Foundation Stage

Together the Nursery and Reception classes make up the Foundation Stage.

At Christ the King, all children in the foundation stage follow a curriculum called the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) and this is broken down into 7 curriculum areas. 

We use our Reception practitioners’ skills and expertise to create routines, build relationships, develop activities and resources in a rich learning environment which provide pupils with the opportunities and conditions to flourish in all aspects of their development. We provide balance across the areas of learning and look to identify each child’s specific needs, strengths and next steps, so that they can make excellent progress.

In line with Government guidelines and best practice our Foundation Stage curriculum is less formal than the work in the rest of the school. Our Foundation Stage provision offers the necessary balance of ‘teacher-led’ input and ‘pupil-initiated’ learning. We create a supportive, stimulating context in the school indoor and outdoor learning areas for children to play and engage in enquiry, discovery and reflection. We value the importance of outdoor and hands-on learning. We want our children to be confident in expressing their ideas, happy to make independent choices, and keen to explore the world around them.

Please look at our 'Class Pages' to find out more.

Religious Education and Worship

In Reception, we teach RE using the God Matters scheme of work approved by the Portsmouth of Diocese. We learn about the importance of prayer and pray throughout the school day. Reception also partake in whole school acts of Worship. 

Literacy

Our school uses ‘Talk for Writing’ to help children develop their skills in talking about and writing stories. Talk for Writing starts with enjoying and sharing stories. Through regular reading we want children to build up an extensive rich vocabulary for use in their own writing. Each half term we focus on a particular story. The children will hear the story several times and we will explore the story in a variety of ways and explore new vocabulary.

Phonics

Phonics is recommended as the first strategy that children should be taught in helping them learn to read. It runs alongside other teaching methods such as Guided Reading and Shared Reading to help children develop all the other vital reading skills and hopefully give them a real love of reading.

Our school uses the Read Write Inc. programme to get children off to a flying start with their English. RWI is a method of learning based upon letter sounds and phonics, and we use it to aid children in their reading and writing. for Phonics. It provides a structured and systematic approach to teaching literacy and is designed to create fluent readers, confident speakers and willing writers.

Reading

When using RWI to read the children will:

• Learn 44 sounds and the corresponding letter/letter groups using simple prompts
• Learn to read words using sound blending (Fred talk)
• Read lively stories featuring words they have learnt to sound out
• Show that they comprehend the stories by answering 'Find It' and 'Prove It'

Writing

When using RWI to write the children will:

• Learn to write the letter/letter groups which represent the 44 sounds
• Learn to write words by saying the sounds and graphemes (Fred fingers)

Talking

When using RWI the children will also work in pairs:

• To answer questions
• To take turns talking and listening to each other
• To give positive praise to each other

Mathematics

There are six key areas of early mathematics learning, which provide a platform for everything children will encounter as they progress through their maths learning at primary school, and beyond:

• Cardinality and Counting
• Comparison
• Composition
• Pattern
• Shape and Space
• Measures

Apps for EYFS:

• Meet the Numberblocks: Can you count the Numberblobs?
• Numberblocks: Hide and Seek: Find and add the Numberblocks!
• Numberblocks: Card Fun!: Learn with the Numberblocks!
• Meet the Alphablocks!
• Alphablocks: Letter Fun: Learn to read with phonics
• CBeebies Free Apps for Kids