Reception

Welcome to Willow Class

At Brookwood Primary School we believe that every child should be given opportunities that give them the best possible start, preparing them for life in school, now and in the future. We aim to provide children with experiences which will enable them to be happy, secure and confident as they grow.

Children in Reception follow the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum. There are seven areas of learning:

The Prime Areas (these are particularly important for your child's development and future learning) 

• Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PSED) – Self Regulation, Managing Self, Building Relationships
• Communication and Language (CL) – Listening, Attention and Understanding, Speaking

• Physical Development (PD) – Gross Motor Skills, Fine Motor Skills

The Specific Areas (the prime areas are strengthened and applied through these areas) 

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

The EYFS framework identifies the essential role of play in your child’s development. It is through both child-led play and play guided by an adult that your child will develop confidence and relationships with others. Through play, EYFS practitioners will help your child to extend their vocabulary and develop their communication skills. The EYFS framework identifies three characteristics of effective teaching and learning:

• Playing and Exploring
• Active Learning
• Creating and Thinking Critically

As your child progresses through their Reception year, there will be a greater focus on teaching specific skills which will help them to prepare for Year One.

We carefully assess children during their time with us, and regularly review their progress to ensure that our planned activities are meeting their needs. We use Tapestry to capture children’s individual achievements; these are shared with parents and carers and we encourage families to use this platform to share with us their children’s achievements outside the school environment.

We use Birth to Five Matters as a resource to support our curriculum.

B25M Parent Leaflet A5 4pp art.indd (birthto5matters.org.uk)

Top Tips for Reception Parents

• Use a variety of creative tools (scissors, paper, thread/string, tweezers, chalk, pens, playdough) to help develop fine motor skills.
• Read to your child as often as possible – any time, any place, anywhere. Do shared reading of their school books (Reception) but also do remember to keep a special time when you can cuddle up and share stories that the children really love. The more a child can see that you enjoy reading and see it as a valuable skill, the more likely your child will want to read and see the importance of reading in their learning.
• Play games with your child. E.g. I-spy, connect 4, hangman.
• Allow your child to be as active and physical as possible. E.g. trips to the park, playing football in the garden, running races, gymnastics/ dance clubs or going swimming.
• Maths should be learnt in a practical manner. E.g. counting knives and forks as you lay the table, recognising numbers as you walk down the street, counting the cars which go past your house, counting down from 10 before starting a race, using the words more/less when making comparisons of amounts of sweets in a jar.
• Encourage your child to become increasingly more independent. E.g. Being able to dress/undress, put their coat on, do up their buttons, tidying up after themselves and finding things for themselves.
• Listen to and spend quality time with your child. Children develop their spoken language before being able to read or write. Encourage your child to take an interest in the world around them by asking questions using how, when, where, who and why.
• Allow your child to interact with other children – encourage play dates. Social communication is one of the main areas of learning assessed in foundation stage. Encourage your child to share, play fairly and think of others feelings.
• School can be tiring! Please listen to your child’s needs and ensure that your child gets enough sleep. 

Reception Baseline Assessment

The Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA) is a statutory assessment introduced in September 2021 for children starting Reception in England. It is designed to measure early mathematics, literacy, communication, and language skills. The assessment is conducted within the first six weeks of a child starting reception and consists of practical tasks using physical resources.

The purpose of the RBA is to provide a starting point to measure the progress schools make with their pupils from Reception until the end of primary school (Key Stage 2). 

Here are 7 things parents need to know about the Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA):

• It Is not a test.
• Most children enjoy the RBA.
• The tasks are age-appropriate.
• Children won’t be under any pressure.
• There’s no such thing as ‘pass’ or ‘fail’.
• No preparation is needed.
• The RBA helps your child’s teacher support them better.

For further information please see the information for parents download below.