Reception/EYFS
During their time in Reception, at St. John's we aim for all children to start their journey to becoming confident, creative and curious life-long learners. Our school’s golden rule of ‘Love One Another’ and our vision (That all may ‘Love, Learn, Flourish’) both play a crucial role in what we do in the EYFS. We aim to foster a sense of belonging and kindness, where children develop positive relationships and a love for learning through play-based and child-initiated experiences. We strive to nurture the whole child - academically, socially, emotionally, and physically - ensuring that each individual makes excellent progress from their unique starting points. Through high-quality teaching, curiosity-led exploration, and supportive care, we help every child to love who they are, learn with enthusiasm, and flourish as happy, confident, and capable learners ready for the next stage of their journey.
We aim to work collaboratively and closely with parents and carers throughout the year. We have a strong understanding of the impact that a positive home-school relationship can have on a child’s attitudes to learning and their education in this vital first year. Some examples of how we foster this home-school relationship include:
- The careful planning of children’s transition into primary school from Nursery or Pre-School;
- A video introducing your new class teacher along with a social story about starting school;
- Organising home visits at the start of the academic year;
- Termly parental consultation meetings;
- Use of Google Classroom for sharing weekly messages, support for your child at home and to share ‘Evidence Me’ observations;
- Hosting parent workshops to support parent’s knowledge of certain subjects such as Phonics and Maths Mastery.
In Reception, teaching is centred around purposeful, play-based learning that encourages independence and curiosity. Each week, star activities are planned around a book of the week, which links to our well-planned and balanced curriculum, particularly within English. These activities are carefully designed to be either practical or recorded, allowing children to move freely between tasks and take ownership of their learning. When a child completes an activity, they share their work with a grown-up, who offers appropriate challenge or support, before independently placing a star next to their name on the board to celebrate their achievement. In addition, our approach to mathematics follows the Maths Mastery scheme, providing children with strong foundations in number, pattern, and problem-solving through practical and engaging experiences. During activity time, children also have the freedom to access the outdoor learning environment, extending their learning through exploration and play. Our continuous provision enhances this further, offering engaging opportunities in areas such as the half-termly updated role play corner, creative area, construction, writing, maths resources, games, and puzzles, ensuring all children experience a rich, hands-on learning environment.
We strive to support children to achieve their full potential. We therefore take into account every child’s individual starting points and needs, through carefully planned transition activities, observations and assessments, whilst recognising that all children are unique.
By the end of Reception, we aim for all our children to:
- Be able to talk articulately, holding conversations with peers and adults, using newly-learnt vocabulary correctly and listening to feedback, taking turns in conversation.
- Listen with careful attention for a suitable period of time, ask questions to clarify their understanding and understand and show acceptance of differing opinions to their own.
- Demonstrate self-regulation, emotional resilience and have the ability to persevere in the face of challenge.
- Be confident in their own abilities. They will be able to discuss their strengths, knowing what they do well and what they may still need help with.
- Be kind, polite, confident and curious learners.
- Be independent when dressing, using cutlery and going to the toilet.
Home Learning Projects & Curriculum Webs
Mole and Meerkat