Reception children at St Paul’s Cathedral School receive a broad and balanced curriculum, setting down firm foundations for a happy and successful learning career. Play is at the core of all the learning that happens in Reception. Expect to see Maths in action as we count down the rocket ship take-off, or share play food between the animals. Imaginative play is not just great fun, it shapes your child’s understanding of narrative and gives opportunities to listen to and understand the perspective of others.
We follow the principles of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Framework, also using learning themes from the International Early Years Curriculum (IEYC).
The EYFS Framework guiding principles are:
- That every child is a unique child, who is constantly learning and can be resilient, capable, confident, and self-assured.
- That children learn to be strong and independent through positive relationships.
- That children learn and develop well in enabling environments with teaching and support from adults, who respond to their individual interests and needs and help them to build their learning over time. Children benefit from a strong partnership between practitioners and parents and/or carers.
- The importance of learning and development. Children develop and learn at different rates.
The framework covers the education and care of all children, including children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
Seven areas of learning and development are covered by the EYFS framework. All of these are important and inter-connected.
Three prime areas are particularly important for learning and forming relationships.
These build a foundation for children to thrive and provide the basis for learning in all areas such as:
- Communication and language
- Physical development
- Personal, social and emotional development
These areas of learning form the basis of our learning in the first weeks of the Reception year, allowing the children to gain the confidence, social and emotional skills necessary to adapt to our busy school routine. We also support our pupils in four specific areas, which help strengthen and develop the three prime areas, and ignite children’s curiosity and enthusiasm.
The specific areas are:
- Literacy
- Mathematics
- Understanding the world
- Expressive arts and design
As your child settles into Reception life, more discrete skills in these specific areas can be learnt confidently. Literacy, Maths, expressive Art and Design and understanding the world skills are taught in line with the children’s interests.
As well as their dedicated class teachers, Reception work each week with subject specialists in PE, ICT, Music, Dance, Drama, French and Art, thus benefiting from extraordinary expertise from the very start of their education. Relationships Education is taught both as a specific subject and also threaded through all the other subjects and activities of Pre-Prep life.
Reception pupils will be exposed to mathematical language, concepts of shape, space and measurements, plus problem-solving skills, in meaningful contexts to provide important learning opportunities. Through our Phonics scheme of Read, Write, Inc children will be introduced to individual sounds and taught how to blend and segment these sounds to help with early reading and writing skills that can be applied across all areas of learning.
Weekly outdoor learning sessions take your child into the beautiful Cathedral Gardens to discover nature and to put practical numeracy and learning skills into action.
At SPCS we keep in regular contact with you about your child’s interests, and events in your child’s life. This allows us to base our learning around the children’s fascinations, ensuring that they are engaged in their learning. We do not have set topics, but instead are flexible, basing our learning around the children’s current interests. The children are in control of their own learning, allowing them to develop their enquiry, engagement and resilience as learners.
