Welcome to Reception class!
In Reception our class teacher is Miss Nesom. Reception is a busy year with lots of exciting things to do and many things to learn! Reception is the exciting start of a child’s education. Throughout this year the children will learn through play and opportunities to investigate learning. At this age the children start to develop their understanding of key communication skills as well as developing more social relationships with their peers and adults in the environment.
Our aim in Reception is to teach our children important values and skills such as resilience and perseverance to make them confident and happy learners. Within our daily timetable the children will have a phonics session to support their learning of letter sounds which will enable their development of early reading skills. Our writing will link to shared books and interests of the children throughout the year.
Our School Day
Our day starts at 8.50am when children come into class and have breakfast with their friends. Children access breakfast independently developing their skills to butter their own bagel, put cereal in their bowl, pour milk onto their breakfast and carry their bowl to the table to eat. Children are given short tasks including finding their name card, writing their name and practising number formation. Our morning is made up of both indoor and outdoor child-initiated learning time and adult directed learning including Phonics, Mathematics, English and Physical Development (fine motor activities). We end our morning with a class story and sing some of our favourite songs. Between Midday and 1pm our children have lunch where they will choose what they would like to eat. In the afternoon our learning is focused on other areas of the EYFS curriculum including: Understanding the World, Physical Development, Expressive Arts and Design. The children work hard to develop their independence skills by getting themselves ready to go home at the end of the day. At 3pm our school day ends.
Our Curriculum
In Reception, we follow children’s interests to develop their learning through play as well as teaching important skills and knowledge through overarching half-termly topics. The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) sets standards for the learning, development and care of your child from birth to 5 years old, ensuring they are equipped with the skills and knowledge needed to progress onto the next stage of their development. In the Early Years phase at Leadgate Primary School, our EYFS curriculum is personalised to the developmental stages of our children. You can view this here. To find out more information about how we assess, adapt and plan for our children please visit our Early Years page here. Our half-termly topics incorporate the skills and knowledge children need to learn, appropriate to their developmental stage.
The Early Years Curriculum is split into two different parts which cover all areas of development for children, Prime and Specific. The Prime Areas are the foundations children need to build upon to access Specific Areas.
Prime Areas:
Communication and Language, this takes into consideration listening and attention, understanding and speaking. It is a critically important area allowing children to access whole class learning, develop vocabulary and express themselves effectively.
Physical Development, this area teaches and provides for the movement skills of all kinds from running and jumping to holding a pencil and forming letters. Children also learn about taking care of their bodies, being healthy and balanced diets.
Personal, Social and Emotional Development, here we develop self-confidence and self-awareness though tackling new challenges and building resilience. We use stories and our own experiences to learn about feelings and develop ways of managing our emotions. Children learn how to build relationships, share, work with others and maintain special friendships.
Specific Areas:
Literacy, Reading and Writing. Through a synthetic phonics scheme children learn to develop their awareness of sounds into reading and writing alongside deepening understanding of stories and books.
Maths, Number, Shape Space and Measure. Children learn how to count accurately and recognise numbers and spend time focussing on investigating values and comparing amounts. Children will learn about shapes and measurements through lots of practical exploration.
Understanding of the World. Children will learn about the natural world looking at changing seasons, animals and materials. Children will develop their awareness of special people, customs and traditions we participate in today and important features of the past.
Expressive Art and Design. This area provides children with the opportunities to paint, build, play imaginative and use role play incorporating ideas from their learning. We explore music and movement learning new songs and instruments.
Long Term Curriculum Overview
Access our comprehensive curriculum overview to see what pupils will be learning in each area of learning throughout the academic year.
Termly Curriculum Overview
Access our class overview to see what pupils will be learning each term.
Transition Booklet
Phonics
In Reception, all children take part in daily phonics sessions following Little Wandle – a reading scheme approved by the Department for Education. The children will learn new sounds each week alongside developing their skills of blending, segmenting and the sight reading of ‘tricky’ words.
To help embed the reading skills learned at school, children can access Collins e-books (online) at home where they will be able to read the book they have been practising with in class that week. Each child has their own personalised logins which are sent home at the beginning of the academic year. You can access Collins e-books website by clicking here. Children will also bring home a book of their choice each week to encourage their reading for pleasure.
Here are some useful resources to support children at home following the Little Wandle reading scheme.
Autumn 1 – Phase 2 sounds
Autumn 2 – Phase 2 sounds
Spring 1 – Phase 3 sounds
In Spring 2 and during the Summer term, we consolidate Phase 2 and 3 sounds and develop children’s reading fluency.
Language Development
At Leadgate Primary School, language development is at the heart of our Early Years curriculum. We recognise that strong communication and language skills are the foundation for learning, helping children to build relationships, develop confidence, access the curriculum and become successful readers and writers.
Our high-quality EYFS curriculum is designed to provide rich opportunities for speaking, listening, vocabulary development and communication throughout the school day. Through high-quality interactions, storytelling, singing, role play, imaginative play and carefully planned learning experiences, all children are supported to develop their language and communication skills.
We use a graduated approach to identify and support children’s language development needs at the earliest opportunity. As part of this approach, all children in Reception are screened using the WellComm Speech and Language Toolkit.
WellComm
WellComm is a speech and language screening tool that helps us identify any gaps or delays in a child’s language development. It provides practical activities and advice to support children’s communication skills and allows us to identify areas where additional support may be needed.
Following screening, some children may access targeted WellComm activities to help develop their vocabulary, attention and listening skills, understanding of language and confidence in communication. These activities are engaging, practical and designed to be easily incorporated into everyday learning.
Please note that WellComm focuses on language development and understanding. It is not intended to assess or support specific speech difficulties, such as difficulties pronouncing sounds, missing sounds in words, stammering, stuttering or other speech sound concerns. Where concerns arise in these areas, we will discuss appropriate next steps and sources of specialist support with parents and carers.
Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI)
Children whose WellComm assessments indicate more significant language gaps may be supported through the Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI) programme.
NELI is an evidence-based programme designed to develop children’s vocabulary, listening, understanding, narrative and conversational skills. Sessions are delivered by trained staff through a combination of small-group and individual activities, using engaging games, stories and structured language experiences.
By identifying needs early and providing targeted support through WellComm and NELI, we ensure that every child receives the right level of support at the right time. This graduated approach enables children to develop the communication and language skills they need to thrive in school and beyond.
You can read our EYFS Policy here EYFS Policy