Academic 

Lower and Upper Reception

All our three- to five-year-olds work together in a spacious, modern learning environment with both indoor and outdoor facilities, which have been purpose built for this age group.

The children are divided into two distinct age groups – Lower and Upper Reception – each with their own dedicated staff who work closely with colleagues from the Physical Education and Music Departments to ensure that all children achieve their full potential.

The Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum identifies the achievements of children within six areas of learning development:

• Personal, social and emotional development
• Communication language and literacy
• Problem solving, reasoning and numeracy
• Knowledge and understanding of the World
• Creative development
• Physical development.

Our pupils access all these areas, following best practice in early years teaching. These are not age-related and seamless progression occurs in this kind of early years setting.

Our ethos is to encourage the children to enjoy learning and help each child to acquire and develop his or her skills. Our careful planning, observation and assessment of individuals allows us to enable each child to fulfil their highest potential. The classrooms are equipped with I-desk computers and an interactive whiteboard to enable the children to develop their ICT skills from the earliest age and broaden their learning horizons.

The children receive specialist Music teaching for two lessons per week as well as specialist Physical Education lessons three times a week, which include dance, gym and games.

Transition

The five to six year olds remain in Littlegates so that they can make the transition from Pre-prep to Prep. They learn in separate rooms with their own teachers and follow the National Curriculum including French.