Our Reception is made of 2 classes – the children are in either Finch or Wren. Our Reception team is made up of 4 teachers, Mrs Williams and Mrs Scott (job-share), and Mrs MacLeod and Mrs Dummett (job-share), who are supported by an enthusiastic and supportive team of teaching assistants.
The children in Reception continue to learn through play as well as building to more formal learning opportunities by the end of the year. The environment and resources are planned to allow the children to make choices about their learning and explore objects and opportunities independently. Enhancements are placed in the environment based upon the children’s interest as well as the topic or theme currently being learnt.
The classroom teams work to establish routines that support children in their transition into reception from Nursery and navigate their way through a school day successfully. Our supportive adults encourage the children to develop a sense of resilience to allow them to keep on trying when they come across something they find difficult and to bounce back from these difficulties. The Reception children are encouraged to come up with their own ideas, and the adults support the children to develop these ideas through questioning and modelling vocabulary.
The Reception children have access to fantastic indoor and outdoor learning environments that inspire the children to make links in their learning, building on their existing knowledge with new experiences and opportunities. Our resources and equipment promote all areas of learning, following the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework, as well as the children’s interests and needs. Our Reception classrooms are connected by doors which are opened during Child Initiated Play (CIP) allowing the children to explore and learn in a larger area. The children have access to creative areas for drawing, painting, and creating, book corners for sharing books and retelling stories with puppets, build and construct with a range of construction resources and develop their imagination through role play and small world characters. Our extended outside area means that the children can continue their learning on a larger scale, making larger constructions using wooden blocks, planks, and other materials, accessing a range of sports equipment, and climbing equipment and exploring the sand and water trays. It is in the outside area where the adults support the children in appropriate risk-taking opportunities, such as climbing trees. The Reception children are encouraged to access the outside environment all year round and in all weather conditions dressed appropriately.
Carefully planned and purposeful activities support the children in their learning, including developing artistic skills in painting self-portraits to creating maps of the garden when going on their own bear hunt. Our daily phonics sessions provide children with early literacy skills needed for reading and writing throughout the year. The Reception children follow the Essential Maths programme of study, from Herts for Learning, during adult led maths activities. These learning sequences are often offered during CIP for the children to explore independently.
The Reception day consists of a mixture of play, whole class teaching lessons and adult led small group activities allowing the children to develop their curiosity, build upon their existing knowledge and consolidate their learning. This style means that our children are motivated and enthusiastic learners as well as happy children confident in their environment.
For admission to our Reception year group please apply via the county admission process
To find out more about Reception and the Reception day please go to our Reception children’s work and blog page.