Hello Nursery and Reception families, please explore below to find out more about our curriculum, home learning suggestions and Early Years Quality Mark award, as well as further year group specific information.
If you would like to contact the Nursery team please email
nursery@highlandsprimary.net
If you would like to contact the Reception team please email
reception@highlandsprimary.net
The Early Years Curriculum
Home Learning
Nursery
Reception
Early Years Quality Mark
The Early Years Curriculum
In the EYFS at Highlands we follow the recently updated ‘Development Matters’ curriculum guidance, which supports the ‘Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage’.
Click below to find out more about ‘Development Matters’
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/development-matters–2
Click below to find out more about the ‘Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage’
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-foundation-stage-framework–2
Our curriculum is broken down into three ‘prime’ and four ‘specific’ areas of learning, and also takes into account the ‘characteristics of effective learning’. We carefully plan whole class activities, group work and resource provision based around these areas to support the progress of all children.
Prime areas
Communication and Language
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
Physical Development
Specific areas
Literacy
Maths
Understanding the World
Expressive Arts and Design
During their time in our EYFS children are supported to work towards the ‘Early Learning Goals’ (ELGs), which are the levels of development they should be expected to have attained by the end of Reception.
Characteristics of Effective Learning
Home Learning
To support your child’s learning at home you should:
- Share stories every day, ask questions about the pictures
- Involve your child with day to day tasks such as cooking and tidying up
- Draw pictures together, practise name writing
- Encourage independence with self-help tasks such as toileting, dressing and feeding
- Encourage positive behaviour, have clear boundaries
- Limit screen time
Check ‘Evidence Me’ regularly so that you can see what your child has been learning about at school. Don’t forget to send us some photos of their learning at home too!
Supporting Language and Social Development
Speaking, listening, understanding and socialising are fundamental skills for young children to develop. Please see the links below for more information about this, as well as ideas for ways to help at home.
http://www.earlyyearsmatters.co.uk/our-services/school-and-nursery-improvement-partner/psed/
https://www.nhs.uk/news/pregnancy-and-child/screen-time-linked-delayed-development-young-children/
Please click the link below to go to our Inclusion page to find more resources to support your child’s language and social development:
https://www.highlandsprimaryschool.co.uk/sen/
Reading
Please spend 5 to 10 minutes each day with your child looking at a book together; the length of time will vary according to how long your child concentrates for.
Ask your child questions such as “What can you tell me about the picture?” and give them time to reply to get them talking. You might look at all the pictures in the story in that time or you might just look at one of the pictures. Encouraging your child to say what he/she thinks about the pictures in books is an important part of learning to read.
Read to your child regularly. Encourage him/her to join in with some of the phrases he/she can remember when you tell the story again the next time. Talking about the pictures in books helps us to tell a story.
As your child develops their phonics knowledge over time, they will begin to have a go at reading letter sounds and blending them together. practising these skills together will enable them to read simple sentences independently.
Best books for 0-5’s:
https://www.booktrust.org.uk/booklists/1/100-best-0-5/
Further resources for learning at home:
Children’s Yoga – https://www.youtube.com/user/CosmicKidsYoga
Movement activities – https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLearningStation
Dancing – https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=just+dance+kids
Sign language – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKjnLaeAZiLeZpz6eDFPMrw
Creative and sensory ideas – https://theimaginationtree.com/
Experiment ideas – https://littlebinsforlittlehands.com/
Learning ideas – https://www.learning4kids.net/
Messy play ideas – https://www.artventurers.co.uk/blog/2016/10/16/10-simple-messy-play-activities/
Story recommendations – https://blog.whsmith.co.uk/best-books-for-children-under-5-as-voted-by-you/
Free e-book library – https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/
Jolly phonics sounds, songs and actions – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26uXtUYssuo
Phonics games – https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/
Reading games – https://www.teachyourmonstertoread.com/
Toilet Training – https://www.eric.org.uk/
Gross Motor Challenges
Fine Motor Challenges
Playdough
Pencil Control
Maths Skills
Science Activities
Nursery
…Welcome to Nursery…
Our current topic is…
Fantastic Food!
This term the Nursery children will continue to be given lots of opportunities to develop their speech, communication and language skills by talking about themselves and their families. As well as developing their personal, social and emotional skills by forming positive relationships with their peers and adults.
Our topic this term is ‘Fantastic Food’. The children will be exploring different foods and the changes that take place all around us. We will be reading stories such as ‘Handas’s Surprise’ and ‘Supertato’. We will have the opportunity to visit our local shops to buy fruit and try new foods when we read the story ‘Handa’s Surprise’. You might like to talk about the foods that you like and see if there are any new foods that you might like to try. Don’t forget to add any photos on Evidence Me to show us what you have found!
Our topic books this term:
‘Handa’s Surprise’, ‘Supertato’ and ‘Lims’a Red Hot Chilli’.
As a Right’s Respecting school we believe that it is very important for our children to develop positive learning behaviours and skills that will develop them as respectful citizens of our community. Therefore, we will be learning about our school values: Friendship, Respect, Kindness, Perseverance, Empathy, Responsibility and Justice through stories and circle time activities.
Key information
- ALL of your child’s belongings must be labelled
- Your child must have a bag of spare clothes to be kept in school
- Please bring a labelled water bottle daily
- Packed lunches MUST BE NUT FREE
Reception
…Welcome to Reception…
Our current topic is ‘Into the Forest’
Our key texts’ for this topic will be ‘The Gruffalo’ and ‘Little Red Riding Hood’. The children will be learning about a range of fairy tale stories set in the woods as well as different forests around the world, comparing the similarities and differences. The children will continue to learn about different celebrations as we find out more about Ramadan and Eid. We will practise working with numbers beyond 10 and develop skills such as subitising, composing and comparing with bigger amounts. The children will continue to be supported to develop their literacy skills through daily phonics sessions, as well as more challenging weekly reading and writing activities which they will be completing with increasing independence.
- Reception Curriculum
- Reception team
- Learning LeaderMrs Matsell
Class Teachers
Mrs Kalatta (Team Leader)
Miss Taylor
Ms Ahmadi
Learning Coaches
Mrs Millington
Mrs Menon
Mrs Moodie
Mrs Hussain
Mrs Arpaci
Mrs Ramzan
Mrs Haji
Mrs Bham
- Learning LeaderMrs Matsell
- Typical day
- At the beginning of the year Reception days may look a little different due to children settling in, however the below shows what a typical day looks like.
- At the beginning of the year Reception days may look a little different due to children settling in, however the below shows what a typical day looks like.
- Newsletters
- Family workshops
Key information
- PE day is every Tuesday – your child must wear their PE kit to school on this day
- Please ensure your child brings a book bag and water bottle to school every day
- ALL of your child’s belongings must be labelled
- Your child must have a bag of spare clothes to be kept in school
- We will have a ‘pound pot’ available each Monday morning for you to make voluntary contributions to our £1 fund
- Packed lunches MUST BE NUT FREE
Early Years Quality Mark
We are very proud to share with you that following an assessment of our setting in July 2019, we were awarded the Early Years Quality Mark. This prestigious award recognises the dedication and commitment of our Early Years Team, and demonstrates how we work collaboratively at Highlands to ensure all our children reach their full potential. We hope that you enjoy reading the report below.
