Accrington Huncoat Primary School

NURSERY: Key Information

The class teacher is; Mrs. Marnie Taylor

Teaching Assistant:  Mrs. Angela Smith 

Library: Thursday mornings. Children bring a book or story sack home each week. 

We have a weekly music and movement lesson with our specialist Music teacher Mrs Williams every Wednesday.

  RECEPTION KEY INFORMATION - 

The class teacher is Mrs Langley who is supported by Mrs Smith and Miss Clarke

Our P.E. day is on a Wednesday morning with Mr Radcliffe, we also have our specialist Music teacher for some of Wednesday mornings to teach us too!

We are learning about Space, Winter, Polar Regions and Chinese New Year during this half term.

Have a look at our Knowledge Organiser:

Spring 1 - Winter Wonderland

Some of the texts we will be sharing are Penguinaut, Poles Apart and Nain the Dragon.

We will be holding our parent stay and play session this half term linked to Chinese New Year.

At Huncoat Primary School we take pride in providing our children with a tailored curriculum to develop the needs of all our children through varied and exciting learning. In our EYFS unit we provide the highest quality care and education for all our children to develop a strong foundation for their future learning. We create a safe and happy environment with motivating and enjoyable learning experiences that enable children to gain confidence and independence. Our curriculum is driven by our seven ‘Huncoat Values’ and the 'Curriculum Drivers' that underpin all we do, to develop and enhance learning to ensure our curriculum is enriched and personal.

As outlined in the EYFS framework:

‘Every child deserves the best possible start in life and support that enables them to fulfil their potential. Children develop quickly in the early years and a child's experiences between birth and age five have a major impact on their future life chances. A secure, safe and happy childhood is important in its own right. Good parenting and high quality early learning together provide the foundation children need to make the most of their abilities and talents as they grow up.’

Here at Huncoat we agree that a safe, secure and happy childhood is important in its own right. We value the individual child and work in partnership with Parents and Carers to provide the foundation that helps children develop into capable, responsible people as they grow up.

Communication and Language -

Children are encouraged to listen and communicate appropriately; we regularly enhance our classrooms and outdoor garden area to reflect our current topics or to link with children's interests. Adults encourage children to ask questions and contribute to whole-class and group discussion whenever possible. Children who struggle to communicate are targeted in the provision and learning interventions are used when children lack confidence or do not have the age-appropriate skills. We are also very lucky to have our own Speech and Language Therapist who works with children, staff and parents to develop children's communication and language skills.

Here are some lovely tips to help your child -

https://hungrylittleminds.campaign.gov.uk/

happypace 

listenandlearn

What to expect, when?

Physical Development -

learning through physical play

Our stunning outdoor environment and expansive grounds enables us to make the most of the outdoors and we encourage children to play outside as much as possible. Our intention is that children learn how to take measured risks and they are regularly given access to our tyre park, woodland area, mile a day track and can further develop their gross motor skills using the climbing wall, bikes and scooters. We encourage children to learn about nature and look after their environment using our birdwatching, mini allotments and minibeast motel areas. There is a well-established and comprehensive PE curriculum, which includes Tots on Tyres, Dance, Gymnastics and Invasion Games. Children are taught about the importance of regular exercise and healthy eating, and are encouraged to join in with whole-school sports initiatives and 'wake up shake up' or yoga activities each morning and afternoon.

Personal, Social and Emotional Development -

Personal, Social and Emotional Development - What is it? 

We strive to enable children to be safe, happy, confident individuals. We also encourage self-regulation as much as possible and introduce rules and boundaries through modelling good behaviour and reflection time. We learn how to be a great friend and use our school values of Respect, Determination, Cooperation, Caring, Responsibility, Appreciation and Honesty. These values underpin our whole curriculum and teaching styles and follow on throughout the school. Children are also taught to understand the importance of physical activity, and to make healthy choices in relation to food and oral health.

Each child in Reception has their own 'Owl Buddy'; a Year 6 child who helps them to settle into school life through activities such as sharing books together and eating lunch together every Friday. This is a great way to develop our transitions into school with children having positive role models to look up to, as well as Year 6 having a sense of pride in showing our caring and responsibility values.

