The Reception unit has three classes: Dragonflies, Butterflies and Ladybirds.

This takes place through three main topics, with each topic being divided into units of work, using the six areas of learning. We use the indoor and outdoor environment everyday to support the children's learning. High quality children's books are used to stimulate the children's learning. These are shared with parents, so they know the books we are basing our work on at school. The children produce topic books each term which show a range of high quality, such as writing, art work and photos. The children are really proud of them.

The current topics are:

Autumn Term
Knock! Knock! Getting to know you - This is all about getting to know the school, each other, our families, our bodies and where we live.

Spring Term
Bears! Bears! Bears! - During this topic, the children learn about teddy bears and real bears. They become bear experts!

Summer Term
Are we nearly there yet? - This topic is all about journeys - on foot, on buses, on trains and even through life.

School trips make a huge impact on the children's learning and leave a huge impression on their time at school.

Trips for Reception currently include - a visit to the Build a Bear shop; the Bluebell Railway and Stanmere Park. In the local area we hope to visit the Library and the Bakery.

We will have visitors from St Helen's Church and the Teddy Bear Hospital. The first hand experiences really bring the children's learning to life.

Each Year Group benefits from £600 from the Parents and Friends of Hangleton Infant School, to partly cover the costs of hiring coaches. This generous donation has helped us keep the costs that parents pay down and enabled the Year Group to plan a greater number of visits.

Topics were introduced to the curriculum two years ago in an effort to make learning more exciting and relevant to the children. The whole curriculum was reassessed and reallocated through out the year so to establish links between the different subjects. A theme was then chosen that would both encompass the different areas of learning and appeal to the children.
Each topic generally lasts 6 weeks and includes: Science, Geography, History, ICT, Design Technology and Art. As the topics develop, more and more Literacy is taught through the topic theme.

The current topics are:

Autumn Term
Paws and Claws - an animal theme to introduce the needs of living things.
Sparkles, Crackles and Bangs - looking at light and dark, colours and seasonal celebrations.

Spring Term
Once there were Giants - developing ideas of growing up and changing, and comparing animals with humans.
Castles - (the most popular topic) learning about building materials, the geography of castles and castle life in the medeval period.

Summer Term
Oliver's Vegetables - looking at planting, growing, where our food comes from and making things to eat.
Out and About - learning about the buildings of Hangleton, comparing the town and countryside, and the different habitats of animals.

School visits make a huge impact on the children's learning and leave a huge impression on their memories of school. All of our current trips are linked to our topic work.

Trips already planned include: visiting Hove Museum to study the paintings; going to Sainsbury's to see the range of fruit and vegetables available; walking to a local allotment, tended by a teacher at the school, to see how vegetables grow in this country; travelling by coach to Seven Sisters Country Park in the Cuckmere Valley to study animal habitats; and walking to St Helens Church in Hangleton.

Each Year Group benefit from a donation of £600 from the Parents and Friends of Hangleton Infant School, to partly cover the costs of hiring coaches. This generous donation has helped us keep the costs that parents pay down and enabled the Year Group to plan a greater number of visits. 

In addition to school visits every opportunity is taken to bring people into school who could add to the children's understanding and enjoyment of their topic work.