Understanding the World
Understanding the world involves support the children to make sense of their physical world and their community. The starting point are the children’s personal experiences which help to increase their knowledge and sense of the world around them – from visiting parks, libraries and museums to meeting important members of society such as police officers, nurses and firefighters. In addition, listening to a broad selection of stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems will foster their understanding of our culturally and socially diverse world. As well as building important knowledge, this extends their familiarity with words that support understanding across domains. Enriching and widening children’s vocabulary will support later reading comprehension.
Mathematics
Developing strong foundations in number are essential; this is fostered through lots of counting so the children become very confident with understanding numbers, the relationships between them and patterns within those numbers. By providing frequent and varied opportunities to build and apply this understanding – such as using manipulatives, including small pebbles and tens frames for organising counting – children will develop a secure base of knowledge and vocabulary. In addition to work on number, they will learn about pattern, shape, space and measures. It is important that children develop positive attitudes and interests in mathematics, look for patterns and relationships, discuss with adults and peers what they notice, take risks and not be afraid to make mistakes.
Expressive Art & Design
The development of children’s artistic and cultural awareness supports their imagination and creativity. It is important that children have regular opportunities to engage with the arts, enabling them to explore and play with a wide range of media and materials. The quality and variety of what children see, hear and participate in is crucial for developing their understanding, self-expression, vocabulary and ability to communicate through the arts. The frequency, repetition and depth of their experiences are fundamental to their progress in interpreting and appreciating what they hear, respond to and observe.
When we give every child the best start in their early years, we give them what they need today. We also set them up with every chance of success tomorrow. It is important for parents and early years settings to have a strong and respectful partnership. This sets the scene for children to thrive; the help that parents give their children at home has a very significant impact on their learning.
Literacy
From the very start of Reception it is crucial to immerse the children in a language rich environment where a wide variety of books are shared and enjoyed so they have the opportunity to develop a life-long love of reading. To be a competent reader the children need to firstly develop language comprehension; this starts at birth and is developed when adults talk with children about the world around them, share books, rhymes, poems and songs. Word reading is taught later through our phonics programme. We follow the Read Write Inc scheme which teaches the children to learn the letter sounds and its corresponding written form. The children learn to blend sounds speedily to read them and segment spoken words into sounds to write them. The children have daily opportunities to learn sounds and practise writing them.
