Infant Curriculum : Reception, Year 1 & Year 2

Our Reception curriculum (4 to 5 years of age) is guided by the British Framework for Early Years Foundation Stage 2021 and by the Cayman Islands Early Years Curriculum Framework (2015).

Within Reception, we focus on seven areas of learning and development with these separated into three Prime Areas: Communication and language; physical development; and personal, social and emotional development, alongside four Specific Areas: Literacy; mathematics; understanding the world; and expressive arts and design. Early learning goals, used as developmental benchmarks, assist teachers in gauging children’s readiness for the progressively structured curriculum of Year One.

Subject learning, including specialist subjects of music, PE, computing, and Spanish, are planned as part of integrated units of learning. Linking learning across subjects, using a variety of skills and knowledge within authentic contexts is key to us establishing a love of learning, cultivating innovative thinking, as well instilling an appreciation of how learning is transferable, between subjects and between people.

It is in Reception where the building blocks for how and why we learn are laid. Explorative and purposeful play is interspersed with short bursts of focused instruction from which the skills and knowledge necessary for student-led active learning and critical thinking experiences are guided and nurtured.  

In Years One and Two (5 to 7 years of age), our curriculum continues to build on developing these foundations of curiosity and creativity, only with the three Prime and Four Specific Areas of learning and development now making way for a more distinct subject-based curriculum comprising 3 core subjects: English; maths; and science, and the foundation subjects: Social studies; religious education; personal, social, and health education (PSHE), design and technology. Specialist subjects of music, computing, PE, and Spanish are taught by specialist teachers.

The how and why of learning in Years One and Two remain closely aligned with that of Reception. Discrete skills, knowledge and understanding taught in short bursts of direct instruction are linked within and between subjects through integrated units focusing on broader concepts. In so doing, children are encouraged to wonder and investigate, bringing their own ideas, questions, and experiences into a guided enquiry-based learning environment. Most importantly, the children are supported in the learning process as they encounter and rise to challenges, address misconceptions and confirm thinking, and reflect on their learning; ready to polish and apply recently acquired knowledge and skills in the next unit.

See It In Action