Reception | Astwood Bank Primary School

We issue a weekly newsletter on Fridays by email to reception parents to update you on our up and coming learning and events. Please make sure that you are registered with parent pay to receive this. A copy will also be posted on the classroom window for you to check on Fridays.

Learning and Development in Early Years

Please click on the links below for some useful information about how you can support your children’s learning at home. The Twinkl Go! link will provide you with a different Twinkl book to read, every week. The login code can be found on our weekly newsletter. The reception curriculum link will take you to some top tips for your child’s learning.

Within the Early Years Framework there are seven areas of learning and development.

The prime areas are:

Communication and Language, Physical Development, Personal, Social and Emotional Development

The specific areas are:

Literacy, Mathematics, Understanding the World, Expressive Arts and Design

At Astwood Bank Primary School we like to focus on the whole child: social, intellectual, emotional, moral and spiritual aspects of development are all inter-related. We aim to consider all aspects of the child in our planning, provision and interactions.

Whilst school is an important setting for learning we also recognise that it takes place everywhere. Home is probably the most powerful setting and we acknowledge parents as first and continuing educators of their children. We aim to develop a partnership with parents and carers, which is based on mutual respect and a shared interest in children.

Young children learn through exploration, talk and play, and our early years provision provides an interesting, relevant environment with wide opportunities in which children can be actively involved in their learning. We have areas for role-play, creative development, writing and mark making, reading, numeracy, scientific enquiry and problem solving. There are areas where the children can be active or be quiet and rest.

For the young child, the experience of learning is not usually separated into different compartments. Our curriculum aims to provide broadly based experiences, providing rich contexts for learning, which have real meaning for the child. We encourage links with our community through parents, visitors and others to place our teaching and learning in the context the lives of our children. We develop the cultural capital of our children with opportunities for activities that they may not have previously experienced.

Outdoor Education

On our site we have a large environmental area, which gives many wonderful opportunities for outdoor learning. Within this site we run our weekly forest school sessions. We love to see children shine in different ways and the outdoors is yet another context that is just perfect for them to do just that!