Early Years

At St.Peter's CofE Primary School we intent to create a learning environment and build relationships which support, enhance and invite a child's curiosity, confidence and individual competency to flourish regardless of backgrounds, circumstance or needs.

Our Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum has been designed with the intent that our children will develop a broad range of knowledge and skills and develop a love for lifelong learning.  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.  Hence, we build strong foundations, focusing first on the prime and then the specific areas of learning, this will enable the development of the whole child.  We work closely with parents and carers to develop each child's sense of self, allowing us to give the children the best possible start in life and ensuring they receive a safe, secure and happy childhood.

Vocabulary and language development are at the heart of our curriculum.  We create a language rich environment which supports the children to learn new vocabulary.  We support children to become confident and expressive in their communication as this underpins their development in all other areas of learning.

Our curriculum has been developed to be relevant to the children in our school; their interests, needs, community, culture and prior experiences.  Recognising the children's prior learning from home and previous settings.  We respect that children have different starting point.  Using on-going assessments and detailed understanding of each child, we work with children on their individual, developmentally appropriate next steps during play.  Research shows that children make better progress when learning through play as they are already engaged.  The adult role is to move them forwards in playful and engaging ways; this supports them to fulfil their potential. 

We provide a broad and balanced curriculum which is tailored to the needs of the children.  Our learning environment is carefully organised to enable high-quality play and high levels of engagement. 

During play our highly skills adults support the children to develop their language and vocabulary.  Planning details the vocabulary to be taught in each area of the provision.  To support language development and increase each child's exposure to a range of words, we read two stories to the children each day.  All children also read one to one with an adult at least twice a week, where new vocabulary and meaning can be unpicked through out the text and pictures.  Through the use of Infant Language Link assessments, we identify children who have difficulty in understanding or require speech therapy.  This also informs which children need targeted early intervention.

To create a relevant and engaging curriculum we carefully consider the individual needs, interest and development of each child.  We use this information to plan challenging and enjoyable experiences throughout all areas of learning and development.  Our learning is also individualised through the assessments taking place during playful interactions with our children.  Our practitioners draw on their knowledge of the child to assess if they are meeting age related expectations.  Our assessments identify what each child needs to learn next and pinpoint why a child might be finding something difficult.  Our assessments enable us to identify next steps and implement them in the moment.