Reception-Long-Term-Plan

The table below showcases our Spiritual, Moral, Social, Cultural (SMSC) curriculum here at Beeches Infants. To download a copy of this for your own records, please click on the button below.

Schools have a duty to protect your child from the dangers of the internet. With the internet becoming more and more essential for daily life and learning, we teach the children how to use the internet safely within our computing curriculum and would like to share with you how you can protect your children at home also.

We as a school ask that you carefully monitor your child’s access when using the internet whether that be on search tools, interactive games, or social media as new risks develop so regularly.

There is ample information available on how to best protect your children on the links below. Here you can access online safety guides for parents, advice on parental controls for your child’s devices, resources, and lots of other information.

To protect your child within school we have a filtering and monitoring system that helps us to keep your children safe online. The staff are trained to carefully monitor what your children are accessing and report to a DSL if necessary. All devices within school such as iPads, laptops and computers also have a monitoring system named Smoothwall. If a child types particular key phrases into a device, that is then screen captured and sent to the team within Smoothwall and our DSL is alerted immediately with the screen capture meaning this can be investigated.

Our filtering system Surf Protect has the ability to stop your children from accessing nonchild friendly websites or any content not appropriate to them. This includes concerning searches, social media, age-inappropriate content and more.

We as a school have invested in keeping your children safe from online dangers and exposure and review our practices yearly to ensure the children are protected.

It is important to remember just a few simple rules by following the “SMART” guide to make sure we keep our children safe online. At Beeches Infant School we are proud to be a National Online Safety certified school, demonstrating our commitment to keeping children safe online.

At Beeches Infant school, the teaching of Mathematics is a high priority as we recognise it is an essential skill for life. It is our intent that all children develop into mathematicians with the fluency, reasoning and problem-solving skills required for life within and beyond school. Our maths teaching and learning is based around the maths mastery approaches.

Maths can be abstract for young children, and that is why time is spent using concrete resources and representations to help children make deeper connections and secure their understanding of Maths concepts. At Beeches Infant School, we aim to ensure children enjoy Maths and experience success in this subject.

The children are taught Maths through the use of mathematical resources such as counters, tens, frames and dienes. Time is spent using concrete resources to help the children deepen their understanding of maths concepts. Maths can be very abstract for young children that is why this part of the lesson is so crucial to help make those connections. Our maths is set in real life contexts and allow for opportunities for reasoning and problem solving. In all lessons there is the opportunity for children to talk to their partners and explain/clarify their thinking throughout the lesson.

Another feature of our maths approach is our daily fluency and number fact sessions. We recognise that ‘fluency’ is not just about remembering facts it is about developing all aspects of mathematical fluency.

At Beeches Infant School, we promote development of the whole child ensuring that a broad and balanced curriculum is taught. It is our intent that pupils leave us with strong foundations in reading, writing and maths. Beyond this, it is our aim that children experience a broad curriculum so that they begin to develop their understanding of the different subjects. We aim to provide them with range of experiences to enhance their enjoyment of the curriculum and begin to develop personal interests so that they can be the best that they can be.

Through immersion in quality texts it is our intent that we instil a joy and love of reading whilst also widening pupils’ vocabulary.  Our early reading is taught through the use of the Little Wandle letters and sounds programme which is complemented by fully decodable books. The writing genres and texts we use as starting points provide stimulating and exciting writing opportunities.  Our intention is for children to become creative writers. 

We strive for all children to have a positive attitude to communication and to be able to express their ideas, thoughts and opinions confidently both orally and through their own writing.   

‘Pupil voice is a strength within the school. Leaders regularly collect pupils’ views and act on their ideas accordingly’ – Ofsted 2017 

At Beeches Infant School our aim is to provide a curriculum which allows the children to explore and discover the world. We aim to provide an inquiry-based curriculum that is hands-on and full of opportunities for children to explore and investigate the world around them, by building up their scientific enquiry and investigative skills. We want all our children to access science through a range of stimulating and challenging experiences that children find fun and engaging, whilst also extending and deepening their understanding of scientific knowledge and vocabulary.

At Beeches Infant School we seek to inspire pupils to become curious about the past. We want them to know how the past differs from modern day life and how the past has influenced the present. We will provide opportunities for children to develop the skills of asking perceptive questions, to encourage thinking critically, encourage consideration of evidence, and support them to develop perspective and judgment. We aim for our children to develop an understanding of chronology through the knowledge of people and events.

At Beeches Infant School, we aim to provide quality geography education that encourages pupils to become curious about the world. Through our teaching, we seek to impart knowledge about diverse places, people resources, natural and human environments and where possible, do this using examples that are relevant to our pupils. We aim to deepen pupils’ understanding of the interaction that our own actions have on the formation and use of landscapes and environments.

At Beeches Infant School we believe that art should inspire and motivate and be a vehicle for children to express themselves. We aim to inspire pupils with the work of great artists and equip them with the knowledge and skills to experiment and create their own works of art, craft and design. We see sketching as a means for children to become more proficient drawers and we encourage our children to use appropriate art vocabulary when talking about their work and the work of others.

At Beeches Infants we subscribe to ‘Kapow’ for our KS1 Art Teaching. Kapow offers in-depth subject coverage for each element of Art taught. This ensures that all elements of the Art Curriculum are covered and that we are learning about a wide-range of artists from a range of backgrounds, gender, countries, periods of time and disciplines.

Intent: To engage, inspire and challenge pupils, equipping them with the knowledge and skills to experiment, invent and create their own works of art, craft and design. We are on a journey from teacher driven teaching with set outcomes, to pupil-led, process inspired exploration. ·

Implementation: In accordance with the National Curriculum, basic skills are introduced and then built upon. Skills are revisited giving children opportunities to develop and explore techniques. The role of the teacher is to introduce key skills, materials and ideas to the pupils in such a way that each pupil can then explore his or her own creativity; to facilitate process over product.

Impact: Children are encouraged to be creative learners with a ‘have a go’ mindset. There will be an emphasis placed on individuality and children will be given the freedom to explore art using their imaginations.

At Beeches Infant School our aim is to enthuse and inspire pupils to use their skills to design and make. We make sure that Design and Technology is a practical subject, where children are encouraged to use their creativity and imagination to design and make products that solve real and relevant problems. We want our children to understand the impact Design and Technology has for the wider world.

At Beeches Infant School we want our children to enjoy and appreciate music as well as understand how it makes them feel. We will provide opportunities for children to listen to a range of types of music and artists and encourage them to express an opinion on what they have heard. We aim to engage and inspire our children with opportunities to sing and explore musical instruments, as well as increase their confidence through music.

At Beeches Infant School our aim is to provide a secure groundwork of computing skills which will equip our pupils with the skills they will need to access an increasing technological world. We want our children to understand how to make choices online and how to use the internet positively and safely.

At Beeches Infant School, we believe that a strong PHSE education is important to help our pupils develop into well rounded members of society, who can make a positive contribution to their community. Our PSHE curriculum is strongly tied to our relationships and health education (RHE) as well as closely linked with our pastoral care programme. As a Rights Respecting School (Gold Status) our pupils learn about their rights and are taught to build positive relationships and learn how to express their thoughts.

At Beeches Infant School, we follow the Birmingham Agreed Syllabus which offers a broad and rich RE curriculum. Our children learn about religions as well as from religions and will reflect on their own experiences and beliefs. We are a diverse community and it is our intent that our children understand, respect and tolerate this diversity.

At Beeches Infant School we encourage children to lead healthy and active lifestyles. Our curriculum allows pupils to access a range of physical activities. We provide opportunities for the children to take part in a range of physical activities during PE lessons, lunchtimes and after school clubs to encourage confidence, motivation and to develop team building skills. We deliver high quality physical education lessons where pupils develop their agility, balance and coordination skills. Children are encouraged to show their good learning behaviours such as being cooperative, being creative and perseverance which are life-long values.

Beeches Infant School really values the wellbeing of the families and children we work with. This is why we invest so much into ensuring that wellbeing is a priority. The school uses myHappymind to teach the children about their brains and wellbeing, and help them to develop positive skills and habits so they can be their very best selves. We hope that helping the wellbeing of families will create a positive life for each young person and help them to grow into happy, confident, grown adults with a toolbox of knowledge to help them understand their mind. myHappyminds can benefit wellbeing for those who participate. The importance of healthy bodies and healthy minds cannot be understated!

myHappymind is all based around helping children to understand how their brain works and to support them in developing positive skills. myHappymind is delivered in school by class teachers through a series of interactive lessons and the children apply these learnings throughout the day. Sessions are delivered every week and children are taught how to keep a happy and healthy mind. By understanding the basics of our mind, we can teach children good habits mentally and physically, building this into our curriculum.

We have weekly awards for those children who show this element of having a Happy Mind; examples are, showing a good understanding of their mind; being able to appreciate and celebrate each other; showing our skills to relate and engage.

We hope that you will get involved at home by using the app and help keep a happy mind all day. There is a bank of resources available that can accessed at home on your computer, or through an app on your phone. With this the children can continue to practice some of the habits they have learned, such as happy breathing and take part in other activities with you at home that complement the lessons within school. It would be great if you could share these activities with your child at home.

To access these activities please visit https://myhappymind.org/parent-resources and enter your name, email, and authentication code. Your authentication code can be found displayed in your child’s classroom window at drop off and pick up. The code can be shared by other means on request or can be found on our newsletter.