St. Andrew's Church of England Methodist Primary School

St Andrew’s C E Methodist Aided Primary School

Early Years Foundation Stage

“Play is essential for children’s development, building their confidence as they learn to explore, to think about problems and relate to others. Children learn by their own play and by taking part in play which is guided by adults”. EYFS Handbook.

At St Andrew’s, we want out children to be confident individuals who feel safe, secure and happy in our setting. We ensure our Reception children develop a love of learning through a range of exciting and stimulating activities.

At St Andrew’s, we follow The Early Years framework which outlines the seven areas of learning and development. There are three prime areas of learning; Communication and Language, Personal, Social and Emotional Development and Physical Development. There are four specific areas of learning, through which the prime areas are strengthen and applied; Literacy, Mathematics, Understanding the World and Expressive Arts and Design.

All children will make progress from their individual starting points. Our curriculum ensures children are catered for through a range of differentiated activities and hands on experience both within the indoor and outdoor provision. Part of our curriculum involves learning in the moment, these teachable moments are unplanned and spontaneous. They can arise at any time and often involve children’s natural curiosity and desire to learn.

We ensure that our environment and delivery of the curriculum incorporates the three characteristics of effective teaching and learning:

Playing and exploring - children will have opportunities to investigate and experience things and ‘have a go’.
Active learning - children will have time and space to concentrate and keep on trying if they encounter difficulties, and enjoy their achievements.
Creating and thinking critically - we encourage and support children to have and develop their own ideas, make links between ideas, and develop strategies for doing things.

Please click here to look at ‘Our Shared Vision in Reception’.