Early Years Foundation Stage Leader: Ms Kelly Aziz
The Foundation stage takes your child through their years in
Nursery and Reception classes from the age of 3 to 5.
Our aims are to make every child’s first experience of school happy, positive and fun. We achieve this by valuing all the different personalities, talents, experiences and interests each one of us brings.
We cover the seven areas of learning from the Statutory Curriculum Guidance for the Foundation Stage. These are:
Our eighth area of Learning is Religious Education.
Our planning format is specific to the Early Years and the children who attend the Nursery and Reception classes. Our assessments are based on the Kingston Early Years Foundation Stage Tracker which is firmly based on the ages and stages children are at taking into account that there can be 12 months age difference between children in one year’s intake. Our planning is topic based and led by the children's interests. To ensure a breadth of balance in the curriculum the Early Years Team make long, medium and short term plans which include adult led activities and opportunities for the children to initiate their own learning.
Each day the children are provided with the opportunity to learn indoors and outdoors. We are very fortunate to have two large outside areas with areas for digging, planting, exploring, playing football, riding bikes and scooters, as well as a large sandpit and an undercover outside classroom with specific areas set up to mirror the learning opportunities inside.
We have daily singing activities and music is an important part of our curriculum with regular instrumental activities. We dance, act and sing inside and out!
We regularly change our role play areas following and valuing the ideas and input of the children themselves who help to create props and suggest what we put into the areas themselves.
During our snack times we have the opportunity to chat together and enjoy hearing about all sorts of adventures the children have experienced or would like to! We share books with an adult a friend or on our own and have a special area in our classroom where we can sit and talk, contemplate the world around us or just quietly look at a favourite book, magazine or photo books about ourselves.
Inside the classrooms we have Smartboards which are used daily for whole class teaching as well as by the children independently. We also have computer tables where the children share the computer and ideas.
We celebrate our learning in our Learning Journals which the children have renamed ‘Our Special Books’ into which they put photos, drawings, paintings they are proud of doing at School and things they have achieved at home, we encourage and appreciate the participation of Parents and Carers in the children’s learning.
Our children are encouraged to become independent, confident and enthusiastic learners looking forward to a happy academic life as they leave us and move onto their future journey in Year 1. We encourage each of them to learn at their own pace and support their learning journey by valuing and recognising and celebrating their uniqueness.