We want every child at Brindishe Schools to begin their schooling with us excited by their learning environment and settling as quickly as possible. In our early years setting, the children will follow a child-centred, skills-based curriculum which is a combination of child-initiated learning and adult-directed learning; establishing positive relationships with children and their adults as well as good learning behaviours is key.

The learning is focused on The Early Years Foundation Stage principles which is divided into seven different areas – the prime and specific areas. The prime areas are important because they lay the foundations for children’s success in all other areas of learning and of life.  The specific areas provide the range of experiences and opportunities for children to broaden their knowledge and skills:

The prime areas of learning are:

• Personal, Social and Emotional Development;
• Communication and Language;
• Physical Development.

The specific areas of learning are:

• Literacy;
• Mathematics;
• Understanding the World;
• Expressive Arts and Design.

At the beginning of the Reception Year the children will participate in the Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA). The purpose of the assessment is to provide the starting point for a progress measure that will help parents understand how well schools support their pupils to progress between reception and year 6. At the end of the Reception year, pupils are benchmarked against the Early Learning Goals for each area and attainment is reported to parents in the end-of-year written report.  There is an information leaflet for parents that has been produced by the Department for Education with further information below:

DfE Reception Baseline Leaflet

You can also find out more about how we teach Phonics, as well as early reading and writing, in the videos below.