Welcome to Reception Class

Our reception class is where the children take their first steps into the world of primary school. This a big step for them as well as for you as a parent so ensuring the smooth transition from nursery, preschool, childminder or home for us is key to a good start for all. At Thorplands we work closely with our preschool staff and plan transition events throughout the year to get to know one another. We plan visits to other settings and arrange home visits, parent meetings and Stay and Play sessions so that we can meet all the children and families before they start school, this helps you and your child feel more confident and at ease when September arrives.

Seesaw is the online assessment tool which we use to share photographs and observations linked to areas of learning so that you at home can share in your child’s learning journey in school. This is also the platform that you can use to share those proud moments and achievements that you experience at home and contribute to building a picture over the year.

We create a curriculum that is ambitious and designed to give children the knowledge, self-belief and cultural capital that they need to succeed in life.

We follow the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum and the children’s learning is underpinned by the Characteristics of Effective Learning, that is how children learn. These are Playing and Exploring, Active Learning and Creating and Thinking Critically. We cover 17 Early Learning Goals across the course of the year. These come under the areas of Personal, Social and Emotional Development, Physical Development, Communication and Language, Literacy, Mathematics, Understanding the World, and Expressive Arts and Design. At Thorplands, we try to follow the interests of the children and adapt out teaching to this. We usually have a topic for one or two weeks which may come from a child’s idea, a book, popular theme, religious events or something topical. We build on the children’s point of entry and support them to secure strong foundations.

Reading is the beating heart of our school curriculum. The enjoyment of sharing a book with the children and encouraging their interest and curiosity about stories, characters and books is paramount. Phonics is taught using The Ruth Miskin Read, Write Inc phonics scheme which teaches the children step by step, letter sounds and then how to blend for reading and sits alongside their learning to write the letter sounds, progressing to words and then sentences. The children will have dedicated phonics sessions each day and as they progress, they will have decodable books to take home to read with you.

Miss Pryor, Mrs Bradford, Mrs Smith-Manze