The gateway to Park Grove’s amazing and unique school experience.
A place where children are allowed to be individual – and respect others for doing the same. A place to inspire a love of learning and one where children enjoy the wonder and awe of childhood, having fun and learning through enquiry and play.
We are aspirational in everything that we do. No two days are the same. We aspire for excellence and we do so through our creative and inclusive curriculum.
Orange unit where Reception and Year 1 children can learn, play, thrive and enjoy the wonder and awe of childhood – as it should be!
We have a fantastic outdoor area, where we free flow and enjoy outdoor learning. Inside, we have 2 classrooms, a middle area with fantastic provision and a sensory room. Children free flow throughout the unit and we teach as a team.
Although two days in Orange Unit are never the same, each and every day is filled with fun, nurture and excitement. We begin our days by finding out how the children are feeling that day, this builds mutual respect, eases children into the day and allows the staff to understand how they can support children each day. And then we play! A large proportion of our day is play based. Although this is fun, our play is carefully planned out and prepared for. Our knowledgeable team provide an open ended, enriching and exciting environment, in which the children can learn, develop and thrive. It is not just Reception in Orange unit, we also share with some Year 1s who also benefit hugely from accessing our indoor and outdoor areas of provision. Throughout the day, we also have some short focus sessions, these are slightly longer for our Year 1s. During these focus sessions, we continue to learn through participation, active learning, songs, stories, dance and many more exciting activities.
At Park Grove, we LOVE outside learning. We have an amazing Forest School area where we visit regularly for outdoor learning. We also have an amazing outdoor space that we free-flow in and out from throughout the day. We are out and about as much as we can!
During a child’s time in Orange Unit, they can expect to do so many fun things. Through making this time fun, creative and nurturing; children develop a passion for learning and can’t wait to find out more. Below are just some of the things that a child in Orange will do!
Part of the fun in Orange is learning and achieving everything set out in the EYFS Statutory Framework and the Year 1 national curriculum and much more! We use these requirements as a base, but we build our planning based on the needs and wants of the children in our cohort. We offer so much more than just the statutory requirements! A huge focus for us is personal development, we offer a huge range of activities, and experiences to help children develop in a wholesome way, with a focus on the bigger picture.
There are lots of ways that you can help to support your child at home, but one crucial aspect is to form a strong parent – teacher – child partnership. Through clear communication, it will enable us to understand your child, work with you to develop your child’s knowledge and ensure that their learning is focused on them and each of their unique qualities. We have an open door policy, so please come and speak to the team!
One huge focus for us is to give the children independence in a range of skills and knowledge. Becoming independent with looking after their own things, toileting, hygiene and cutting foods.
When it comes to supporting your child at home, little and often is key. When a child starts school, this is a huge change for them. Lots of children will be very tired by the evening so pick timings carefully and remember that any learning should always be fun, we are trying to promote a love of learning at this early and crucial stage.
The Prime Areas of Learning:
The Prime Areas of learning include the core aspects of our curriculum – Physical Development, Communication and Language and Personal, Social and Emotional Development. Without gaining a secure base in these areas of learning,children will struggle to move onto further focused learning. These 3 areas of learning in Early Years underpin everything that we do. Our provision, timetable and focus learning supports these areas first.
Physical development comes into everything that we do. We start the day by warming up our bodies and hands before we begin with fine motor muscle use for handwriting. The children have access to the outside during all play time in the day. Our focus teaching includes getting the children moving and involved – and of course we have our PE specialist, teaching the children every Tuesday morning.
Communication and language is taught through daily interactions with the children. We have a strong focus on vocabulary and building this up so that the children can speak and articulate themselves freely. A huge focus of communicating is becoming a good listener. We level our expectations based on what child development theory tells us but also on the progress that the children are making. We use a programme called Wellcomm in Reception to support language development so you may hear us feeding back about this.
