Our Early Years Vision:
'To empower our children to be independent, well rounded individuals who have a love of learning and seek challenge in everything they do.’
Our Reception is a joyful, nurturing space where children take their first exciting steps into school life. Here, curiosity is celebrated, imaginations are encouraged to soar, and every child is supported as they begin their learning journey.
Through play, exploration, and discovery, children develop the foundations for reading, writing, and mathematics, while also learning to build friendships, share, and grow in confidence. Our experienced staff create a safe, caring environment that inspires children to ask questions, try new things, and enjoy every moment of learning.
Reception is a place where laughter, creativity, and wonder fill each day—helping children to flourish as happy, independent learners ready for the adventures ahead.
'To empower our children to be independent, well rounded individuals who have a love of learning and seek challenge in everything they do.’
Our Reception is a joyful, nurturing space where children take their first exciting steps into school life. Here, curiosity is celebrated, imaginations are encouraged to soar, and every child is supported as they begin their learning journey.
Through play, exploration, and discovery, children develop the foundations for reading, writing, and mathematics, while also learning to build friendships, share, and grow in confidence. Our experienced staff create a safe, caring environment that inspires children to ask questions, try new things, and enjoy every moment of learning.
Reception is a place where laughter, creativity, and wonder fill each day—helping children to flourish as happy, independent learners ready for the adventures ahead.
Our Indoor Learning Environment
"Through thoughtful provocations and stimulating environments, children get lost in the imaginary world, mesmerized and excited by the thought of fantasy and make believe."
"Through thoughtful provocations and stimulating environments, children get lost in the imaginary world, mesmerized and excited by the thought of fantasy and make believe."
Our Outdoor Learning Environment
"We create enchanted pockets of learning that have a visually appealing manner which highlight the magic, wonder and possibility of the resources on offer."
"We create enchanted pockets of learning that have a visually appealing manner which highlight the magic, wonder and possibility of the resources on offer."
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Phonics
Phonics is a high priority in our Reception class, with daily lessons that give every child the best start in learning to read. We are committed to a keep up, not catch up approach, ensuring all children make steady progress through fidelity to our chosen phonics scheme. We follow the Bug Club sequence of sounds, which carefully matches the Bug Club reading books children take home, helping them practise and grow in confidence. Daily interventions provide extra support where needed, while videos and phonics packs offer parents practical tools to engage with learning at home. Together, this consistent approach ensures our children develop strong early reading skills that will support them throughout their school journey. Provision Our Reception children enjoy a rich variety of provision areas designed to spark imagination and support learning through play. From our large sand pit, water area, and mud kitchen to construction, crafts, and role play, every space offers opportunities to explore, create, and discover. Children develop social skills in the games area, strengthen fine motor skills in the malleable area, and build confidence and coordination in the climbing area. Together, these experiences nurture curiosity, independence, and a love of learning in a joyful environment. Our Additional Experiences
At Reception, learning goes far beyond the classroom. Children enjoy a wide range of experiences that spark curiosity, build confidence, and create lasting memories. From exploring nature through Forest School sessions to developing teamwork in PE lessons, every week brings new opportunities to grow. Our children love caring for our guinea pigs, getting hands-on with baking, and welcoming special visitors who bring learning to life. Across the year, we also enjoy termly trips and magical moments such as watching caterpillars transform into butterflies or chicks hatching in our classroom. Highlights like having the Purple Pig Company visit add even more excitement, making Reception a truly special place to learn, discover, and thrive. Parent Partnership We greatly value the importance of working in partnership with parents and actively promote this throughout the year. Each term, we invite families to join us for special sessions such as Stay and Cook and Fun and Fire, where parents and children can learn, create, and explore together. We also welcome parents to share their professions, providing children with real-life enrichment opportunities. The children love having their parents in school, learning about their job roles, and then joyfully recreating these experiences in their play. Forest School
