EYFS
Welcome to Rivelin Primary School Early Years
Meet the Early Years Team...
Mrs Leggatt is our EYFS Leader and Assistant Headteacher
Our Nursery Team are (l-r) Mrs Grayson (Teacher) and Miss Gooch (Teacher)
Our Reception Team are (l-r) Mr Pottinger (Teacher), Miss Spencer (Teacher), Mrs Royles (Teaching Assistant), Mrs Hetherington (Teaching Assistant)
Welcome to Rivelin Early Years. At Rivelin Primary School we are passionate about children learning through play, and as much as possible using real-life experiences to underpin their learning. We know that children learn best when their levels of well-being and engagement are high, so our EYFS team work collectively on ensuring children feel safe and secure and have many exciting learning opportunities across Nursery and Reception.
Our Nursery:
We offer both full-time and part-time places in our Nursery. Children in Nursery learn through a mixture of short carpet sessions with focused intentions, self-directed play and planned small group interventions to support them in key areas. We also adopt an "In The Moment" planning approach, where we follow a child's interests and scaffold key learning as children become really engaged in what interests them. We regularly have “Focus Weeks” where we welcome parents to come and share in their child’s learning. This helps us work in effective partnership with you to support your child.
Our Reception:
Learning in Reception is a balance of child-initiated play and adult-led sessions. We believe that this leads to the best levels of progress and well-being for our children, and we ensure this is achieved by building on the children’s interests, motivation and developmental stage. We teach Phonics, Maths and Literacy daily in short sessions and we follow the following schemes, Little Wandle (Phonics) and White Rose (Maths). The remainder of the day is mainly self-directed, with children leading their learning through play and adults responding in order to move learning forward.
Both Nursery and Reception offer indoor and outdoor areas. We view our outdoor space as an outdoor classroom. Your children will play with water and create wonders in our Mud Kitchen. We offer wellies and waterproofs so that they can be outdoors both in sunshine and when it is raining.
Our EYFS Curriculum
Long Term Planning
We use the EYFS Framework 2021 and Development Matters as a basis for curriculum planning but also plan a curriculum that is bespoke to the children at our school. We often make annual changes based on the interests and needs of the children in the cohort and the experiences they bring to school. Our planning is also led by the seasons, our local community and what is going on outside and in the world around us. Characteristics of Effective Learning are central to our planning and we plan a wealth of opportunities which allow children to demonstrate and practise these. We aim for a curriculum that is rich in real life experiences and relevant to the children at our school.
Medium Term Planning
Our medium term planning highlights the milestones we wish the children to meet in each of the Early Learning Goals at different points in the year.
The Poetry Basket
At Rivelin, Nursery and Reception children love to learn poems from the Poetry Basket. Reception children give a poetry recital for parents three times a year.
Listen to some of the poems, performed by members of staff at Rivelin!