PSED – Personal, social and emotional development is also taught through the interactions and modelling that adults are doing in the areas of provision. We also have discrete focus sessions to support this area that is HUGE in Reception. Teaching children to regulate their emotions and become more resilient is a key focus, especially at this tender time of the year.
Support your children at home with these core areas of the curriculum and you will see progress throughout. Making time to move, be active, talk, take turns and discuss emotions are all key to success. Below are some links to useful websites/information to help support you in supporting your child at home.
https://abcdoes.substack.com/p/supporting-dysregulated-children?utm_source=publication-search
https://www.annafreud.org/resources/under-fives-wellbeing/
https://nasen.org.uk/resources/resilience-development-pack-7-days-many-ways-white-label-0
https://wholeheartedschoolcounseling.com/
Along with the Prime Areas of learning, we have the specific areas of learning – Maths, Literacy, Expressive Arts and Design and Understanding the World.
All of the prime areas of learning teach children the foundations that they need to succeed in National Curriculum subjects as they move through school. We are very lucky to have some expert teachers in school who work with the Early Years team to develop a curriculum that has a smooth transition from Early Years to KS1.
In Maths we use a programme from the NCETM – you can find lots of useful resources on their website. We will post a link to this on Seesaw for you to use at home if you wish. Maths in Reception is all about gaining essential number sense, understanding the need for Maths and having the basic knowledge that they need to tackle future challenge. By talking about number, amounts, shapes, measure, time etc. you can help your child with their early maths skills. In our maths sessions we keep the learning very hands on and active so that children can understand the concepts.
Expressive Arts and Design are a HUGE part of what we do in Early Years as well. From stories, to acting, songs, crafts, painting, performances!! So many things evolve around this. At Park Grove we are proud of our creativity and the school promotes Art with a passion. Alongside the daily activities where children can express their imagination and creativity, they also do the Tuesday morning Art with Mrs Stone and Miss Birch.
To build the foundations for History, Geography, Science and some RE, children learn how to understand the world around them. Understanding the world is very broad, but children in Reception are encouraged to become aware of the community and world around them.
Literacy is a big and exciting part of what we do in Reception. The children will all learn to do something amazing in their Reception year – read and write! Supporting your child with phonics, reading and writing is key to success.
Some key points to help your child at home
Some useful links to support your child with learning at home
https://www.littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk/resources/for-parents/
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/
https://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/
https://www.ncetm.org.uk/
Remember, the key to success is a good parent – teacher – child relationship. Keep in touch with us, so that together we can help your child thrive.
Throughout the Early Years Foundation Stage, the substantive knowledge that children gain is the understanding and access to the seven areas of learning outlined in the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage; communication and language, personal, social and emotional development, physical development, literacy, maths, understanding the world and expressive arts and design.. In the prime areas, this is building a broad and varied vocabulary as well as developing focus, listening and attention skills. Children also secure the gross and fine motor skills that they need to move forwards with their learning. Personal, social and emotional development underpins our curriculum and like our school aims – every unique child is celebrated. We have a focus on personal development. Ensuring that children become confident, happy and outgoing young people as well as gaining the knowledge they need to manage feelings, build positive relationships and learn further in the specific areas of learning. The substantive knowledge in the four specific areas is gaining the understanding pf the key concepts that are taught sequentially through adult led teaching as well as the natural, child led learning that takes place in Early Years. These skills and knowledge develop throughout the year through child led and deliberate practice and the children make huge progress.
Disciplinary knowledge builds on the substantive knowledge that children gain in Early Years. It is the independent interpretation of the knowledge and skills. The children become able to do things on their own, make sensible decisions and choose to learn more. Through teacher knowledge of each unique and individual child, alongside accurate assessments, we are able to build on each child’s skills, every child makes amazing progress. Disciplinary knowledge is secure when we see a child independently and consistently practising these aspects in play and everyday situations. Children become problem solvers who know how to use theory or tests to back up their knowledge, an example of this is in colour mixing or using phonics to read with a purpose.
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