In Maple Class, teaching and learning is based around the interest of the children and focused on the seven areas of learning laid out in the Foundation Stage Curriculum. Play is at the core of our learning through accessing continuous provision both indoors and outdoors and is supported by the adults through sustained shared thinking (SST).

Our children learn to become increasingly independent by having regular opportunities to apply life skills such as pouring, using zippers and buttons, preparing food and using tools. We also support children to become independent learners and take ownership of their own progress through the use of Building Learning Power and collaborating to set next steps.

We also provide daily opportunities for fine and gross motor skill development through movement to music, dough disco and exciting mark making challenges. Reading and writing is taught through daily phonics sessions using the Letters and Sounds scheme paired with Jolly Phonics actions to represent letter sounds. A weekly focus story or information book is used to plan our daily English sessions around in which we learn to form letters and words, use reading comprehension skills and apply our phonics knowledge in writing. We send home a weekly reading book for children to read at home and this is recorded in school planners.

On Wednesday afternoons, the children come to school in warm clothes and bring waterproofs to go on our ‘Welly Walk’ in our onsite Forest Area. Our ‘Welly Walks’ provide a fantastic opportunity for children to explore many areas of the curriculum through nature, use real tools and build social skills through collaborative challenges. On Tuesdays the children come into school in either indoor or outdoor PE kits ready for an afternoon PE session.