Bumblebees (Reception)
Welcome to the Bumblebees' class!
Bumblebees' class, is where most children begin their educational journey at RKS (if they haven't attended our Ladybird Nursery). Children in the Bumblebee class follow the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum. We provide children with a fun, play-based, interactive, stimulating and interesting environment to support their learning.
If you are considering applying for your child to begin Reception at The Royal Kent School, please read the following information carefully, to help you decide if this is the right school for your child.
Our approach to learning
In the Bumblebees' class, the curriculum is tailored to meet the individual needs and interests of our young learners. We want the learning in our Early Years classes to be a joyous journey of discovery. Children are active participants in their learning, acquiring new knowledge and skills, developing their thinking, taking and managing risks and working independently and in groups. Carefully planned experiences across the curriculum capture the children’s imagination and interests. These build on their developing skills across the year, across all areas of learning.
In Bumblebees, children have a daily structured phonics and math session which teach new skills and knowledge. The children also spend long periods of time in play (we refer to this as independent learning), where they use their new knowledge to interact with their classroom environment, practicing and rehearsing skills, supported and extended by our excellent staff. Often this will be self-initiated, at other times adults may lead specific enquiries or ask children to participate in an activity. There are also times where the environment may be enhanced to promote learning on a theme or area of interest.
Resources to inspire children to read, write and explore mathematical concepts are always available. In doing this children are able to pursue activities involving these skills, independently from the adult-directed times. It is important to us that children see a real purpose and are motivated to develop their skills in these areas. To develop a love of reading and books we explore a range of texts together including our ‘Super Six’ each half term which have been carefully and consciously chosen to support, amongst other things, an awareness of rhyme, storytelling, vocabulary and to develop an understanding around the important areas of inclusion, diversity and wellbeing.
The children have twice weekly P.E. sessions where they develop balance and coordination as well as other skills to support their physical development. By no means is their physical development limited to this time, as they can also develop physical skills linked to many other areas of the curriculum throughout the Bumblebee day and outside environment.
Children are assessed at the end of their Reception year as to whether they meet the 'Early Learning Goals'. It is stated that the the goals should not be used as a curriculum or in any way to limit the wide variety of rich experiences that are crucial to child development. Indeed, the goals should support practitioners to make a holistic, best-fit judgement about a child’s development at the end of the EYFS, and their readiness for year 1.
Click here to find the End of Year expectations for the Reception year (they begin on page 12)
Click here to find our Early Years policy.
The Bumblebee environment
Our Bumblebees are incredibly lucky to have a spacious and well-equipped classroom, as well as a large and inviting outside area, complete with their own wooded area. They even have a woodwork area!
Children are able to work inside and outside in all weathers. They have opportunities to learn about, reflect on and practice building good relationships, and how to develop their sense of self and about their place in the school community. Children have opportunities to cook, make art and music, create with modelling equipment, play with sand, water and mud, role-play and create stories with puppets, explore the weather, technology, light and many other areas of enquiry including cultures and languages, plant and care for the environment and enjoy weekly visits to our ‘Wonder Woodland’.
Woodwork is a really special activity that truly engages children and encompasses all areas of learning and development. Children really respond to the challenge and very much enjoy working with wood and real tools. It encompasses so much learning but, there are two areas where woodwork really excels. Firstly, it develops children’s self-esteem and confidence – it is really empowering for children to create with real tools and they take great delight in their achievements - it really develops a can-do spirit, and secondly it develops children’s thinking skills –their creative and critical thinking as they problem solve and express their imaginations with wood – which is not easy to work with! We are very lucky to have an excellent area to offer woodwork provision and the children become very engaged in this and are hugely motivated to succeed.
Further enhancement for the Bumblebees comes from their close proximity to the Ladybird Nursery. This allows the children to become experts in their environment as they are the older and often more experienced. They become role-models and share their refined skills and new knowledge with the ladybirds, through shared access and experiences within the environment, a couple of times a week.
When children need to, they are able to help themselves to a healthy snack from our class ‘Snack Shack’. This is stocked with a selection of fruit, vegetables or occasionally toast or other snacks which they prepare and serve themselves (adults overseeing as needed). Milk and water are also always available.
Home Learning
We do not send home a lot of homework. However we do hope you will try and read with your child daily for 5-10 mins and revise the sounds and words we send home (as we have been learning them in class). Please sign their reading record when you have read with your child so that we know your child has completed their home reading and we can change their books in school.
Please see here for this term's learning letter.
Useful website links:
Abc Does - Play-based home learning.
CBeebies - Many good games and links; have a look at 'Alphablocks'.
Numberblocks - Great games and content linked to 'Numberblocks'.
What to expect in the EYFS - What to expect, when? A guide for parents on expectations and how you can support your child throughout the Early Years curriculum.
Words for life - Support from the literacy trust
Oxford Owl - Support with reading (free e-books available on this website)
Book Trust - Interactive Literacy Resources