At Hamsey Green Primary School, our Early Years Foundations Stage (Reception) provides a welcoming, inclusive, engaging and challenging environment for learning.

Our learning is based around a different exciting topic each half term, which we adapt and develop to meet the needs of each cohort. Curriculum maps are shared half-termly with parents, and we also provide a brief overview of each week’s learning through our secure communication platform, ‘Class Dojo’. Using the ‘Foundation Stage Profile’ Early years foundation stage profile handbook and ‘Development Matters’ Development Matters - GOV.UK, we plan each topic to cover all the seven 'Areas of Learning', as follows:

Prime Areas:

• Communication & Language: Listening, attention & Understanding and Speaking
• Personal, Social & Emotional Development: Self-Regulation, Managing Self and Building Relationships
• Physical Development: Gross and Fine Motor skills

Specific Areas

• Literacy: Comprehension, Word Reading and Writing
• Mathematics: Number and Numerical Patterns
• Understanding the World: Past & Present, People, Culture & Communities and The Natural World
• Expressive Arts and Design: Creating with Materials, Being Imaginative and Expressive

Children are taught phonics and maths daily, and read three times per week. Other learning is organised into adult-led tasks, child-initiated learning and independent adult-initiated challenges. Children are encouraged to play and explore, be active in their own learning, to persevere when they encounter challenges, and to create and develop their own ideas. Children access all areas of learning both inside and in our ‘garden’. In addition, we have a weekly PE lesson and use our extensive grounds for our ‘Forest School’ sessions.

The children are assessed on entry using the statutory ‘Reception Baseline Assessment’, in combination with other observations and assessments. This gives us a clear picture of each child’s starting points and enables us to accurately plan their next steps. Assessments continue throughout the year, ensuring we are constantly tracking each child’s progress and achievements. Where there are gaps in learning, we quickly plan additional interventions and support. At the end of the year, the children are assessed against the ‘Early Learning Goals’ in each area and judged to be at ‘Expected’ or ‘Emerging’ levels. All of this information is shared with parents throughout the year, through two formal face-to-face meetings followed by a written report at the end of the year. This information is also shared with our Year 1 teachers, to ensure every child makes a smooth transition from Reception into Year 1.