Welcome to Reception, with Mrs Robson and Miss Smith. This is where our Reception children play and work together towards achieving EYFS targets. We cover Literacy, including Phonics in the form of Read Write Inc, Mathematics, Personal, Social and Emotional Development, Physical Development, Communication and Language, Understanding of the World and Expressive Art and Design. communication and language.
At Westlea we believe that children learn best when they are interested, curious and deeply engaged, which at this age and stage of development, is best achieved through play. Our curriculum and provision intend to develop learners who are happy, independent, knowledgeable, confident, enthusiastic and enjoy coming to school.
In Class 1, the children choose where to go, both indoors and out, and what to do from the moment they arrive. During ‘free-flow’ sessions, they initiate their own learning and adults join them, supporting and challenging them in their pursuits. To support genuine choice, we have a workshop style environment setup within the classroom as well as our outdoor environment. We are lucky enough to have our own ‘Westlea Woodland’ which can be accessed from our garden area. All areas are clear, stocked, and tidy at the start of the day: the areas are free of equipment, but the resources are available right next to them.
When the children arrive, nothing is set out, but everything is available and accessible and the doors to the outside area are opened immediately or as soon as it is safe to do so.
This allows the children to be in control of their learning. They can select the area in which to play, the resources to use in that area and what to do with them.
We also operate a “rolling snack” which allows the children to decide for themselves when they are hungry and thirsty and ready for their snack. Then they can sit at a table and eat, drink, use cutlery, cut/chop/spread and peel their own fruit and even create fruit salads, sandwiches or smoothies.
Before the end of each session, we stop the children to host a quick “tidy-up team meeting” where children can volunteer for different roles. We then come together for short adult led group times both before and after lunch, and again at home time. These group sessions include activities such as phonics, stories, maths, singing and PSHE.
