The Early Years Foundation Stage

In Year R your child will continue with the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum.  This is the same curriculum they would have been following in their pre school setting.  At the end of the year your child will be assessed against the ‘Early Learning Goals’ for each area within this curriculum.  

There will be the opportunity for you to attend a workshop about our curriculum once the children have started school.

Phonics

We teach phonics daily.  It's active, quick paced and relentless!  We follow the Peasons Bug Club Phonics program.  Sounds are taught in an order that allows for words to be made almost immediately, rather than alphabetically.  As your child learns at school, letters and sounds will be sent home.  We use Jolly Phonics actions to help us learn.

How your child will be taught

We teach in a variety of ways. 

Your child will learn with the whole class (normally on the carpet), in a small group and individually, depending on the lesson and the activity.

During our Rainbow Time (child initiated time) the adults in the classroom will observe, add other resources to the play, question and have discussions with your child so that we have a clear picture of their level of understanding to enable us to forward their learning.  Our assessments are made during this time, as it is during play that children really demonstrate their understanding.

Handwriting

Some pre schools have said parents have asked about how we teach handwriting.  We teach print rather than cursive.  We also do not teach leads in or out in Year R.  Below is an example.  We also make sure children know what the capital of each letter looks like, but we make them aware that they only use capitals at the beginning of a sentence or as the first letter in a name (including places).