Class 1 Routine

We are very excited to welcome our Class of 2024 to our Heskin family!

As an EYFS team, our approach to early childhood is one that can only be described as a beautiful recipe of ingredients influenced by early childhood pioneers.  At Heskin, we want the very best for our children. We recognise that a rich, broad and balanced curriculum, that is surrounded by meaningful relationships, ensures that our children are able to flourish!

Throughout this magical year, children will experience an abundance of opportunities to learn through play. We recognise that children are unique individuals and therefore no two children will develop at the same rate. No matter where their starting point may be; our curriculum is designed to aid children to develop resilience and perseverance, as well as to challenge and support them. We want them to have the confidence to aim high and aspire to more.

As an EYFS team and effective role models, we will provide high quality interactions in order to develop and deepen the children’s learning opportunities. As such, our curriculum is fundamentally rooted in Communication and Language strategies developed by speech and language teams. We use a range of strategies to develop these skills in both play-based and adult-directed activities, and carefully map our vocabulary to enhance the children’s learning.

We will deliver our curriculum through a balance of adult-led and child-initiated activities based on the EYFS Framework, as well as children’s interests.

Learning This Term

This half term we are thinking about the big question: Who has a story to tell? Though we have a predicted idea of the learning we want to cover, we like to follow the children’s interests too, so this might look different to our long term plan and the Spring Curriculum Map will similarly be subject to change! Our first book this half term will be ‘The Three Little Pigs’.

We communicate with parents in person and via Seesaw. Here, all of our important news and pictures of our learning are shared with the children’s amazing families!

Phonics & Early Reading

In Class 1, we want to instil a love of reading from an early age and we will be reading lots of high quality texts each and everyday. Spoken language is an important element of early reading and writing, which we encourage through lots of play and discussion!

In terms of phonics, we follow Red Rose Phonics which is aligned to Letters and Sounds. We offer a Stay and Play lesson in September of each year, whereby you can see a phonics lesson and how we use play to develop these skills. We then follow this with a Parent Information Session where we go through how to support your child with their Phonics, Reading, Writing and Communication at home.

This half term we will continue to explore Phase 2 phonics!

Early Mathematics

We absolutely loves Maths in Class 1! We want the children to have a positive attitude towards the subject and we want the children to see how there is Maths everywhere in the world.

We follow White Rose Maths and adapt our teaching for further enjoyment. We love to sing songs and nursery rhymes to help the children’s understanding of number and support their executive function by introducing concrete, practical equipment from the Autumn term, to ensure the children know how to organise themselves and use equipment further down the school.

We also offer a Stay and Play Maths session for our families in December, so that you know exactly what to expect and how to encourage Maths through practical and engaging play at home!