Welcome to our warm and friendly school.  At the Bay CE School, we want all children to believe in themselves, be inspired and develop interests in learning for life, and excel within a happy, creative and secure environment.

Our Reception classes are taught by Miss Jacobs, Miss Goodson and Mrs Groom and are supported by Miss Hellyer, Mrs Covell and Mrs Warvill.   

We believe that children learn most effectively when they are given choices about what they learn and how they learn.  To ensure children know more and remember more, we know that they must also fundamentally enjoy learning.  Therefore, there is a strong focus on ensuring that all children develop strong and effective characteristics of effective learning. In addition, a strong and secure base in the prime areas of learning;

• Personal, Social and Emotional Development
• Physical Development
• Communication and Language

Secure development in these areas are critical if children are to thrive in all other subject areas.  We ensure we spend significant time on securing high levels of confidence in these prime areas of learning. We know that, as teachers, we have a responsibility to equip all children with the necessary skills, knowledge and attitudes for the next stage in their learning.

What does EYFS practice look like in our school?

• We make language a priority, embedding spoken language, vocabulary development and listening comprehension into all aspects of the children’s work.
• We teach reading in a systematic and structured way, building up children’s phonic knowledge and skills explicitly.
• We provide regular story times where children can be taught to understand what they hear.
• We teach writing composition by building on children’s spoken language and their comprehension of stories.
• We teach spelling and handwriting discretely.
• We deepen children’s understanding of core mathematical concepts rather than moving them on too quickly to formal calculations and written methods.
• We secure children’s personal, social and emotional readiness to learn, including resilience, perseverance, concentration, the ability to listen, to take turns and to cooperate. We instil and embed the Zones of Regulation to help the children express and discuss how they are feeling.
• We develop strong relationships with our parents/carers and support them to encourage and celebrate their children’s learning and development and engagements through our newsletter and social media pages.

Intent

At the Bay CE School, we offer a culture of excellence in the EYFS provision.  We aim to plan, design and implement an EYFS curriculum that meets the needs of all pupils.  We ensure that they make progress in learning, from their individual starting point and we prioritise our  pupils’ personal, social and emotional development and  ensure effective safeguarding.

At the Bay CE School, we construct an EYFS curriculum that is ambitious and designed to give children, particularly the most disadvantaged, the knowledge, self-belief and cultural capital that they need to succeed in life.   British values and the whole school values are an integral part of our daily experiences in school.

The curriculum is coherently planned and sequenced.  It builds upon what children know and can do, follows individual children’s interests and it works towards cumulatively sufficient knowledge for each child’s knowledge and skills for their future learning.

There is a priority focus on ensuring that all children acquire a wide vocabulary, communicate effectively and, in Reception, secure a knowledge of phonics, which provides them with the foundations for future learning, especially in preparation for them to become confident and fluent readers.

The school’s approach to teaching early reading and synthetic phonics is systematic and ensures that all children learn to read words and simple sentences accurately by the end of the Reception year.

The school has the same academic ambitions for all children, for those with particular needs, such as those with SEND.  Their curriculum is designed to be ambitious and to meet their needs at their particular age or individual stage of development.

The whole staff team and all parents know what we intend the children to learn and it is our intention that all pupils continue to make progress from their baseline on entry.  We support parents/carers to understand the Early Learning Goals and ensure they know how to support their child effectively to achieve these goals.

Implementation

All staff are included in the curriculum implementation process and they demonstrate their understanding of this practice and work as a team in a consistent way.  This includes their approach to teaching (pedagogy) and to assessment and continuous daily observations.

Continuous provision allows opportunities  for all children to explore and consolidate their learning and provides the adults with the time to observe

Staff are knowledgeable about the areas of learning they teach.  They manage the EYFS curriculum and pedagogy in relation to the learning needs of the children.Intervention groups are in place that support speech and language, comprehension and vocabulary development.  Staff are expert in teaching systematic, synthetic phonics and we are all embedding the use of the new Little Wandle Letters and sounds programme.  All staff ensure that the children practise their reading from books that match their phonetic knowledge.

