Welcome to Ants, the Reception Class at Thriplow.

The adults who teach in Ants are Miss B, Mrs Walker, Mrs Watson and Mrs Rushbrook. 

In our classroom, we enable our children to learn using a child-centred approach to teaching. This means that we place each individual child at the very heart of the learning process, ensuring children are active participants and that classroom adults support the development of children's agency. Our child-centred approach involves recognising and ensuring that our children have a right to make choices and decisions, and that children are capable of initiating their own learning with adults acting as facilitators of learning. 

The children's learning in Ants Class is primarily play-based, and this happens through daily adult/child whole class carpet sessions, small group sessions, one-to-one sessions and child-led exploration of the classroom. The focal points of our main learning sessions include Phonics, Literacy, Maths, Physical Development, Handwriting, Religious Education, Understanding the World (Science, Geography, History, Computing), Expressive Arts and Design (DT, Art, Music), Communication and Language, French, and Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PSHE & RSE). 

Running parallel to these specific subject sessions, learning also takes place through the child-led play and exploration of the resources provided in our room and class garden during what we call 'Playful Learning Time'; these resources are known as the 'continuous provision'. These resources and the classroom layout have been designed and curated by the class teacher in order to engage, support, and challenge the children in their playful learning.

The 'continuous provision' is changed, developed and added to by classroom adults, creating further opportunities for challenge and consolidation; this is known as the 'enhanced provision'. During playful learning time, adults act as guides in order to build upon and enrich children's self-directed play and learning. Classroom adults are confident to adapt their teaching in order to follow children's individual interests as they arise, using a "planning in the moment" approach.

In summary, this range of approaches allow our children to learn, develop and practise skills and knowledge within and beyond the 'Seven Key Areas of Learning' and the 'Characteristics of Effective Learning' which are the focus of the Reception year, as outlined by the UK Government in the EYFS Statutory Framework. This enables children to achieve the seventeen 'Early Learning Goals' (ELGs) before they move into Year 1, forming the foundation of their school education.

In our class you will find:

Class Teacher: Miss B
Teaching Assistants: Mrs Rushbrook and Mrs Watson

Our PE day will be Monday.