Year R

Welcome to Class R!

 

We are pleased to introduce the staff in Reception, who will work alongside the children:

 

Class Teacher: Mrs Basia Dowling

Learning Support Assistant: Mrs Georgina Butler

PPA Cover Teacher on Monday pm: Mrs Helen Craven

 

Our Intent Statement

Why do we do what we do?

We believe that every child, regardless of ability or advantage, is a strong, confident and capable learner, who is able to fulfil his or her potential by connecting with their unique talents to “find their element” (1) to live their life well and thrive.

We want our children to be happy, friendly and respectful members of the Bledlow Ridge School learning community and beyond, with a passion for life-long learning. We want to develop our children into confident risk takers throughout all learning opportunities across the curriculum. We want our children to develop a strong foundation in all areas of learning and development in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), be curious and inquisitive learners and challenge and be challenged to become the best version of themselves.

How we implement what we believe:

In order to fulfil our belief, we follow a ‘planning in the moment’ curriculum. To enable us to ensure that this approach is relevant and effective for all our children’s learning journeys, our work is guided by Froebelian principles.

 

What is ‘Planning in the Moment’?

Our Reception class is organised and managed by adults but led by the children by building on their natural and innate desire to learn.

The core principle to our practice is that children follow their own interests within a well organised and stimulating environment. Practitioners observe, support and extend children’s learning by identifying the teachable moment during children’s play and plan for and support their next steps to enable them to make progress (2)

 

The impact of this is that…

Children:

  • Feel safe, valued and important.

  • Are the focus of the learning because practitioners react to the child’s interests immediately.

  • Through spontaneous interactions, are provided with the most beneficial experiences, thus opening up a wider range of learning opportunities and possibilities.

  • Show high levels of involvement, leading to deeper thinking and creating stronger connections in their learning.

  • Complete the planning cycle in the actual moment, several times daily, assuming progress at a quicker rate.

 Practitioners:

  • Demonstrate an excellent understanding of child development by considering each child’s individual needs.

  • Become facilitators and partners in the children’s learning by continually reflecting and building upon any insights gathered from the session, leading to a coherent curriculum.

  • Spend more time focusing on and working with the children because planning documentation is significantly reduced.

 Through an Enabling Environment:

  • Children experience a sense of belonging, through meaningful engagement with resources and activities.

  • The learning provision is organised to reflect the children’s interests to engender exploration, curiosity and critical thinking.

  • Everything that a child requires to learn freely, is available and accessible.

Froebelian principles (3) will support our approach to learning by:

 

Developing unity and connectedness in learning:

  • Planning for, facilitating and supporting children’s individual learning journeys.

  • Learning in a holistic way to identify and strengthen connection in learning.

  • Supporting and encouraging all children to gain a deeper understanding of themselves, the world around them and their place in it.

 Recognising all children as autonomous learners by:

  • Respecting each unique child for who they are and valuing their efforts.

  • Encouraging children to take risks confidently in their learning by doing things for themselves.

  • Through our ‘planning in the moment’ approach, work in partnership with the children to enable them to become aware of their own learning and reflect on this

Valuing childhood in its own right by:

  • Engendering a love for life-long learning in all children.

  • Planning and assessing children’s learning ‘in the moment,’ focusing on what children can achieve now

Building strong relationships:

  • With every child, his or her family and the wider community.

  • Recognising the importance of these relationships to the child.

Enabling creativity by:

  • Recognising and respecting children’s ideas and how they represent them.

  • Maintaining a high quality and purposeful and nurturing learning environment indoors and outdoors

Placing importance on play by recognising that it is part of being human

  • Facilitating and supporting children to express their ideas, lived experiences and feelings through their learning.

  • Enabling children to develop a sense of agency over their learning through a ‘freedom with guidance’ approach.

  • Enriching play as a learning context.

Engaging with nature by:

  • Providing real life experiences to enable children to understand their place in the world.

  • Providing opportunities to think and talk about the environment, sustainability and climate change

Working with knowledgeable and nurturing educators by:

  • Ensuring that all practitioners facilitate and guide learning rather than instruct.

  • Observing children carefully and identify the teachable moment to support and extend children’s interests.

  • Encouraging practitioners to engage in their own learning and development to improve practice.

  • Being principled and reflective practitioners.

 

[1] “The things [children] love to do and the things they are good at coming together,” in Robinson, K & Aronica, L (2009:xiii), The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything, Penguin (London.)

[2] Ephgrave, A (2013:2), The Reception Year in Action: A month-by-month guide to success in the classroom, Routledge (London.)

[3] https://www.froebel.org.uk/about-us/froebelian-principles, Last Accessed: 19/07/2022.