Staff read to children in a way that excites and engages them, introducing new ideas, concepts and vocabulary.

Staff are knowledgeable about the teaching of early mathematics.  They ensure that children have sufficient practice to be confident in using and understanding numbers.  The mathematics curriculum that we follow; White Rose, provides a strong basis for more complex learning later on.

The curriculum and care practices promote and support children’s emotional- security and development.  We have a nurture group for those that need this support and leaders and staff are particularly attentive to the youngest children’s needs.

Staff give clear messages to children about why it is important to eat, drink, rest and exercise.  We have visits from the School Nurse and the importance of oral health and hygiene information is introduced to children and their parents. 

We implement the use of our own school values from the children’s first days in school.  They are love, courage, truth, respect and friendship.

We teach all children to take managed risks and challenges as they play and learn, we support them to be active and develop physically and to make good healthy choices in their food options at lunchtime.

Teaching and Learning Support staff meet after school every week to discuss individual children, enhancing the environment, continuous provision and next steps planning.

Formative assessment, which they then  use every day to help them guide the next steps in children’s learning

Summative assessment used for the final EYFSP at the end of the reception year.

Staff provide information for parents about their children’s progress, in line with the requirements of the EYFS.  They provide information to parents about supporting their child’s learning at home, including detail about the school’s method of teaching reading and how to help their child learn to read.  We prepare an individual learning journey for each child in a book format and invite parents to contribute to this from their child’s first day!

Impact

All children develop detailed knowledge and skills across the prime and specific areas of learning in an age appropriate way.

Children develop their vocabulary and use it across the EYFS curriculum.  By the end of Reception, children use their knowledge of phonics to read accurately and with increasing speed and fluency.

We prepare children for the next stage of education.  They have acquired the knowledge and skills to benefit from what school has to offer when it is time to move on.  By the end of Reception, children achieve well, particularly those with lower starting points.

By the end of Reception, we try to ensure that all children have the personal, physical and social skills that they need to succeed in the next stage of their education.

Children enjoy, listen attentively and respond with comprehension to familiar stories, rhymes and songs that are appropriate to their age and stage of development.  Children develop their vocabulary and understanding of language.

Children demonstrate their positive attitudes to earning through high levels of curiosity, concentration and enjoyment.

 

Curriculum Information

Click here to view the Autumn Term letter to parents. 

Click here to view the timetable for Autumn 1. 

Click here for Reception long term overview

Development Matters Birth to 5: Development Matters Document

Reception Information

Click here to view the booklet given out at our Reception Open Days. 

Click here to view the Reception Information Powerpoint 

 Policy 

Click here to visit our Policies Page to view our Early Years Foundation Stage Policy

Click here to read the useful booklet for starting Reception. 

How can you support your child at home?

Developing Reading Skills

Research shows that early reading experiences, opportunities to build vocabularies, and literacy rich environments are the most effective way to support the development of pre-reading and cognitive skills.  (Make Way for Books 2020)

• Read aloud to your child daily
• Surround them with a variety of books and stories
• Take them to the local library
• Encourage your child to join in with stories, rhymes and poems
• Make up your own stories, songs and rhymes
• Encourage children to explore books independently, looking at the pictures and talking about them too!

Developing your child’s Fine and Gross Motor Skills

Developing your child’s gross motor skills and large muscle development plays a vital part in your child learning to write.  A child needs strength in their arms, shoulders and wrists before they can begin to be able to hold a pencil and make marks.  Mark making is one of the first stages of a child learning to write and is the main focus for us when your child first starts Reception at The Bay.  We encourage the children to make small and large marks with different types of media such as with pens, paintbrushes, giant chalks, paint and mud.  Maybe you could try this at home too!

News 

17th March 2026