Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)
At St Ignatius Catholic Primary School, we believe that the Early Years are where a lifelong love of learning begins.
Our Nursery and Reception children learn together within a warm, nurturing and ambitious Early Years environment where they are encouraged to wonder, explore, communicate, create and belong. We recognise every child as unique and seek to provide the strong foundations they need to flourish academically, socially, emotionally and spiritually.
Intent
Our Early Years curriculum is designed to give every child the strongest possible start to their education.
Children arrive at St Ignatius with different experiences, interests, strengths and needs. We therefore provide a broad, language-rich and inclusive curriculum that builds carefully from children’s individual starting points and supports progression from Nursery into Reception and beyond.
Our curriculum is rooted in the seven areas of learning within the Early Years Foundation Stage, with particular emphasis on the three prime areas:
Communication and Language
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
Physical Development
These foundations enable children to succeed within the specific areas of:
Literacy
Mathematics
Understanding the World
Expressive Arts and Design
Communication and language sit at the heart of our curriculum. Through stories, conversations, songs, rhymes, carefully chosen vocabulary and high-quality interactions with adults, children develop the confidence and language they need to express ideas, ask questions and make sense of the world around them.
We want our children to become curious thinkers: children who notice, investigate, question, make connections and are excited to discover more.
As a Catholic school, our faith and mission are woven throughout life in the Early Years. Children learn that they are known, loved and valued. Through prayer, scripture, Religious Education, relationships and everyday experiences, we nurture kindness, compassion, respect and a strong sense of belonging.
Implementation
Our curriculum is delivered through a carefully planned balance of direct teaching, small-group learning, purposeful play and high-quality continuous provision.
Children have sustained opportunities to learn both indoors and outdoors. Our learning environments are deliberately organised so that children can revisit previous learning, practise new skills, follow their interests and become increasingly independent.
Adults play an essential role within provision. Staff observe carefully, join children’s play sensitively and use interaction, modelling, questioning and carefully chosen vocabulary to deepen learning. Provision is continually adapted in response to children’s needs, interests and next stages of development.
Communication, Language and Books
Stories are central to our Early Years curriculum.
Carefully selected Books of the Week expose children to high-quality language, rich illustrations, different cultures and experiences, traditional stories, poetry and non-fiction.
Children hear stories every day and are given frequent opportunities to retell, discuss, perform and respond to what they have heard.
Talk and vocabulary are deliberately developed through whole-class teaching, small groups and interactions throughout provision.
Early Reading and Phonics
Early reading begins in Nursery through songs, rhymes, listening activities, oral blending, sound discrimination and a love of books.
In Reception, children receive daily systematic synthetic phonics teaching through Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised.
Children practise applying their growing phonic knowledge through carefully matched reading books and structured reading practice. Assessment is used to identify children who require additional support so that targeted keep-up can be provided promptly.
Mathematics
Mathematical understanding is developed through direct teaching and meaningful opportunities to explore mathematics throughout the environment.
In Reception, our teaching is informed by White Rose Maths, alongside practical experiences that allow children to explore number, pattern, shape, measure, comparison and mathematical relationships.
Mathematics is also embedded within everyday play. Children might count objects in construction, compare capacity at the water area, measure ingredients in the mud kitchen, investigate weight outdoors or explore pattern through creative activities.
Learning Through Provision
Continuous provision is an important part of our curriculum rather than time separate from teaching.
Our indoor and outdoor environments provide opportunities for children to apply and deepen learning across all areas of the EYFS.
Children have access to experiences including:
- construction and loose-parts play
- imaginative and small-world play
- mark making and early writing
- mathematics and investigation
- sand and water exploration
- creative and sensory experiences
- gardening and understanding the natural world
- gross and fine motor development
- books, storytelling and language
- opportunities for movement, regulation and calm.
Enhancements are added thoughtfully to connect provision with current learning while retaining the familiar resources children need to develop independence, creativity and increasingly complex play.
Personal Development and Wellbeing
Children learn best when they feel safe, secure and understood.
Predictable routines, warm relationships and clear expectations help children develop independence and confidence.
We explicitly teach children how to recognise emotions, regulate themselves, build positive relationships and resolve difficulties with increasing independence.
Our RSE and personal development curriculum is supported through Ten Resources and My Happy Mind, alongside daily experiences within the classroom.
Religious Education
Our Catholic identity is visible throughout the Early Years.
Children participate in prayer and liturgy and encounter scripture in ways appropriate to their age. Religious Education provides opportunities to wonder, reflect, ask questions and begin to understand God’s love for them and others.
Children are encouraged to care for one another and for God’s world and to recognise the dignity and uniqueness of every person.
Inclusion
We have high expectations for every child.
Teaching, interactions, environments and routines are adapted carefully to enable children with SEND, additional needs or different starting points to participate meaningfully in Early Years life.
Where children require additional support, adults work closely together with families, the school’s SEND team and external professionals.
Children who require additional help receive targeted support while continuing to belong fully within the life of their class.
Assessment
Assessment in the Early Years is purposeful and proportionate.
Staff build a detailed understanding of children through their interactions, observations, conversations and children’s work. This knowledge is used to identify what children know, understand and can do and to decide what they need to experience or learn next.
In Reception, the Reception Baseline Assessment provides an additional starting point at the beginning of the year.
Little Wandle assessments, mathematical assessment and ongoing professional judgement help staff identify children who require additional teaching or support.
Our focus is always on knowing our children well and using assessment to improve teaching and provision, rather than generating unnecessary evidence.
Partnership with Families
Parents and carers know their children best and are important partners in their education.
We aim to build open and positive relationships with families from the beginning of their child’s journey at St Ignatius.
We share children’s learning, provide information about phonics, reading and the curriculum, celebrate achievements and encourage families to contribute experiences and information from home.
Impact
The impact of our Early Years curriculum can be seen in children who are happy, secure, engaged and enthusiastic about learning.
We want children to leave Reception as:
confident communicators who can listen, talk and express their ideas;
curious thinkers who ask questions, investigate and make connections;
enthusiastic readers who enjoy books and have secure early decoding skills;
young mathematicians who notice number, pattern and mathematical relationships in the world around them;
independent learners who persevere, make choices and take increasing responsibility;
creative learners who imagine, design, make and express themselves;
kind and compassionate friends who understand themselves and increasingly understand the feelings of others;
and children of faith who know they are loved, valued and belong within the St Ignatius community.
By the end of Reception, children have developed secure foundations across the seven areas of learning and are well prepared for the next stage of their education.
Above all, we want children to leave our Early Years with a strong sense of:
“I belong here. I can learn. I can wonder. I can have a go.”