We are lucky to have our very own forest within the school grounds, where children take part in weekly activities designed to build confidence, self-esteem, and essential life skills. In Forest School, children are encouraged to make choices, problem-solve, take responsibility, and assess risks in a safe, supportive environment. In EYFS, we focus on the Forest School philosophy: taking care of oneself, others, and the environment. Activities include cooking around the campfire, stick whittling, den building, map reading, and caring for animals and nature, offering hands-on experiences that inspire curiosity, resilience, and a love of the outdoors. Weekly Challenges To inspire children to explore a variety of learning opportunities, both indoors and outdoors, we set open-ended challenges each week. These activities encourage children to independently apply skills they have previously learned, while also giving them the chance to try new things. Children enjoy completing each challenge, discussing their ideas with their key worker group, and reflecting on suggested improvements. This approach allows children to lead their own learning, fostering deeper engagement, independence, and sustained concentration. Outdoor Play Outdoor play isn’t just a way for children to have fun—it’s an important part of their healthy growth and development. Time outside gives kids the chance to move freely, run, climb, and explore, all of which help build strong bodies and healthy habits. It also sparks curiosity and imagination as they invent games, discover new things, and solve problems in creative ways. |
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Mathematics in Reception
In Reception, we continue to build strong foundations in number, shape, and pattern through playful, practical experiences. Following the White Rose Maths approach, children explore early addition, subtraction, and problem-solving in meaningful contexts – from playing shop and using real money, to measuring ingredients when baking. Our environment is set up to encourage children to use maths in real-life situations, developing independence and confidence. Through songs, stories, games, and hands-on activities, children deepen their understanding of numbers to 20 and begin to use key resources such as Numicon, ten frames, and counters. From the spring term, children are introduced to Doodlemaths, a fun personalised app that supports their learning at home and builds confidence through short, regular practice. We expect all children to complete this at least 4 times a week to build fluency and confidence. Useful links https://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/shows/numberblocks ICT Games includes games linked to KS1 & KS2 curriculums; with many simpler ones for younger children too. |
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Reception Maths Curriculum Map
Please click here for the Early Years Foundation Stage Handbook
and here for the Am I ready for school? Tips for parents
and here for the Am I ready for school? Tips for parents
Here are some ideas to help your child at home:
New Starter Activities to do at Home
Early Learning Goals
See this useful guide from Alphablocks – CBeebies on phonics so you can practise using sounds, segmenting words and blending them with your child.
End of year EYFS Expectations
New Starter Activities to do at Home
Early Learning Goals
See this useful guide from Alphablocks – CBeebies on phonics so you can practise using sounds, segmenting words and blending them with your child.
End of year EYFS Expectations
Curriculum News & Homework Resources:Your child will bring home a phonetically decodable book closely linked to our current phonics teaching. Please help your child to look at, read and discuss the books at least 4 times a week. We also supplement this with Bug Cub online.
Doodle Maths: To support your child's maths please encourage them to complete their 5 a day questions on the Doodle Maths app. EYFS Grapheme Card Sound Mat EYFS Tricky Word Mat EYFS Number Patter EYFS Letter Patter Starting Reception booklet. Your child's journey to school starts here. |
Recommended Websites:
www.phonicsplay.co.uk Interactive phonics games www.oxfordowl.co.uk Over 250 free ebooks, games & advice www.activelearnprimary.co.uk/login?c=0 Bug Club www.doodlemaths.com/ DoodleMaths Apps to consider: Reading eggs - Sight words Teach my monster to read |
E-Safety
We regularly teach the children the importance of staying safe on the internet. We take part in e-safety day each year and it provides an opportunity for schools to make the most of the positive opportunities offered online, whilst giving young people the resilience, skills, knowledge and support they need to navigate any online risks they may come across.
By clicking on the link below you will see more about Internet Safety at Elloughton.
By clicking on the link below you will see more about Internet Safety at Elloughton.
