences between this country and others using stories to help them. 

The natural world: children  will explore the natural world around them, making observations and drawing pictures of animals and plants. They will know some similarities and differences between the natural world around them and contrasting environments, drawing on their experiences and what has been read in class. They will understand some important processes and changes in the natural world around them, including the seasons and changing states of matter.

Past and Present: children will talk about the lives of the people around them and their roles in society. They will know some similarities and differences between things in the past and now, drawing on their experiences and what has been read in class. They will understand the past through settings, characters and events encountered in books read in class and storytelling.

Expressive arts and design

Creating with materials: children will safely use and explore a variety of materials, tools and techniques, experimenting with colour, design, texture, form and function. They will share their creations, explaining the process they have used. They will make use of props and materials when role playing characters in narratives and stories.

Being imaginative: children at the expected level of development will invent, adapt and recount narratives and stories with peers and their teacher. They will sing a range of well-known nursery rhymes and songs. They will perform songs, rhymes, poems and stories with others, and, when appropriate, try to move in time with music.