Children

In the Early Years at St. Saviour’s Primary School our children are excited and motivated to learn through rich and challenging learning experiences; opportunities to explore and take risks.

We have high ambitions for all our children and recognise that children have different starting points to their learning. 

We plan according to children’s stage of development so all can thrive and develop. 

We aim for children to be well-rounded individuals who are independent, resilient, and confident in themselves and with others.

What is it like in Reception class on a day to day basis?

Every day, we provide opportunities for children to come together to share their experiences and have fun. Our children are happy, proud and feel secure knowing that we celebrate their successes and value their achievements. The curriculum is centred on children’s interests with a balance of child-initiated and adult-led learning.

Learning Environment

Our learning environment facilitates child-initiated play and provides children with carefully planned opportunities which allow children to explore, create and learn through exciting, stimulating, interactive and accessible resources.

Role of the adults within Reception Class

We are a united team with play-based child centred learning at the heart of our practice. We aim to communicate and work cooperatively with parents and carers to support our children’s development. 

Curriculum in Reception

Children learning in Reception class follow the national Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework.  The new Early Years framework which will become statutory in school September 2021. 

Early Years Foundation Stage

The EYFS is a very important stage in a child’s life as it helps prepare for school ‘readiness’ as well as preparing them for their future learning and successes. Children’s Early Years experiences should be happy, active, exciting, fun and secure; and support their development and learning needs.  Every child deserves the best possible start in life and the support that enables them to fulfil their potential.  Children develop quickly in the early years and a child’s experiences before the age of five will have a major impact on their future life chances.

Children in the EYFS learn by playing and exploring, being active, and through creative and critical thinking which takes place both indoors and outside. It is very important that they develop social skills, such as turn-taking, sharing and independence, which help them greatly in the next stages of their learning.  The guiding principles that shape our practice in the Early Years are that children are born ready, able and eager to learn.  They actively reach out to interact with other people, and in the world around them.  Development is not an automatic process, however.  It depends on each unique child having opportunities to interact in positive relationships and enabling environments.

This does not mean that all your child's learning is divided up into specific areas.  One experience may provide a child with opportunities to develop a number of skills and concepts across several areas of learning.  Our expectation is that your child's records will be passed on from Nursery and/or Pre-school groups, enabling us to ensure continuity throughout the Early Years Foundation stage.

Phonics teaching and learning are a key part of the Foundation Stage and help to develop early reading and writing skills. More information on phonics programme, please click here.

Children work and play independently, with a strong emphasis on choice and being able to sustain concentration on projects. We encourage a partnership with parents so they are actively involved in their children's learning.

Assessment at the end of Reception

Assessment plays an important part in helping parents, carers and practitioners to recognise children’s progress, understand their needs, and to plan activities and support. Ongoing assessment is an integral part of the learning and development process.  It involves practitioners observing children to understand their level of achievement, interests and learning styles, and to then shape learning experiences for each child reflecting those observations.  In their interactions with children, practitioners should respond to their own day-to-day observations about children’s progress, and observations that parents and carers share.  To this end we make systematic observations and assessments of each child's achievements, interests and learning styles.  We then use these observations and assessments to identify learning priorities and plan relevant and motivating learning experiences for each child.

Each child’s level of development is assessed against the early learning goals (above).  Practitioners will indicate whether children are meeting expected levels of development:

·         Emerging, not yet reaching expected levels of development for age

·         Expected - reached expected levels of development for age 

·         Exceeding – working beyond levels of expected development for age.

Year 1 teachers will have access to end of year Assessments and will also have informed discussions with the Early Years practitioners, this will include discussions based around the characteristics of effective learning. These transition meetings between Reception and Year 1 teachers will inform the Year 1 teacher about each child’s stage of development and learning needs and assist with the planning of activities at the start of Year 1.