Welcome to Ants, the Reception and Year 1 Class at Thriplow. The adults who teach in Ants are Miss B, Mrs Maloney, Mrs Watson and Mrs Symmons.
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), Expressive Arts and Design (DT, Art, Music), French and Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PSHE & RSE). Take a look at our Ants Class timetable available below to see our full schedule of learning.
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.
Take a look at the gallery below to see some photos of our children engaging in playful learning and more formal table-based group work:
What are we learning about in
Ants Class at the moment?
Summer 1 2022-23
English - Fairy Tales, including the Princess and the Pea by Lauren Child
Maths - Rec: Numbers beyond 10, Y1: Multiplication and Division & Fractions
Science - Plants
Geography - The Seven Continents
Art - Children in Art
DT - Building Vehicles
PE - Early Games Skills
Music - Composition
RE - Thankfulness in Judaism
Computing - Maze Explorers
What do I need to know if my
child is in Ants Class?
At the beginning of the school year, all teachers host a 'Meet the Teacher' session for parents and carers. This session allows teachers to give an overview of the year ahead and creates space for parents and carers to ask questions.
Please find a copy of this year's presentation slides from the session (which include some handy links!) below:
