Communication and language

Listening and attention

As part of the Early Learning goals in Reception the children learn to:

• listen attentively in a range of situations;
• listen to stories, accurately anticipating key events and respond to what they hear with relevant comments, questions or actions;
• give their attention to what others say and respond appropriately, while engaged in another activity.

Understanding

As part of the Early Learning goals in Reception the children learn to:

• follow instructions involving several ideas or actions;
• answer "how" and "why" questions about their experiences and in response to stories or events.

Speaking

As part of the Early Learning goals in Reception the children learn to:

• express themselves effectively, showing awareness of listeners' needs;
• use past, present and future forms accurately when talking about events that have happened or are to happen in the future;
• develop their own narratives and explanations by connecting ideas or events.

Reading:

As part of the Early Learning goals in Reception the children learn to:

• read and understand simple sentences;
• use phonic knowledge to decode regular words and read them aloud accurately;
• read some irregular words; demonstrate understanding when talking with others about what they have read

Our phonics instruction is based on the "Letters and Sounds" programme, with support from the following reading schemes:

• Big Cat Letters and Sounds
• Oxford Reading Tree - "Floppy's Phonics: Letters and Sounds"
• Bug Club Pnoics

Writing:

As part of the Early Learning goals in Reception the children learn to:

• use their phonic knowledge to write words in ways that match their spoken sounds;
• write some irregular common words;
• write simple sentences which can be read by themselves and others; spell some words correctly and others are phonetically plausible.