Christ Church Primary School, Moreton

Early Years Foundation Stage

Welcome to the Early Years Foundation Stage at Christ Church

Our Early Years settings are the first step on your child’s journey here with us at Christ Church and we would like to extend a warm welcome to you, into our school community.  As part of our school, we have a brand new Pre School as well as two Foundation Stage 2 (Reception) classes in our EYFS unit.  The EYFS is led by Mrs Belen Campbell and consists of a team of highly skilled teachers and teaching assistants that work together to provide the very best start for your child on their educational journey.

Our Pre school and FS2 classrooms are next to each other and purposefully designed to be inviting and exciting for our youngest children.  They are set up to encourage children to be inquisitive, explorative, creative and to motivate them to access a wide range of learning opportunities across the EYFS curriculum.  Ensuring your children are happy and excited to come to school is a priority for us. 

Our EYFS team have worked together to ensure our Pre School and FS2 classrooms are progressive and enable children to consistently access teaching and learning opportunities at a level that challenges them to achieve the best they can in all areas.  Our EYFS rooms support children in developing independence and resilience, the connection between Pre School and FS2 allows children to be a part of the wider school and supports transition into school for those that choose to attend our Pre School.

Our EYFS hosts a large outdoor learning environment that both Pre School and FS2 have access to throughout the school day.  It comprises of focus areas that support children in developing their social, communication and physical skills through fun, purposeful play.

Our children learn through a carefully planned curriculum that takes into consideration their starting points, interests and how they learn best. 

To find out more about our EYFS, please click the links below. Check out our school Twitter and other social media to see our EYFS learning in action. We would welcome anyone wanting to find out more about starting school at Christ Church to contact our Early Years Team via the school office at any time.

 

Who's Who?

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Mrs Kerr - EYFS Teaching Assistant

 

“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 - setting the standards for learning, development and care for children from birth to five. 2021)

At Christ Church, striving for the best possible start to children’s educational journey is at the heart of all that we do.  We aim to provide an ambitious, broad and balanced play based curriculum that inspires children to be independent, resilient and confident in all that they do.  A strong Christian Ethos underpins throughout our curriculum.  It is important to us that children in Christ Church are motivated to learn and that they are joyful and excited by all that they do.  Through the balance of a specifically planned curriculum and following children’s interests and leads in learning, adults provide high quality teaching and learning opportunities to ensure all children make progress and achieve the best they possibly can. 

Our curriculum is based on the principles of the EYFS Statutory Framework 2021, that takes into consideration children’s prior early learning and development experiences; their starting points at Christ Church; and their future learning when they progress into the National Curriculum.  .  We strive to provide a language rich learning environment that promotes the development of vocabulary, using high quality texts to offer stimulating and engaging hooks into learning opportunities for all children.  Our children will learn to collaborate, communicate, explore and investigate through the following 7 areas of learning:

Prime Areas

Communication and Language

Physical Development

Personal, Social and Emotional Development

 

Specific Areas

Literacy

Mathematics

Understanding the World

Expressive Arts and Design

 

All areas are of equal importance and interconnected in order to allow children to grow, learn and achieve to their full potential.  All adults in our EYFS take time each day to notice how children are learning, their interests and what motivates them to learn.  We consider the Characteristics of Effective learning alongside these observations to carefully and effectively plan for all children’s next steps.

Characteristics of Effective Learning

Playing and Exploring

children investigate and experience things, and ‘have a go’

Active Learning

children concentrate and keep on trying if they encounter difficulties, and enjoy achievements

Creating and Thinking Critically

children have and develop their own ideas, make links between ideas, and develop strategies for doing things

 

At Christ Church, our children have continuous daily access to outdoor provision, regular planned forest school sessions as well as other opportunities that further enhance their learning and enjoyment of school such as trips, visitors and events.  It is essential to us at Christ Church that we establish strong home school partnerships so that our children are supported in all aspects of their life.  Through this effective relationship, our children will develop a strong sense of themselves; their cultural capital; and be nurtured, loved and cared for. 

Through all of this, we hope that the children that join us at Christ Church will develop a strong foundation for lifelong learning that enables them to pursue their passions and have an impact on the world around them.

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Intent

At Christ Church our children’s early childhood experiences fundamentally shape and inform what we want our children to learn and, have a direct impact on how we facilitate and provide this.  For a large proportion of the children that start at Christ Church in EYFS, focusing on early communication and language skills, specifically speech pronunciation and vocabulary, are a high priority as well as developing secure relationships that ensure a secure foundation for learning.  Children that start Christ Church have historically joined us from a large number of different pre-school settings, understanding their educational and personal  background ensures that we can plan effectively to meet their individual needs.  Our strong links and collaborative partnerships with local pre-schools enable us to begin the transition to school early.  We aim to forge strong partnerships with families early on, and through this consider the learning environment and teaching opportunities for all children.  There are many experiences that children starting Christ Church may have not have had the opportunity to take part in due to the impact of COVID and lockdowns.  Taking these into consideration and integrating these types of experiences into their learning journey is a vital part of what we offer at Christ Church.  Giving children the opportunity to grow and learn through play forms the basis for all that we offer at Christ Church.

