Welcome to Reception

"Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn - Benjamin Franklin"

At Abbeymead, we believe that Early Years education is fundamental in creating joyful, creative and aspirational learners.  Research shows that that high quality early years education makes a life-long, positive difference to children and this is our mission at Abbeymead Primary School. 

Reception at Abbeymead is an exciting, purposeful and stimulating environment in which to learn and we hope that your child has a truly positive start to their school career with us. The above quote encompasses everything that we hope to provide for your child during their first year at school. We endeavour to provide a curriculum that is based on real-life experiences, involves the children and most importantly, is planned through careful assessment of their own needs and interests. We hope that your child has a lovely time learning at Abbeymead each and every day and we promise to always take good care of them.

Learning in Reception  is a balance between adult directed learning, enhanced provision and child initiated experiences. 

Our practitioners have an excellent knowledge of child development which informs the planning and decisions we make in order to move learning on in a challenging, yet supportive and nurturing way. 

Our Early Years curriculum is rooted in high quality inclusive texts so that our children develop a love of reading whilst being immersed in vocabulary to aid their language development.  Our pupils have access to both inside and outdoor provision when learning. Our exciting outdoor space is designed to offer both challenge and independence. 

Ensuring a Smooth Transition into EYFS 

Here at Abbeymead, we believe all children in our school community should be given the best possible start in their learning and education.

When your child sets off for their first day at Abbeymead school, they should be full of positive emotions –  confident, happy and excited to start their school journey. This happens if they know exactly where they are going, who will be there, what they will be able to do when they get there and how long they will be staying there. Getting the transition right means children settle quickly into school, learning and developing from day one, so we work closely with families as partners and our local pre-schools to ensure we know the children well as individuals before they begin their journey of learning with us.  

Our aim is to make sure that your children build a positive relationship with the adults in the setting right from the start and builds friendships with the children coming to our school  We therefore start our transition activities in the summer term before your child starts school. 

To help give your child the smoothest transition possible, we offer the following:

• Home visits from our teaching team, a one to one meeting in school with you and your child if you are unable to accommodate a home visit.  Our Home Visits will give you and your child a chance to get to know us and for us get to know you, thus starting our home / school relationship on a positive footing. This visit is crucial for building a relationship with families, a time to exchange information and a further opportunity to gain a better understanding of your child.
• Visits and or discussions with feeder nurseries and preschool settings about your child.
• One to one additional support meeting if your child has  SEND
• Stay and play sessions. The Stay and Play sessions will give your child a chance to get to know what the inside and outside learning environment is like, what things there are for them to explore and play with and begin to build friendships with the peers in smaller groups.
• A carefully planned transition approach to starting school
• Induction booklets – these include pictures of your child’s teaching team, classroom, where we hang our coats, where we go to the toilet and where we eat our lunch. 
• Virtual story time and introductory videos from the EYFS team and key members of staff across the school. 
• An online digital Dojo classroom where you can access resources and important information from May/June onwards of the year your child starts school. 
• Parent information session and meet and greet sessions during the summer term before your child starts school.   During the first few weeks and first months of being full-time, we will gradually introduce the children to the routines and expectations of being in Red 1 and Red 2, slowly adding different parts of the curriculum so that have time to process and get used to anything new. With all this in mind, we hope that all the children feel settled and happy, so that they are ready and confident to move through Autumn Term and the rest of the school year. 

To take a look in more detail at what happens in EYFS at Abbeymead click on the links below. 

What do children learn in Reception?

The learning experiences within our Early Years environment are driven by the seven areas of learning and development of EYFS Framework and Development Matters. These areas are split into three prime areas and four specific areas. 

For further information about the seven areas of learning in the EYFS, please see the full EYFS Framework document below and the website link below for Development Matters:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1180056/DfE_Development_Matters_Report_Sep2023.pdf

We strongly believe that in order for our children to develop their knowledge, skills and understanding in these seven areas of learning and as they move into Year 1 and beyond, they need to develop the following positive and effective learning behaviours which are based upon the 'Characteristics of Effective Teaching and Learning':

For  more details about our EYFS curriculum at Abbeymead please take a look at the curriculum document page.