What is our curriculum intent?

• In the Early Years, and in Reception, our curriculum intent is to add value to the development of children as individuals and providing them with the skills, knowledge and understanding they need to prepare them for the challenges in Key Stage One and beyond.

• Children, who do well in Reception, do well in life.

• Here at Holmgate, we know that for children to succeed, we must keep up, not catch up.

How do we implement our curriculum?

• Pupils learn through a balance of child-initiated and adult-directed activities.  The timetable is structured carefully so that children have rigorous directed teaching in English, maths and phonics everyday with regular access to continuous provision, or ‘play to learn’. This focused group time means the teacher can rapidly check for understanding, identify and respond to misconceptions quickly, and provide real-time verbal feedback.

• Reading is at the heart of our curriculum.  Children follow the rigorous and highly successful Read, Write Inc program faithfully so that they meet good outcomes for reading with almost all children passing the Year One phonics screening.

• The children in Reception participate in ‘project modules’. Here, children are encouraged to consider substantive concepts, which they later build upon in Key Stage One, and Two. In the Autumn term children cover the module: What is Special? In the Spring term, children then learn about Past and Present. In the Summer term children participate in the final module: Thinking like an artist.

• Learning is diligently sequenced to build up children’s knowledge over the course of the term, and the academic year. You can view the project builder for our current module at the bottom of this page.

What are the areas of learning?

Prime areas which underpin all other areas are;

1. Communication and language

2. PSED

3. Physical development

The specific areas are;

4. Literacy

5. Mathematics

6. Expressive arts and design

7. Understanding the world

As of September 2021, children now complete a baseline assessment in the first six weeks of starting school. This short task based assessment provides school with an overview of your child’s starting points. You can find a letter containing more detail about this, at the bottom of the page, entitled: RECEPTION BASELINE LETTER TO PARENTS 2024.

What are the arrangements for school starting and finishing?

• Children in the Early Years are welcomed in to school from 8:40am and must arrive no later than 8.55am.

• Late arrivals should report to the office.

• School finishes at 3.05pm and children are collected in the same place that they are dropped off (the garden).

What are the arrangements for PE?

• In order to maximise learning, children come to school in their ‘Sports Kit’.

• PE takes place on Wednesday.

• Commando Joe’s take places every other Friday.

What are the arrangements for reading books?

Research has shown that children should only be decoding books that they can independently read. A typical progression for reading at home, in Reception class, would be as follows:

• AUTUMN TERM 1: child practises at home with their flash cards and virtual classroom videos.

• AUTUMN TERM 2: child continues to practise their flash cards, with blending book.

• SPRING 1: child continues to practise their phonics flash cards, with DITTY sheet.

• SPRING 2:  child continues to practise their phonics flash cards, with RED reading book.

• SUMMER 1: introduction of Green story books, and first six Set Two Sounds.

• SUMMER 2: introduction to Purple story books, with first six Set Two sounds.

What apps do I need as a parent or carer?

 Information to follow shortly