

EYFS
Early Years Foundation Stage
The EYFS area is divided into two classes: Nursery (age 3) and Reception (age 4)
The EYFS is a very important stage in a child’s life as it helps ensure school ‘readiness’ as well as preparing the way for future learning and success. Children’s early years experience should be happy, active, exciting, fun and secure with the intention of supporting their development, care and learning needs.
Every child deserves the best possible start in life and the support that enables them to fulfil their potential. Children develop quickly in the early years and a child’s experiences before the age of five will have a major impact on their future life chances.

Children should mostly develop the 3 prime areas first. These are:
These prime areas are those most essential for a child’s healthy development and future learning.
As children grow, the prime areas will help them to develop skills in 4 specific areas. These are:
- Literacy;
- Mathematics;
- Understanding the world;
- Expressive arts and design.

This is a little bit like the curriculum in the rest of the school but it is suitable for very young children, and is designed to be flexible so that staff can follow your child’s individual needs and interests.
This does not mean that all your child’s learning is divided up into specific areas. One experience may provide a child with opportunities to develop a number of skills and concepts across several areas of learning. Our expectation is that your child’s records will be passed on from Nursery, enabling us to ensure continuity throughout the Early Years Foundation Stage.

The guiding principles that shape our practice in the EarlyYears are that children are born ready, able and eager to learn. They actively reach out to interact with other people and the world around them. Development is not an automatic process, however. It depends on each unique child having opportunities to interact in positive relationships and enabling environments.

“Children are born ready, able and eager to learn.”

Phonics teaching and learning are a key part of the Foundation Stage and help to develop early reading and writing skills. If you visit our Nursery or a Reception class, you will see a range of activities taking place such as role-play, practical games, painting, cutting and sticking and reading in the book corner.
You will also see the outdoor classroom in operation, with equipment such as bikes, cars, sand and water.