Early Years (Sunbeams)

Louise Laurie Early Years Leader

Nicola Barton Early Years Teacher

Ria Tookey Early Years LSA

Welcome to Sunbeams!

Our Early Years Reception class is called Sunbeams. The class is supported by a teacher and a Learning Support
Assistant. We are very lucky to have a large indoor and outdoor space which the children have access to all year
round. To see a virtual tour of our great facilities, please visit: Welcome tour

In Sunbeams, our Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum is supported by Development Matters and following the
children’s interests to make sure they are active, inquisitive, stimulated and engaged, and ready for the transition
into Year 1. It is taught through play-based learning allowing the children to explore and investigate through
independent and supported activities. We know that children learn best when they are happy and we aim to support
them in learning to work together, be creative and inventive and have enormous fun.

Throughout the year we focus on all areas of learning:

Communication and Language Development- We would like to give our children opportunities to experience a rich
language environment through conversation, language structure, questioning, learning new vocabulary, story-telling
and role-play; develop their confidence and skills in expressing themselves; and enable opportunities for speaking and
listening in a range of situations.

Personal, Social and Emotional Development - We believe it is crucial for a happy and healthy life which attributes
towards a secure platform from which children can achieve at school and for future education and life. We will scaffold
children to develop a positive sense of themselves, and others; to form positive relationships and develop respect for
others; to develop social skills and learn how to manage their feelings; to understand appropriate behaviour in groups;
and to have confidence and resilience in their own abilities.

Physical Development - We provide opportunities for children to be active and healthy; and to develop their co-ordination,

control, and movement in both fine and gross skills. This will allow them to develop proficiency, resilience and confidence.

Children will also be helped to understand the importance of physical activity, and to make healthy choices in relation to food and hygiene.

Literacy – We aim to strive that our children develop a long-life love for reading and writing. Reading will consist of
language comprehension and word reading which are important and necessary for both reading and writing.
Children will link sounds and letters and to begin to read and write. They will be given access to a wide range of
reading materials (stories, poems, and non-fiction books) to explode their interest. Writing will consist of spelling
and handwriting, and composition by articulating ideas and structuring in speech, before writing. We use the Little
Wandle scheme (see below)

Mathematics – We believe it is important to have a strong grounding to excel mathematically. It is essential to
develop a positive attitude and interest, and to ‘have a go’ and not to be afraid of making mistakes. We will deliver
children with opportunities to develop and improve their skills in counting, Subitising, understanding and using
numbers, calculating simple addition and subtraction problems; recognise patterns; and to describe shapes, spaces
and measures. We use The White Rose Maths Scheme (see below)

Understanding the world – We will guide our children to make sense of their physical world and their community
through opportunities to explore, observe and find out about people, places, technology and the environment. We
organise visits and meeting of members of society. We extend and enrich children’s vocabulary to help support their
later reading and understanding of their world.

Expressive Arts and Design - We encourage children to explore and play with a wide range of media and materials,
as well as providing opportunities and encouragement for sharing their thoughts, ideas and feelings through a
variety of activities in art, music, movement, dance, role-play and design and technology.

Topics for the year are:

Phonics:

At New Cangle, we believe that all our children can become good fluent readers and writers. In Sunbeams, we teach reading and writing through Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised, which is a systematic and synthetic phonics programme. We start teaching phonics as soon as they start in Reception which ensures children build on their growing knowledge of the alphabetic code, mastering phonics to read and spell as they move through school.

As a result, all our children are able to recognise systematic and synthetic phonics, blend words, recognise tricky words, start to read sentences and tackle any unfamiliar words as they read. We also model the application of the alphabetic code through phonics in shared reading and writing, both inside and outside of the phonics lesson and across the curriculum. We have a strong focus on language development for our children because we know that speaking and listening are crucial skills for reading and writing in all subjects.

Children in Sunbeams are taught Phases 2 and 3, and are taught to read and spell words with fluency and some accuracy.

Sunbeam Common ‘Tricky’ words that the children should be able to read and try to spell by the end of Reception:

Suggested reading list:

Books for EYFS | 100 picture books to read before you are 5 years old (schoolreadinglist.co.uk)

Maths

In Sunbeams, we follow The White Rose Math scheme.