Literacy - 

We develop our reading and writing skills through daily phonics sessions, fine motor skills, drama, role play and develop our listening. We enjoy stories and use Talk for Writing strategies to help us learn stories off by heart.

Reading - We aim to teach children to read and develop a love of books as soon as they arrive at school, and books are used to teach topics and to enhance our whole curriculum.
We follow a systematic approach to phonics teaching based on Letters and Sounds. Phonics lessons are taught daily for up to twenty-five minutes. In addition to daily phonics Reception children take part in guided reading twice a week once they have had lots of oral blending practise in phonics, either in small groups or individually. All children are able to take home age-appropriate picture books or story sacks from the school library. Teachers read stories to children from high quality age-appropriate texts at every available opportunity. These books are then used to enhance the learning environment and reading area. Children who need extra help with phonics are targeted in provision or in group or 1:1 intervention sessions by key members of staff.  

We hold an annual phonics and reading workshop for parents each September; we find this helps parents to familiarise themselves with Huncoat's learning styles and get to know the resources we will send home and the types of things we use to teach in school. As you walk around our school and classrooms you can evidently see everyday phonics in action through accessible well-planned activities. 

Here are some links to help improve your child's literacy development.

https://www.phonicsbloom.com/

https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/freeIndex.htm

Key Learning in Literacy

Writing - We introduce writing straight away, and teach handwriting alongside the letters and sounds curriculum. Shared and guided writing activities are also taught in groups. These include writing topic words, lists, captions and short narratives. Guided writing activities are based on the topic being taught and the class book is often used as a basis for writing. Children are also encouraged to write in the provision in the role-play area, writing area, maths area, library and outdoors. The children are provided with a range of pencils, pens, and other media to encourage them to write as much as possible. We hope to inspire children to write independently after they have been introduced to writing skills in their guided writing sessions. 

Mathematics -

Key Learning in Numeracy

Children are taught maths through guided group work and whole-class activities. We also use maths enhancement activities in the different areas in the classroom, including the outdoors. The main aim of the maths curriculum is to teach children to be able to subitise numbers to ten automatically as soon as possible. We begin by concentrating on one or two numbers a week in the Reception first term, with the aim that children have a better understanding of one digit numbers before they move on to place value, calculation and arithmetic later in the year. Children also learn shape, space and measure skills and knowledge through guided work and as activities in the enhanced provision. We encourage children to be problem solvers and use real life concepts to help us learn such as paying for toast and cutting into halves and quarters in our toast shop as well as role play shops and baking activities.

Understanding the World - 

In our Early Years unit we learn new things about the world around us every day; we have visitors into school and visit different places like our local church or supermarket. Our school has lots of technological toys to help us learn too. We strive to give children knowledge about the world around them in Huncoat and the rest of the world. Science is taught through most of our topics; for example, we observe ice in our Antarctica topic and investigate how ice melts and forms through real hands-on experiences. We are extremely fortunate to have many nature trails within our school, staff are knowledgeable about local wildlife and plant species, and endeavour to pass this knowledge on to children at every opportunity. Geography is taught, including maps and countries of the world, through our Celebrations and Wider World topics.  We introduce the children to history learning by looking at past and present; we explore how much we have grown since being born and find out about changes within our own families. We teach RE throughout the year based on celebrations including, The Diwali story, The Christmas story and the Easter Story so that children are introduced to different belief systems. 

Expressive Arts and Design -

We want our children to sing songs, make music, dance and perform. Adults offer daily music, dancing and singing sessions and children are given time to play imaginative games and make up stories, songs and dances. We have a range of musical instruments, listening stations and children often enjoy building their own 'stage' with our large building blocks to perform on! In art, the children are taught how to safely use and explore a variety of materials, tools and techniques, experimenting with colour, design, texture, form and function. We study artists and experience workshops by real artists, child-initiated art activities are encouraged during continuous provision as well as art and crafts being taught by the staff. We love experimenting with different types of media and materials; each classroom has a workshop area for children to design and make, along with construction areas inside and out for engaging in building, constructing and den making. In Reception we actively encourage children to mix their own paint so they can explore mixing colours and textures (this is usually very messy but great fun!).  Children have access to malleable materials such as playdough, lentils, shaving foam, jelly or seasonal resources such as leaves, twigs, snow and ice.