Early Years

Early Years Foundation Stage

“The quality of teaching for children in the Early Years Foundation Stage is consistently outstanding.” OFSTED 2014

Our vision for EYFS at St Mary’s School is to inspire, engage and enthuse our pupils to be active learners every day. Our children in EYFS learn in a stimulating environment with high quality provision areas inside and outdoors. Our EYFS curriculum is developed with clear end points that are the foundations to the National curriculum.  Our whole school curriculum is from EYFS to Year 6 that is sequenced for practitioners to know what fundamental components are required for the next stage in our pupils education.  Through exciting provision the highest quality Early Years experience is delivered by establishing a firm foundation on which to build future academic, enterprising, social and emotional successes focusing particularly on well being, attitudes to learning, vocabulary and early reading. High aspirations are instilled in our pupils from a very early age and pupils self belief and ownership of learning allow them to take risk and develop resilience on a daily basis.

Our curriculum progression documents are at the bottom of this page. 

Our Learning Approach

In our EYFS class we follow the children’s interests on a daily basis around our themes. Our highly effective practitioners work with the children in the environment to encourage the pupils to explore and investigate problems, to ensure the best outcomes for all pupils. Their excellent knowledge of the Early Years Curriculum allows them to support pupils progress, allowing each child to have ownership of their learning.  At St Mary’s we believe the adults role is to facilitate opportunities for pupils to learn through sensitive interactions with clearly deliberately planned end points. By responding to pupils needs in this way, pupils see their learning as meaningful and being valued by adults. 

Daily Mathematics

Mathematics in Early Years at St Mary’s is based around the Early Years Mastery approach to Mathematics. Each week our teaching will be based around a number. The pupils will investigate and explore the 'Twoness of 2.'  This is through a range of planned and structured play situations, both independent, and supported by teachers as play partners, where there is plenty of scope for exploration. Not a moment is wasted throughout the day, as Maths is emphasised in all aspects of the daily routine e.g. snack-time /lining up etc. Maths through real-life and meaningful experiences, using practical hands-on resources is key here. 

Daily Phonics

Read Write Inc (RWI) is a phonics programme which helps all children learn to read fluently and at speed so they can focus on developing their skills in comprehension, vocabulary, and spelling.  It also allows them to spell effortlessly so that they can put all their energy into composing what they write. The children are assessed by the RWI lead teacher and grouped according to their ability. Small group phonics lessons are taught daily by trained staff and there are consistent expectations across the range of abilities. At the end of each half term the children are assessed to check on their progress and regrouped.

Children learn sounds in school which help them to read and write. They then practise these skills through reading 'Book Bag Books' at home which are specifically pitched to both consolidate learning and provide challenge in an engaging and fun way! 

Parents as Partners

Tapestry is a secure online Learning Journal we use to record photos, observations and comments, in line with the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum, to build up a record of your child’s experiences during their time with us. This system allows us to work with parents and carers to share information and record the children’s play and learning in and outside of the classroom on a daily basis. At St Mary's we actively encourage our parents to upload home achievements onto Tapesty, these are celebrated in class throughout the week.