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Early Years

A quality start to the learning journey

"Every child deserves the best possible start in life and the support that enables them to fulfil their potential." (EYFS statutory guidance)

 Our Vision

We have very high expectations and are always striving to ensure we are meeting every child's needs. We believe that all children deserve the best possible start and planning supports the teaching and learning process to ensure strong outcomes for all children.

We will inspire and encourage children to be kind, respect each other, aspire to be the best they can be, develop their resilience and the importance of working together.

What is the Early Years Foundation Stage?

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) sets the standards that all early years providers must meet to ensure that children learn and develop well and are kept healthy and safe.

Indoor and outdoor play are essential for young children to enable them to explore and discover. We actively encourage children to engage in key learning experiences, both in the indoor and outdoor environments.

Key principles of our EYFS provision:

A Unique Child – We believe that every child is a competent learner who can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured. We recognise that children learn and develop in individual ways and at varying rates. Children's attitudes and dispositions to learning are influences by consistent and regular feedback so we use praise and encouragement as well as celebration and rewards to develop a positive attitude towards learning.

Positive relationships – We recognise that children learn to be strong and independent from a base of secure relationships. We aim to develop caring, respectful and professional relationships with all children and their families.

Enabling environments – We recognise the key role the environment plays in supporting and extending children's development. Through regular observation, we assess children's interests, stages of development and learning needs, before planning challenging and achievable activities and experiences which will extend their learning.

Learning and development –  Our Reception classroom is organised so as to allow children to explore and learn in security and safety. The space is set up into learning areas and children are able to access resources independently. Children are able to access indoor and outdoor experiences every day.

The characteristics of effective learning underpin all areas of learning and development in the EYFS. These are:

  • Playing and exploring
  • Active learning
  • Creating and thinking critically

    Children learn through seven key areas of learning and development: all of these areas are essential for young children and all are important and are inter-connected. There are three prime areas: Communication and Language, Physical development and Personal, social and emotional development. There are four other specific areas which are: Literacy, Mathematics, Understanding the World and Expressive Arts and Design.
  • Communication and Language and the development of children's spoken language underpins all seven areas of learning and development
  • Reading consists of two dimensions: language comprehension and word reading. It is crucial for children to develop a life long love of Reading.