Form One (Reception) 

In Form One our children begin full time education at The Dower House. Our children are nurtured in a small friendly class where their development is assessed and planned for in individual learning stories. We base our curriculum around six areas of learning including: 

• Personal, Social and Emotional Development
• Communication, Language and Literacy
• Problem-solving, Reasoning and Numeracy
• Knowledge and Understanding of the World
• Physical Development
• Creative Development

We place an appropriate emphasis on key skills in Literacy and Mathematics. Children are heard read on a one-to-one basis with the Form Teacher each day and receive daily tuition on phonics, letter formation and sentence construction. In Mathematics, focus is placed on number recognition, counting and practical calculation activities; we also incorporate topics on shape and space, measures and time. 

Individual teaching time is incorporated into each learning activity to ensure our children fulfil their potential. All areas of learning are taught through topics that include ‘Nursery Rhymes’, ‘Animals’, ‘People Who Help Us’ and ‘All About Me.’ Topic teaching allows our children to make links in their learning between different subjects and helps to foster their natural curiosity about the world and their place within it. 

We take our learning outside and make full use of the school grounds and trips to local places of interest including parks, farms and museums. In addition we welcome visits from figures in the local and wider community.