Early Years at Whitehills Primary
At Whitehills Primary School we aim to:
- Offer a safe, happy and secure environment which fosters children’s social, emotional, moral, intellectual and spiritual development
- Provide broad, balanced learning experiences
- Offer learning experiences in a lively, practical, multi–sensory way in order to enable children to develop the mental building blocks necessary to cope with the more focused, formal study requirements in Key Stage 1
- Develop partnerships between staff and parents
- Create an environment that:
- Supports children as autonomous and independent learners
- Fosters children’s natural curiosity
- Encourages children to develop as critical thinkers
- Actively involves children within their learning
- Develops language and builds on vocabulary
Our high expectation of children begins in the Ealy Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). Children begin at Whitehills Primary in Reception (FS2) and parents can view their child’s progress throughout the year using Evidence Me. Evidence Me also allows parents to share learning achievements from home as we are firm believers that understanding the whole child and celebrating all of their learning achievements is important. The curriculum in FS2 is based on the EYFS Development Matters with the aim of all children achieving the Early Learning Goals (ELGs) by the end of the summer term. Baseline assessments are used to identify each child’s starting point and allow us to track their learning journey. This allows us to focus on the children’s specific needs and next steps for learning.
Pupils begin phonics lessons within the first few weeks of starting in FS2 and these continue through into Key Stage 1 and sometimes Key Stage 2.
There is a focus on exploratory play in FS2 based around topics and core texts. During the day, children will receive a mixture of whole class teaching, small group, 1:1 teaching and time to independently explore the continuous provision within our well-resourced environment.
In FS2 we are very fortunate to have the opportunity of participating in regular Forest school sessions.
Please note that details of our Open Days for the September 2024 intake will be published here in mid-September 2023.
