Welcome to EYFS
In our holy family, we all thrive socially, academically and spiritually to our fullest potential.
Our Foundation Stage unit caters for children from 3 to 5 years old (mixed Foundation Stage 1 and Foundation Stage 2), combining continuous provision with specific focus sessions created for the age and needs of the pupils.
Children are born with a natural desire to explore and learn, we support them in this through creating a superb stimulating and enabling environment, both for their physical and emotional needs. Through planning, resourcing and organising various provocations and experiences we strive to create moments of magic and wonder.
Adults in our setting are passionate and positive practitioners building the most valuable relationships with the children and their carers, forming essential bonds with families at the start of their journey through school.
The children will experience a broad and varied curriculum, which inspires them and enables them to develop the capacity and love for learning, as well as providing them with a secure basis on which to build their confidence, manage their feelings and form relationships. Emphasis is placed on the importance of first-hand experiences and exploration in enabling children to learn about the world around them appropriate to their needs, interests and stages of development.
Child-led learning in our setting allows children to thrive whilst making accelerated progress towards end of key stage outcomes. Each child’s progress is carefully observed, managed and enhanced by adults who engage and interact with them to support them to achieve outstanding outcomes.
Our curriculum follows the Early Years Foundation Stage Statutory Framework. At the end of Reception / Foundation Stage 2, children are assessed against the Early Learning Goals (ELGs) to ensure that they are prepared for the next stage of learning.
To support our pupils towards thriving and achieving the ELGs, we use Development Matters to help us develop our curriculum.
There are seven areas of learning and development.
Three prime areas are particularly important for learning and forming relationships.
Communication and Language
Physical development
Personal, social and emotional development
There are four specific areas which help strengthen and develop the three prime areas, igniting children’s curiosity and enthusiasm.
Literacy
Mathematics
Understanding the world
Expressive arts and design
In addition, we have a specific Religious Education area.
Each of the seven areas is broken down into elements. There are seventeen elements to assess when completing Early Learning Goals assessments.
Religious Education
Our curriculum is rooted the the Catholic nature of our school. We use the Religious Education Directory branches (see Curriculum page for more information) to structure our school year and provide purposeful links to our Catholic ethos and the wider world.
Communication and Language
This includes:
Listening, Attention and Understanding
Speaking
Throughout their time in Foundation stage, children will be given lots of wide and varied opportunities to develop their communication and language skills. We actively celebrate the many languages that children speak and use a range of communication methods including the use of signs and symbols and British Sign Language. As a school, we use British Sign Language in a variety of ways to support our learners.
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
This includes:
Self- Regulation
Managing Self
Building relationships
We teach our children about our school values from the very first day, forming the basis of how we form relationships, manage emotions and behaviour. Our school motto: Together in Love is rooted in ‘Family’ as depicted by our school name – the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. We actively promote positive choices through the use of Mission Points, celebrating choices that support our Mission Values. Many of our staff are also Team Teach trained, emphasising positive ways of supporting our children to self-regulate and keep themselves safe.
In addition, we use Ten: Ten, Life to the Full, to provide a sequential curriculum, rooted in our Catholic ethos, to teach children about Relationships and Health through our RHE curriculum This continues throughout school.
Physical Development
This includes:
Gross Motor Skills
Fine Motor Skills
Supporting our children to be healthy and active is key for life long success. Each day, children develop fine motor and gross motor skills through play and active learning within our fantastic spaces. Our children also take part in Outdoor Learning with our Outdoor learning lead including using balance bikes and going canoeing. This is in addition to specific Physical Education lessons.
Each day pupils are provided with a range of opportunities to develop their fine motor skills, the building blocks of writing and more intricate and complex tasks.
Understanding the World
This includes:
Past and Present
People, Culture and Communities
The Natural World
This area forms the building blocks of Science, History, Geography and RE as well as British Values and Catholic Social Teaching.
Taking care of our world is a theme throughout the pupils’ time at Holy Family, following the Pope’s Letter ‘Laudato Si’ calling us to be stewards of the world for the following generations.
We celebrate the varied cultures and experiences that our children bring to our family and help our children understand who they are and where the are in the world.
Expressive Arts and Design
This includes:
Creating with Materials
Being Imaginative and Expressive
This area forms the building blocks of art and design technology as well as imagination, joy and creativity throughout the whole curriculum. The skills and opportunities are cross curricular, helping children to express their ideas in different ways.
Mathematics
This includes:
Number
Numerical Patterns
This area is the foundation of Mathematics across school. In Reception, children are introduced to more formal Maths lessons through the Maths Mastery program. All children are given opportunities to explore and apply Mathematics throughout the Foundation stage including focus tasks and through continuous provision.
Literacy
This includes:
Comprehension
Word Reading
Writing
Phonics
In Foundation Stage 2 we use the Little Wandle Synthetic Phonics scheme. At the start of the year we focus on Phase 2 and as we learn each phoneme (sound) a sheet will be sent home with your child so you can practise this at home together. By the end of Reception, children should have mastered Phase 3 and 4 in preparation for Year 1. For more information, visit our Early Reading / Phonics page.
Reading at Home
Throughout their time at Holy Family, reading is a key focus. Reading for pleasure ignites passion and creativity as well as supporting emotional well-being. Sharing a book together is also a fantastic way of developing relationships with each other. Books have a high status and we have regular story times as well as pupils having access to a range of books at all times.
In Foundation Stage 2 / Reception, your child will bring home two reading books every week. One will be a book for you to read and share together, whilst the other will be linked to their phonics. As we are introducing the sounds you will be kept informed of which ones we have been learning. Please record your child’s reading in their reading record at least three times a week. You can also include other books you have been sharing at home.
Please make sure you return your child’s reading books on the day set out by the teacher so that the next group can access the resources.
Parents can further support their children with their reading through:
Predicting – What do they think this text is about?
Clarify – What new vocabulary have they experienced? Meaning?
Question – What would they still like to know?
Summary – In their words, what is the text about?
Writing
Alongside the Phonics scheme and fine motor skills development, children begin to express themselves through writing. This begins with mark making for different purposes. Children are given lots of opportunities to explore writing using different media. This forms the basis of more formal writing as children move into Key Stage 1 and beyond.
Resources for Parents
At Holy Family, we believe that we are all part of a family, supporting each other so that everyone can thrive. We also recognise and celebrate that you, as the parents and carers of our pupils, are the first educators.
In order to support you, please find some resources below. If you would like more ideas / support, please speak to our experienced Early Years Foundation Team.
Please click on the following link to access a useful parent guide about what to expect at different stages of your child’s development. Parent Guide
Holy Family: Together in Love
Phonics: For parents | Letters and Sounds (littlewandlelettersandsounds.org.uk)
Top Ten Storytimes to Enjoy: This collection of our top 10 tales, often read by the author, are suitable for 3-7-year olds (though older children may enjoy them too). The book covers are included so children can see and choose what they’d like. Reading for pleasure is about engaging with books or any texts that interest you, so children’s choice is key.
Why not try yoga with your child to help them to calm down but also to get exercise too. It is a little website called Cosmic Kids yoga and it has several types of yoga based on different stories. For example, the hungry caterpillar, Room on a broom, Frozen. See which story you and your child like the best.
