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Welcome to Ladybirds

Topics in the Early Years are child centred.

Teacher’s use the children’s interests and fascinations to inform our planning and choose topics and themes which the children are interested in and motivated by.

Having a child centred approach to teaching means that the topics will vary from one year to the next, and may change frequently throughout the year; one topic may also last much longer than another.

For example a week based around the story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar could last a week and lead onto more learning about healthy eating, days of the week, different types of mini beasts or life cycles depending on the children’s interests, which could them provide the children with several weeks of learning within the term.

We plan some topics for key dates and celebrations throughout the year, for example; Harvest time, Diwali, Bonfire Night, Christmas, Chinese New Year, Pancake Day and Easter, however some of these may last a few days and some may last 2 weeks.

Child-centred approach

Our Reception children have free access to the outside.

This includes a creative area where they can make fairy houses, build dens, hunt for mini beasts and cook in the mud kitchen.

They also have an area for practising physical activities including use of outdoor bikes and finally a calm area where children can develop their creative skills by painting, creating adventures for small world toys and become project managers and builders, building with duplo, wood and bricks.

Our Reception Team

Kara Cohen

Kara Cohen

Associate

Justin Klein

Justin Klein

Office Manager

Support Staff

Kara Cohen

Kara Cohen

Associate

Justin Klein

Justin Klein

Office Manager

The Foundation Stage Curriculum

In Reception we continue the Early Years Foundation Stage which the children begin in Nursery / Preschool.

The Foundation Stage Curriculum is divided into seven areas of learning.

  • myself, who I am (hands overlapping on heart)
  • my relationships with Others, and how I treat them (hold hands out to the side to link with imaginary others)
  • how I understand and look after this Wonderful World (hands draw circle from top to bottom)
  • and think about everything Beyond the everyday (Jump up and draw bigger circle)”

Reading Book Scheme

At St Michael’s the children follow the Read, Write Inc. syllabus.

The children initially bring home wordless books telling the story by looking at the pictures. This helps them to develop their story language.

Once the children can recognise some graphemes (sounds) and they are beginning to blend, they bring home phonetically decodable books with simple sentences. The books will match the phonic sounds that they know. The length of the text and the child’s fluency will determine how many books a week are sent home. The aim is to re-read books in order to develop fluency.

Our expectations are that all children read at home at least 4 times a week. The sooner a regular routine is implemented the easier it will be for you and your child.

Remember, we have an open door policy.

Please speak to us whenever you have any worries or concerns, big or small.

New Reading Framework
Vocabulary Progression