Starting Reception

Reception classes are led by Miss Foster, (the schools EYFS Leader) and  Mrs Holmes, the curriculum follows the Early Years Foundation Stage guidance.

There are 80 places in each school year and applications are made via Derbyshire LA

School places are usually notified around Easter and each June we invite children in to visit the school and attend a session with their new teacher ready to prepare them for the start of the year.

In September we gently introduce the children to school life, with shorter days for the first week of the Autumn term. After that they follow the normal school timetable and we find the majority of the children settle quickly and happily.

Your child's day in reception:

• Every morning your child will experience a variety of Mathematical or Literacy based activities on alternate days over the week.
• All children take part in letters and sounds (using the Little Wandle scheme) for 25 minutes at 10.55 am everyday.
• Our teaching assistants complete lots of extra targeted work with small groups of children to help ensure all children achieve their full potential.
• Staff support children’s learning through a balance of adult led and child initiated learning both inside and outside.
• Observations are made on a continuous basis to ensure all children’s needs are met and all children are challenged to make the best possible progress.
• Each class does PE every week, children come to school wearing their PE kits on the day they do PE.
• Three days a week children go to an assembly for 15 minutes at 10.15am.
• Hand writing is taught every day, usually just before lunch time.
• Dinner time is between 12.30pm and 1.30pm.
• During the afternoon session children experience a variety of activities with a focus on Knowledge and Understanding of the World, Physical Development and Expressive Arts and Design. They also get the opportunity to explore our Forest Schools area.

Tracking the progress of our children:

• In nursery and Reception each child completes a comprehensive baseline assessment within the first six weeks.
• Each child's progress is tracked closely on OTrack and DoJo. From this any children who need any extra help are quickly identified and receive support to help ensure all our children make the best possible progress.
• All the information is passed to the Reception and then to the Year One teachers so they can plan the next step of learning so no time is wasted.
• Every child has a ‘Learning Journey’ that contains observations and photographs which records children’s achievements on our school app called ‘DoJo’. All parents have access to this program for their child.  This will allow parents to contribute and see the progress their child is making. We welcome parents to make comments on the photos of their child and upload any significant pictures or events that happen while your child is at home.
• It is really important for the staff to have lots of information about every child’s learning and development at home. Parents are encouraged to complete a questionnaire every term about their child’s progress and attend termly parents evenings.

Please tell us about your child's interests, learning and development at home. We encourage parents to do the following:

• Complete and return the questionnaires we send out every term.
• Write in your child’s reading book to tell staff how they are doing and try to hear your child read at least three times a week, there is a reward given to all children who do this !
• Tell us what your child enjoys doing at home on the information slips available in your child’s class.
• Read the topic overview information sheet on what your child has learned and how you can help them at home, there are also lots of links in your child's class pages on our website in the 'children' section.
• Help your child practise their spellings sent home weekly.
• Practice the 'words of the week' that are sent home weekly. Encourage your child to say the word in a sentence and explain what it means.

Assessment

In the EYFS  children are constantly learning, developing, exploring and solving problems so they can reach their full potential. Within reception we find many different forms of assessment useful however our main form of assessing children's development is through observation; watching and listening to the children play to find out how they are learning, what they are learning and what they like doing. 

We also do some summative assessments on Otrack at the end of each term which enable us to effectively plan every child's next step to ensure they make the best possible progress.