The School Curriculum
In Reception children follow the final year of the Early Years Foundation Stage which is for children from birth to five years old. In Years 1 and 2 the children will follow the National Curriculum for Key Stage One. For many years we have been teaching through a themed topic approach to the curriculum and will continue to do so. All Early Years Foundation Stage and National Curriculum objectives have been grouped into topics. The staff have a variety of resources with which they are familiar and they have the autonomy to select the most appropriate lesson or groups of lessons to meet that objective. Lessons are specifically planned to develop certain skills, concepts, knowledge and understanding. Our curriculum includes multi-cultural education promoting racial harmony and equal opportunities. We always seek to see children as individuals, with their own needs and unique personalities, and our aim is to help them achieve their full potential. 

More information about the curriculum and children's learning can be found in the termly topic letters, newsletters and by speaking to the class teacher.
 

Topics

Reception run a child led curriculum which encompasses the children’s interests through learning and play, alongside some adult initiated topics. The areas of learning and development are used to shape activities and experiences for our children in Reception.

The Early Years Foundation Stage

Every child deserves the best possible start in life and the support that enables them to fulfil their potential. At Glendale we recognise that children develop quickly in the early years and that their experiences in their reception year have a major impact on their future life chances. Four guiding principles that shape our practice in Reception:

· Every child is a unique child, who is constantly learning and can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured.

· Children learn to be strong and independent through positive relationships with adults and their peers.

· Children learn and develop well in enabling environments with teaching and support from adults, who respond to their individual interests and needs and help them to build their learning over time. Children benefit from a strong partnership between teachers and parents and/or carers.

· The importance of recognising children develop and learn at different rates. Our curriculum covers the education and care of all children in our school including children with SEND.

There are seven areas of learning and development that shapes our curriculum. All areas of learning and development are important and inter-connected. They are:

Communication and Language

The development of children’s spoken language underpins all seven areas of learning and development. At Glendale, we understand the

importance of interactions and the quality of these conversations they have with adults and other children throughout the day, and therefore try to create a language-rich environment. We do this by commenting on what children are interested in or doing, and echoing back what they say with new vocabulary added. Reading and story time is an important part of the day and an opportunity to engage children in stories, non-fiction texts, rhymes and poems. Each Reception class has a role play area and reading nook where children can share their ideas and receive modelling and questioning from their teacher, allowing our children to become comfortable using a rich range of vocabulary and language structures.

Personal, Social and Emotional Development

Children’s personal, social and emotional development (PSED) is crucial for children to lead healthy and happy lives, and is fundamental to their cognitive development and helps shape their social world. At Glendale we build strong, warm and supportive relationships with our children and teach them how to understand their own feelings and those of others by managing emotions, developing a positive sense of self, setting themselves simple goals and having confidence in their own abilities. We will teach them how to look after their bodies, including healthy eating, and managing personal needs independently. Through supported interaction with other children, they will learn how to make good friendships, co-operate and resolve conflicts amicably. These attributes will help them to thrive at Glendale and in later life.

Physical Development

Physical activity is vital in children’s all-round development, enabling them to pursue happy, healthy and active lives. Gross and fine motor experiences develop incrementally throughout early childhood, starting with sensory explorations and the development of a child’s strength, co-ordination and positional awareness. At Glendale we provide opportunities for play both indoors and outdoors, adults support children to develop their core strength, stability, balance, spatial awareness, co-ordination and agility. Gross motor skills provide the foundation for developing healthy bodies and social and emotional well-being. Fine motor control and precision helps with hand-eye co-ordination, which is later linked to children’s early literacy skills. We offer opportunities to explore and play with small world activities, puzzles, arts and crafts and the practice of using small tools, with feedback and support from adults, allowing our children to develop proficiency, control and confidence.

Literacy

At Glendale we know how important reading is and encourage children to develop a life-long love of reading. We build on children’s comprehension skills by reading a variety of quality texts including fiction and non-fiction and talking about the books we are reading and new vocabulary. Phonics is taught using the Read Write Inc programme where our children are taught a key set of phonic skills including grapheme recognition, phoneme pronunciation, oral segmenting and blending and decoding that can be transferred into reading and writing in familiar and unfamiliar contexts. Children are taught to form letters correctly, spell words using their phonic knowledge, orally rehearse sentences and to write sentences that can be understood by themselves and others.

Mathematics

At Glendale we strive to teach children the necessary building blocks to excel mathematically. Children are taught to count confidently, develop a deep understanding of the numbers to ten by understanding the relationships between them and the patterns within those numbers. Our curriculum also includes rich opportunities for children to develop their spatial reasoning skills across all areas of mathematics including shape, space and measures. We encourage our children to develop positive attitudes and interests in mathematics, look for patterns and relationships, spot connections, ‘have a go’, talk to adults and their peers about what they notice and not be afraid to make mistakes.

Understanding the world

This area involves guiding children to make sense of the world and their community. The frequency and range of children’s personal experiences increases 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. We build on our children’s understanding and vocabulary in this area by reading them a wide variety of stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems.

Expressive Arts and Design

The development of children’s artistic and cultural awareness supports their imagination and creativity. At Glendale our children have regular opportunities to engage with the arts, enabling them to explore and play with a wide range of media and materials. We have quality and varied

resources in our provision to develop children’s understanding, self-expression, vocabulary and ability to communicate through the arts.

Characteristics of Effective Learning

They run through and underpin all 7 areas of learning and development. They describe factors which play a central role in a child’s learning and in becoming an effective learner. They are vital elements of support for transition from Reception into Year One.

There are 3 characteristics:

· playing and exploring - children investigate and experience things, and ‘have a go’

· active learning - children concentrate and keep on trying if they encounter difficulties, and enjoy achievements

· creating and thinking critically - children have and develop their own ideas, make links between ideas, and develop strategies for doing things

Aims specific to the Early Years Foundation Stage
We believe that the EYFS has its own aims in addition to the whole school aims.

These are:
– To define and build upon the child’s existing knowledge and experiences in partnership with parents.
– To encourage independence, autonomy and self-control.
– To enable all children to develop their interests and abilities fully; encouraging lively and enquiring minds.
– To know and value themselves and their own strengths whilst understanding personal limitations.
– To ensure that the child is appropriately prepared for the challenges and demands of their future education.
– To give children the opportunities and skills to communicate effectively.

National Curriculum – Key Stage One
The subjects covered in Key Stage One are as follows:
– English
– Maths
– Science
– History
– Design Technology
– Music
– Geography
– Physical Education
– Art & Design
– Computing
– Religious Education
– PSHE & Citizenship

Collective Worship
The children share in Acts of Worship which, in accordance with the Education Act, is mainly Christian in character. We also encourage members of the local community to join with us or we visit places of worship so that we can enjoy the experience of a multi-faith society. Parents have the right to request that their child is withdrawn from Religious Education and Collective Worship but will need to make alternative arrangements.

Curriculum Enrichment
In addition to the National curriculum, at Glendale we offer a variety of practises which help develop learning, for example after-school clubs.  Educational visits out of school and visitors into school.  The children are given learning challenges to complete at home.

Creative Teaching and Learning
We believe that creative learning should be on-going to enable children to be continuously engaged and enjoy their learning. School staff use a range of approaches and activities to engage the children, including using the outdoor environment as a stimulus. Creative learning is always at the forefront of the teacher’s minds when planning for children’s development.