Foundation Stage 1 / Nursery

'There are three teachers of children: adults, other children and their physical environment'

Loris Malaguzzi 

Welcome to our 'Outstanding' Foundation Stage!

OFSTED say: 

'Outstanding teaching in the early years is helping children to make rapid gains.'

'Teaching in the early years is leading to outstanding progress. Staff have excellent subject knowledge and are excited by their work. Teachers and teaching assistants sensitively question children to promote deeper understanding. Staff work with small groups of children to effectively model language, helping children to develop their vocabulary.' 

'Because of excellent relationships with adults and a vibrant environment that ensures they are fully involved in learning, children behave very well in the early years.'

'Parents are regularly invited into the setting to take part in learning activities alongside their children. Parents had a strong affinity to the school, with some moving into the local area to secure a place for their child.'

We hugely value and respect learning through play, combining a child-led approach through enhanced continuous provision, with direct, bespoke small group teaching and intervention at the point of learning. Curiosity is engendered through relationships, interests, surprise and the natural world. We learn inside and outdoors each day, utilising our open spaces well. 

By using the Early Years Foundation Stage Statutory Framework' and 'Development Matters' we ensure breadth of coverage and learning in line with developmental ages and stages of the children.  

We develop our children’s cultural capital through a range of themes that spark interest, incorporating children’s passions and fascinations. 

We create close partnerships with all our families to together provide the foundation children need to make the most of their abilities and talents as they grow up. Our families join us for 'Early Reading' projects, 'Family Art' groups with our 'Artist in Residence'; opportunities to volunteer in our Foundation Stage are plentiful and we value the teamwork that is palpable here. 

We love reading! We immerse our children in high quality texts by sharing wonderful picture books regularly - we are a 'Power of Reading' school. We learn and play with stories through talk and play. We model what it is to be a good reader and good storytellers. We play with and explore the sounds in the world around us, and investigate the sounds that we can make ourselves. 

We sing songs and play with rhymes throughout the day to train our ears to hear sounds and patterns. We learn songs off by heart and sing to one another. We visit theatres and welcome visitors who sing and play instruments to us. Rhymes are fantastic vocabulary boosters. They often feature a pleasing rhythmic pattern and simple repetitive phrases that babies and young children find easy to remember and repeat. In order to develop their phonological awareness, children need to be repeatedly exposed to spoken language and nursery rhymes provide the perfect way to do this. 

We chat! Oracy lies at the heart of all we do. Using oracy frameworks and structures we model, encourage and develop speaking and listening skills through play. We use 'Helicopter Stories' to bring our children's stories and drawing to life through acting and play. We know that communication and language skills are a basis for literacy - our focus on literacy impacts on the long-term attainment and social and cultural life of our children and is of the highest importance to us. 

We master mathematics in Early Years.  Young children are naturally curious, noticing differences in quantity and the shape of objects, and use early mathematical concepts when they play. We know mathematical understanding helps children make sense of the world around them, interpret situations, and solve problems in everyday life, whether that’s understanding time, sharing amounts with their peers, or counting in play. 

In our Nursery we offer free early learning places to three and four year olds. We can offer both 15 and 30 hours free early learning places. We also offer a top up service where parents and carers can top up their free hours for a fee. Please ask our Nursery or Office staff if this is something you are interested in. 

 Our session times are:

Morning session: 8.30-11.30

Afternoon session: 12.10-3.10

Full day: 8.30-3.10 

You can apply for a Nursery place below, or by contacting the school office on 0114 239 8163