The 4 Specific areas provide children with knowledge and skills to flourish in society. They offer ways of representing and understanding with more formal symbols systems such as numbers, letters and other cultural tools and methods such as an awareness of quantity, finding out how things work, rhythm and movement. The Specific areas also reflect individual children’s life experiences, including their cultural and social background.

1. Literacy

• Comprehension – retell stories, predict key events in stories, use and understand ‘story language’ during discussions and during role-play
• Word Reading – say sounds for letters in the alphabet (phonemes) and at least 10 digraphs (‘special friends’), read words by sound-blending (‘Fred Talk’), read aloud simple sentences including some common exception words (‘red words’)
• Writing – correctly form recognisable letters, spelling words by segmenting the sounds, write simple phrases and sentences

What this looks like at Thornhill:

Read Write Inc phonics scheme taught explicitly and embedded in all aspects of Literacy teaching, multiple daily story times, poetry competition, story props and costumes, daily mark-making opportunities, all stages of mark-making and writing celebrated, story-mapping, child-initiated writing opportunities, home-school reading partnership, well-stocked writing resources in role-play areas, outdoor writing picnic benches, weekly writing challenges, Helicopter Stories, clearly labelled resources

2. Mathematics

• Number – deep understanding of numbers to 10, recognise quantities without counting to 5, number bonds to 5, some number bonds to 10, double facts
• Numerical Patterns – verbally count beyond 20, patterns in the counting system, greater than/less than/same as, evens and odds, double facts, sharing quantities

What this looks like at Thornhill: counting how many children are in, ‘maths talk’, large scale maths resources, open-ended ‘loose parts’ counting resources, maths taught through songs and rhymes, daily calendar, cooking opportunities and measuring ingredients for playdough, estimating, creating patterns in our artwork, exploring capacity through mud/sand/water, construction play

3. Understanding the World

• Past and Present – roles of people in society, comparing past and now, explore the past through storytelling
• People, Culture and Communities – immediate environment, comparing religious and cultural communities in Britain, comparing life in Britain and other countries, using maps and non-fiction texts
• The Natural World – explore animals and plants through observations and drawings, compare and contrast natural environments, seasons, changing states of matter

What this looks like at Thornhill:

Firefighters’ visit, religious celebration afternoons, ‘Who Am I?’ projects, significant figures and artists from the past, exploring our local area, links with Barnsbury Square Gardens for termly ‘mud mulching’, caterpillars, Science Week, exploring the changing seasons, Holi ‘Carnival of Colour’ celebration, exploring maps, science experiments

4. Expressive Arts and Design

• Creating with Materials – explore materials/tools/techniques, sharing creations, explaining processes, using props and materials when role playing
• Being Imaginative and Expressive – storytelling through recounting/inventing/adapting, singing nursery rhymes and songs, performing, moving in time with music

What this looks like at Thornhill:

Open-access craft resources, junk-modelling area, visiting musicians, weekly music sessions, Nativity performance, poetry competition, Talk for Writing storytelling, Helicopter Stories, collaborative collages, daily singing, weekly singing assembly, colour mixing, chalk, mark-making encouraged across the provision