In Reception we strive to make every experience memorable and stimulating for all children.  As prime facilitators, we support the children to build on their independence, confidence and knowledge through play. To ensure there is a smooth transition from Nursery, we allow children to acclimatise to their new routines and surroundings by having a staggered entry. They will be slowly introduced to a full day and lunch times which they may not have encountered before. The children will then settle into the normal school day routine with the help from their special class bear.

By the end of the year we aim for children to achieve a good level of development in the 17 key areas and be Year One ready; this includes a strong focus on cursive writing.  We implement this through planning a child centred curriculum that builds on children’s experiences, knowledge and interests. We accomplish this by interweaving children’s ideas and adult led stimuli. We have an exploratory environment where children can free-flow between classrooms and the outdoor area. To integrate fully into the life of the school, we join children from Key Stage One for collective worship and lunchtimes. We believe in parent teacher collaboration and parents are welcomed into the setting, where we encourage them to be involved in their child’s school experiences. This partnership also includes ‘WOW’ books which allow parents to work with their children and show us what they achieve at home.

At Knowle CE Primary Academy, the EYFS team know and understand that children learn rapidly through rich opportunities, where they explore, investigate and discover. Our topic based curriculum provides activities that are engaging, meaningful and fun. In order to achieve this, we carefully plan a progressive curriculum, guided by the children’s interests’ and questions to ensure all pupils succeed. We provide many hands on experiences and with the right balance of challenge and support. Children are actively involved in a range of memorable learning experiences which promote creativity, independence and enjoyment.

As a school we celebrate perseverance, resilience and risk taking, ensuring children welcome challenge and are not afraid to make mistakes but most importantly we recognise the importance of parents/carers in their child’s progress and endorse an open door policy, so please feel free to ask us any questions.