Hello and welcome to Early Years at Harriers Banbury Academy.

See our Virtual Visit page for more videos and information about joining Harriers.

Reception is a vitally important year for your child. Not only are the foundations laid for their academic journey but they are also beginning to develop key life skills such as interacting with others, negotiating, problem solving and becoming independent thinkers and learners.

“We have had a great experience. We couldn’t have asked for a better start to school; even under the current circumstances, we have felt everything has gone smoothly and our little boy is really happy and settled.”
Parent of child in Early Years (9th Oct 2020)

We have two reception classes at Harriers, Robins class and Wrens class.  The two classes work cohesively together and interact during choosing time throughout the day. Each class has its own teaching space where they sit during learning time.

During choosing time children can independently access the indoor and outdoor space. Various areas of continuous provision are set up in relation to the children’s interests, level of development and class topic.

Throughout the day the children learn through a mixture of adult initiated activities such as phonics, maths and small group work and also through child led exploration throughout the learning environment.

The areas available to the children each day are:

  • Reading corner and class library
  • Art area
  • Maths and Computing Area
  • The writing table/ tuff spot
  • Small world
  • Construction
  • Role play area- home corner and topic related role play e.g. doctors surgery
  • Malleable & fine motor skills table e.g. dough gym, threading, cutting
  • The mud kitchen
  • Sand and water area
  • Understanding the world area/ investigation station

We are a fully inclusive unit and provide interventions and individualised learning and support to help all children to believe in themselves and achieve their full potential. For more information please read our SEND Policy.

Our Early Years Policy is available here.

Where next

Reception Admissions

We are very pleased that our academy’s enrolment figure is so positive and we are full in many year groups now. Children who attend our…

How to apply to join our Reception classes

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