Lower School
In the Lower School, pupils will cover the UK’s Key Stage 1 curriculum. Once pupils complete Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), they enter Key Stage 1, starting with Reception class (ages 4 and 5). Children then move into Year 1 (ages 5 and 6) and Year 2 (ages 6 and 7), which both have their own defined Aldenham curriculum.
Our Reception Class offers children an excellent start as they begin their first year of formal schooling. The children at Aldenham are offered every opportunity to flourish and explore in a creative environment before moving on to Year 1..
The pupils in Reception benefit from highly-qualified teachers, and have the space to develop without being overawed by the older children.
The children also have access to specialist teachers for Arabic, Islamic and Social Studies, Music and PE. There is a wonderful outdoor play area and vegetable garden, and pupils will also have access to the large indoor sports hall and theatre.
Highly Targeted Fun
In Reception, the children have a lot of fun, and are encouraged to learn through play. There is also a shift to more formalised learning - at Aldenham, we focus on ensuring that we know and understand each child's skills and abilities, so that we can support their development. We make baseline assessments of each child based on observations, assessment of class activities, and school records received from Aldenham (or other) Nursery.
During the first half term, we use BASE as part of our baseline assessment of each child. This is repeated in the Summer Term, as an indicator of progress. There is also ongoing assessment from specialist teachers, who observe the children at play and at work.
Reading
Every child participates regularly in small group phonics activities, and works individually with an adult. Our phonics programme is Letters and Sounds, using the actions and pictures of the Jolly Phonics materials.
We have books available from many reading schemes to provide a breadth of interest and stretch for the ablest readers.
Numeracy
Children work with specialist teachers who find exciting ways to help them experience and understand the foundations of mathematics in preparation for the rest of their school careers.
Numeracy Topics
Number
- Counting
- Ordering
- Writing
- Recognition
- Written Form (as a word: "two")
- Ordinal Numbers
Other Topics
- Shape (2D and 3D)
- Space
- Measures
- Patterns and Sequencing
- Positional Language
- Length
- Weight
- Capacity
- Time
- Money
