4 to 5 years
Reception is your child’s first formal steps into their educational journey and their happy heart and individual success is at the centre of everything we do.
Children join Reception in the September after their 4th birthday. All children are expected to attend full-time immediately although we are flexible in the initial weeks when some children find full-time education tiring.
The children will become increasingly familiar with the Reception staff and classrooms during their time in Kindergarten and the transition from Kindergarten to Reception is normally very easy. Some children join the Reception classes from other pre-school settings and they are integrated into the peer group with incredible ease. New children are invited to a ‘Taster Afternoon’ during the previous term and special attention is paid to these children to ensure that they settle quickly and happily, although we work hard to make the first few important days happy and positive for everyone.
There are two full-time Reception teachers and they are each supported by a full-time Teaching Assistant. It is our policy to always maintain generous staffing levels with small class sizes throughout the year. The staff take responsibility for the pastoral care of the children in addition to the assessment, record keeping and reporting procedures.
Following some of our topics during the year, Reception children will start with visitors coming in to school to see them, then progressing onto termly trips away from school. During the Michaelmas term when their topic is ‘Knowing me, knowing you’ the children enjoy a visit from ZooLab who bring along many interesting and different animals for the children to hold and learn about. In the Lent term during their ‘Out of this World’ topic, they spend a day at the South Downs Planetarium learning more about space and becoming an astronaut. Finally, for the Summer term’s ‘Go with the Flow’ topic, the children visit Drusillas Park where they learn more about the world around them, conservation and the future of the planet.
Being part of the wider school community is very important and Reception join the whole school for assemblies three times a week and will be fully involved in other areas of school life such as class assemblies, House events and Sports Days.
