Nursery & Reception Curriculum

Handwriting

Children are taught to trace over lines, shapes and then letters. They gradually learn to form letters in cursive mode, first in large size then smaller, but they are taught to keep the letters on a line and between lines from the very beginning.

Reading

We use various readers, but on the whole the teaching is phonetic. We use Ruth Miskin Readers, Nelson Thornes or the Oxford Learning Tree readers. Children are taught in small groups of about six in the mornings and have one to one reading sessions of about 8 minutes three times a week with their teacher. We send a readers home as in order to make rapid progress. Children should read aloud to their parents every day if possible.

Spelling

Children begin with 3 letter words and when they are totally confident with these they are taught various spelling patterns i.e. words ending in ʻckʼ, ʻookʼ, ʻillʼand ʻellʼ.

Maths

The children are taught to count to 20 in the Nursery, to 100 in Reception, to add and subtract using the language of mathematics. They are taught to count in 2s both forwards and backwards, to count in tens, to recognize and write the numbers and do simple addition and subtraction.

Art

Once a week the children have an art lesson with a specialist art teacher. However the children can choose to paint with their classroom teacher during ʻafternoon activitiesʼ.

Music

The children have a formal music lesson once a week with a specialist music/singing teacher, the Head of Music. They also sing in both English and French with both their English and French classroom teachers.

Sport

The children play various games with two professional sports teachers and go swimming once a week at the local swimming pool Imber Court Leisure Center.