Striving for the best possible start to children’s educational journey is at the heart of all that we do in Christ Church.  Through a carefully planned and delivered play based curriculum, we aspire for all children to be independent, resilient and confident in all that they do.  It is important to us that children in Christ Church are motivated to learn and that they are joyful and excited by all that they do.  Through the balance of a specifically planned curriculum and following children’s interests and leads in learning, adults provide high quality teaching and learning opportunities to ensure all children make progress and achieve the best they possibly can.  It is essential to us at Christ Church that we establish strong home school partnerships so that our children are supported in all aspects of their life.  Through this effective relationship, our children will develop a strong sense of themselves; their cultural capital; and be nurtured, loved and cared for. 

 Through all of this, the children that join us at Christ Church will develop a strong foundation for lifelong learning that enables them to pursue their passions and have an impact on the world around them.

 

 

Implementation

At Christ Church we have created a carefully planned, ambitious curriculum that incorporates a balance of adult led and child initiated learning opportunities.  It is a curriculum based on the principles of the EYFS Statutory Framework 2021, that takes into consideration children’s prior early learning and development experiences; their starting points at Christ Church; and their future learning when they progress into the National Curriculum. 

At Christ Church, we strive to provide a language rich learning environment that promotes the development of vocabulary, using high quality texts to offer stimulating and engaging hooks into learning opportunities for all children.  Fundamental to our curriculum and delivery of this is providing high quality continuous provision and adult interactions that evolve and progress throughout the year.  This is planned to ensure that all children make continuous progress, and are given opportunities to learn new skills and knowledge that are age appropriate and relevant to their individual next steps in learning. 

The learning environment, provision and adult interactions with children change and adapt as the year progresses.  Taking into consideration each cohort’s needs and reflecting this is essential each year, however the basis of how these progress remains fundamentally consistent each year.   An exemplification of how this progression would look at different points throughout the year can be found in our EYFS Progression document.

Ongoing informal observations of how individual children play and learn informs next steps for teaching and learning.  These next steps include enhancements in provision; adult directed activities; interventions for support; adult interactions through play and direct teaching sessions.  Staff work closely as a team to consistently reflect upon how all children are learning, their preferences for play and specific direct teaching sessions in order to implement changes that ensure children are given opportunities to learn with depth and breadth.

Providing regular links with home in a variety of ways, allows us to maintain our close working partnership with parents and carers.  The use of Tapestry allows families to contribute to their child’s overall learning journey and share ‘wow’ moments from home as well as seeing these that have happened in school too.   This enables parents and carers to support and extend learning that has taken place in school, engage in positive conversations about their child’s day, and for staff to celebrate and communicate with children about their home life.  Through this we establish a cohesive partnership with the child at the very centre.

Summative assessments at regular points throughout the year, allow all EYFS staff to contribute and discuss children’s current learning stage and individual next steps.  Through this, children that may be working below the expected standard are clearly identified with plans put in place to support them in making further progress to catch up.  Children that demonstrate particular strengths in aspects of learning are discussed within the staff team, and opportunities to grow and develop these further are also planned for.  An effective working partnership with our school SENCO and other external agencies allows us to identify children that may present with additional needs and plan appropriate interventions of support that are required.  As part of our summative and formative ongoing assessments, other key interventions, future teaching and learning opportunities and adaptations to provision are planned for to close gaps and ensure children catch up with learning where needed and explore their knowledge and skills with breadth and depth.

 

 

Impact

Children in Christ Church will leave our FS2 as confident, independent learners developing resilience and perseverance in all that they do.  They will have a strong sense of self and their place within our school and Christian community.  Children will have gathered a wide range of essential skills and knowledge that provide a secure foundation for when they continue their learning and move into the National Curriculum in Year 1.  They will be able to seek help when needed and offer support to their peers with empathy.  They will be able to manage their feelings and be able to adapt to work with different children and in different situations.  Children will have built positive, secure relationships with staff across school and will draw upon this to support their future learning.  Children will have secure knowledge and skills in early phonics, reading, writing and maths and will be able to apply these independently in a variety of different ways and contexts.  The children that leave FS2 will be happy and feel secure and safe in school.  They will have experienced a wide range of learning opportunities that will be embedded into their memory for years to come.  Each child will have made individual progress in all aspects of their life and learning, they will be ready to move on to the National Curriculum in Year 1, and will be motivated to take on the next stage in their learning journey.

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Christ Church Primary School, MoretonUpton Road, Moreton, Wirral, Merseyside, CH46 0PB