Early Years Foundation Stage

'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 between birth and age five have a major impact on their future life chances. A secure, safe and happy childhood is important in its own right. Good parenting and high quality early learning together provide the foundation children need to make the most of their abilities and talents as they grow up.'

(Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage 2021)

In the Foundation stage at St Peter’s CofE Primary School we ensure every child has the best experience of school, they feel loved, nurtured and valued, have self-belief, independence, confidence and resilience so that they can achieve their potential, loves learning and has fun.

Curriculum Intent

At St Peter's we believe that a child's early learning experiences deeply effect their future development. We understand that building secure and nurturing relationships with the children and their families is essential to maximise the learning potential of every child.

We have tailored our curriculum from the guidance of Development Matters and Birth to 5 Matters to provide a rich learning experience that supports development, consolidates and deepens knowledge and supports children to achieve their next steps in learning. Our half termly topics are centred on much loved stories to develop a life long love of reading and include child interests and fascinations.

We follow the seven areas of learning:

Prime Areas

• Communication and Language (Listening, Attention, Understanding and Speaking)
• Personal, Social and Emotional (Self Regulation, Managing Self and Building Relationships)
• Physical Development (Fine and Gross Motor Skills)

Specific Areas

• Literacy (Comprehension, Phonics, Reading and Writing)
• Maths (Number, Numerical Pattern, Space Shape and Measure)
• Understanding the World (Past and Present, Culture and Communities, The Natural World)
• Expressive Art and Design (Creating with Materials, Being Imaginitive and Expressive, Music)

These areas of learning are all connected and your child will take a journey through them to develop knowledge and understanding in a way that is appropriate for them, enabling them to achieve all 17 Early Learning Goals at the end of Reception (F2). 

We ensure that the children can display and develop The Characteristics of Effective Learning:

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

Our Foundation Unit enables learning indoors and outdoors, provision is linked to child interest, topic and theme, enables next steps in learning and provokes curiosity.

Each week we further our outdoor learning in our woodland area The Triangle of Land on Wellie Wednesdays.

Parents 

We aim to develop excellent relationships with our children's families. We like to celebrate your child's achievements outside of school and welcome any addtions to our online learning journey Tapestry. If you have any queries or questions please don't hesitate to ask a member of the Foundation Team.

Please see our class pages for further information