At High Cliff Academy, we believe in order for children to succeed during their time here, their reception year needs to provide them with an excellent start. To that end, our reception curriculum is carefully aligned with our Key Stage One and Key Stage Two curriculum. Pupils are taught using the pedagogical approaches we follow across the school and have focused lessons in phonics, reading, writing and mathematics every day.
Alongside this, challenges that encourage children to practice and master key skills are set up in the continuous provision. Children are taught to take pride in their work and achievements as they complete these independently. When not in a lesson or challenge there are plenty of opportunities for pupils to explore their own interests and develop their PSED, CL and PD, in the inviting and well-resourced environment.
High Cliff nursery is an integral part of our school where the children mix closely with reception throughout the day and the whole school for lunch, assemblies and wider curricular events. We have found that the youngest members of our school community thrive at being part of the wider school and this provides them with many opportunities to learn and grow from their older peers.
The continuous provision allows children to play and learn in different areas whilst developing and targeting skills that will aid their future learning. Alongside this, we passionately believe as educators that some skills and knowledge cannot be developed through play alone. Short and specific lessons are delivered throughout the day in mathematics, phonics and literacy. This provides every one of our pupils with the core skills and knowledge they need to succeed. The nursery also follows a literacy based context which allows our pupils to develop their schemes and knowledge of the rich and varied world around them.
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