Ready to Learn, Ready for Life: Brave Shoots with Deep Roots

At Christ the Sower, our Reception provision ensures children step confidently into school life with strong foundations that enable them to thrive academically, socially and emotionally. We know this year is pivotal — a bridge between early childhood and formal learning — and we are committed to giving every child the very best start.

Children in Reception are immersed in a rich curriculum that blends high-quality direct teaching with purposeful play, ensuring rapid progress in the essential building blocks of:

📌 Early language and vocabulary development
📌 Phonics and early reading routines and fluency
📌 Mathematical thinking and problem solving
📌 Writing embedded in meaningful contexts
📌 Self-regulation, emotional literacy and wellbeing
📌 Physical development as a foundation for writing and lifelong health

Our CARE values shape daily life:

✨ Choices – Children become independent learners who take responsibility for their actions and learning behaviours.
✨ Aspiration – We nurture ambition by expecting excellence and celebrating personal progress.
✨ Reflection – Children learn to manage feelings, talk about learning, and build resilience when tackling challenges.
✨ Engagement – A love of learning is ignited through curiosity, wonder and purposeful learning experiences.

We ensure children are truly Ready to Learn by:

• Establishing strong routines and positive learning behaviours
• Teaching attention, listening and collaboration skills
• Working in partnership with families to secure consistency
• Removing barriers swiftly and providing timely support for SEND

Every child is seen, known and championed. We celebrate diversity and promote kindness, enabling children to form friendships, value others and develop a strong sense of belonging.

By the end of Foundation Stage, every child leaves Reception as a confident early reader, a growing writer and a curious mathematician — proud of who they are, ready for the challenge of Year 1, and equipped with the deep roots that will help them flourish throughout their journey at Christ the Sower — and beyond.

A loving place where we all care, learn and grow together.

Curriculum Implementation

As a team we  ensure that the learning opportunities and experiences we provide are clearly linked to both the Prime (Personal, Social and Emotional Development, Communication and Language and Physical Development) and Specific (Literacy, Mathematics, Understanding the World and Expressive Arts) areas of learning.

We begin each year by looking at the individual needs of our children and their different starting points and, with this information in mind, we are then able to plan a range of broad and balanced learning experiences. We place huge importance on the development of children’s vocabulary and ensure that staff are skilled in assessing early speech and language development and have the expertise to support children in being able to communicate their thoughts and ideas and explore the meaning of new words. Staff use their knowledge of the Characteristics of Effective Learning to ensure that they plan appropriate activities and organise their provision in a way that demonstrates a clear understanding of the way in which our children are motivated to learn.

• Creating and thinking critically – children have and develop their own ideas, make links between ideas, and develop strategies for doing things.
• Active learning – children keep on trying if they encounter difficulties, and enjoy their achievements.
• Playing and exploring – children investigate and experience things, and ‘have a go’.

We use a Growth Mindset approach to promote positive attitudes to learning which reflect the values and skills needed to promote responsibility for learning and future success.

The Christ the Sower EYFS Curriculum engages all children and ensures that all children make good progress from their starting points. A number of key resources are used to support the development of the curriculum including Development Matters, Nelli Speech and Language, Drawing Club, Helicopter Stories, Mastery Maths and Read Write Inc.

We know that all children are unique, with their own individual fascinations, and it is for this reason that we believe a balance of child and teacher-led activities is crucial in order for our children to become fully engaged and excited by their learning.

We feel that effective provision both indoors and out is based on a clear understanding of what we want our children to learn and how we plan to achieve this. We want our children to be independent in accessing quality play-based experiences that encourage them to notice, question and wonder. Effective interactions between staff and children and regular home/school communication ensures that our curriculum planning and provision is flexible and continuously adapted to meet the needs of all learners and to reflect children’s needs and interests as they continue to develop and grow. 

Regular parent’s meetings, stay and play sessions and workshops ensure that parents are kept up to date with their children’s development and progress and are fully aware of how they can continue to support their children’s learning outside of school.

Curriculum Impact

The impact of the EYFS curriculum is reflected in having well rounded, happy and confident children transitioning into Year 1.

We measure progress and children’s learning across the year through formative and summative assessment which are based on the teacher’s knowledge of the child, their learning journeys, photographs and videos on recorded Tapestry.

We measure the percentage of pupils achieving age related expectations throughout the academic year, put supportive interventions in place if and when needed. The adults use observations to make formative assessments which inform future planning and ensure that all children build on their current knowledge and skills at a good pace. Summative assessment compares children attainment to age related expectations using month bands in Development Matters. This is tracked using Target Tracker to ensure rates of progress are at least good for all children.

At the end of EYFS the aim is for all children at CTS:

• Have strong communication skills, both written and verbal
• Listen respectfully and with tolerance to the views of others,
• Take pride in all that they do, always striving to do their best
• Demonstrate emotional resilience and the ability to persevere when they encounter challenge,
• Develop a sense of self-awareness and become confident in their own abilities,
• Are kind, respectful and honest
• Demonstrate inclusive attitudes and have a sense of their role in our wider society.