"The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct."

Carl Jung

The Statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage sets the standards for learning, development and care for children from birth to 5 years.

The school’s EYFS provision is built around a firm belief that children are uniquely capable, creative and intelligent. Our intent is to ensure we maximise each child’s learning and level of engagement through enabling environments, positive interaction and explorative play. We aim to develop and embed the foundations for our children to be successful learners and have a life-long love of learning through wonder, exploration and inspiration. There is a shared aim that every child will fall in love with reading and a recognition among all leaders and EY practitioners, that success in reading is the gateway to learning across the school. Good relationships with parents are important to us and the need for every child to feel safe, happy and secure lies at the heart of our EY provision.  

Our Curriculum in action

We believe that high level engagement ensures high level attainment. We therefore provide an engaging curriculum that maximises opportunities for meaningful, cross-curricular links and learning experiences, as well as promoting the unique child by offering extended periods of play and sustained shared thinking. 

Our curriculum seeks to allow opportunities for children to make links between their learning and understanding.  New concepts are presented in a context the children understand to allow for a progressive curriculum that weaves in real first-hand experiences, opportunities and celebrations to build on children's natural curiosity. We plan for both inside and outside classrooms and equal importance is given to learning in both areas. Research shows that children use five times as many words outside as they do inside. 

Most importantly, our curriculum is purposeful and practical; embedded in play and provision. This allows us to respond to and extend our children’s learning, so they are intrinsically motivated and excited to come to school every day!

By the end of the Reception year, we aim to ensure that all children make at least good progress from their starting points and are equipped with the skills and knowledge to have a smooth transition into Year 1.

School Values

Our ethos is under-pinned by 4 core values: Believe, Engage, Succeed, Together. 

We believe that all our children have the potential to achieve and be confident learners from the start.

We know how to engage our children through the key principles of EYFS.

We give each of our children the opportunity to succeed.

We work together in partnership with our children and families to give them the best start in education.

English / Literacy/Phonics 

Reading is at the heart of our curriculum and our aim is to encourage a love of reading right from the start. In EYFS we aim to expose children to a range of books that not only develop a love of reading, but have been chosen specifically to develop their oracy, vocabulary and comprehension. High quality picture books are embedded in our provision through activities, story sessions and on display for children to access independently. Through this, children begin to internalise new vocabulary, language patterns and begin to retell stories. We promote a ‘six stories a day’ approach for our children.

To support this, we run a class library, whereby each child takes home two picture books a week to share with an adult. Children are encouraged to read at home and are listened to regularly in school. They are given books that match their phonic knowledge in order for them to apply their learning with the aim of becoming successful, confident and fluent readers.

Throughout our early years, we provide high quality learning environments and meaningful interactions with adults, to support children in developing mathematical thinking and discussion. Pupils learn through games and tasks using concrete manipulatives and pictorial structures and representations which are then rehearsed applied and recorded within their own child-led exploration.

Partnership with Parents

We recognise that children learn and develop well when there is a strong partnership between staff and parents and/or carers. Each child is assigned a key person who helps to ensure that their learning and care is tailored to meet their needs. 

Parents and/or carers are kept up to date with their child’s progress and development through our ‘focus child’ programme. There are four focus children in Reception and two in nursery each week. When a child is a focus child, we work with the parent/ carer by asking for their contributions. In school, we closely observe their child while they play to find out more about their interests and how they are progressing.