St Ann S C.E. Primary School, Nursery Centre and Early Learners

St Ann’s C.E. Primary School, Nursery Centre and Early Learners

ST ANN’S C.E. PRIMARY SCHOOL,

NURSERY

& EARLY LEARNERS

POLICY FOR

Foundation

Stage

POLICY REVISED: Spring 2017

St. Ann’s CE Primary School Mission Statement

St. Ann’s Church of England Primary School is one of the family of church schools within the Liverpool Diocese. Our welcoming school is at the heart of the community and is distinguished by its nurturing ethos which is underpinned by Christian values.

Excellent teaching makes learning exciting and accessible for all and we challenge our children to develop a love of learning and to reach their full potential.

Throughout their school journey we encourage children to grow as resilient individuals who aspire to search out and grasp all of life’s opportunities, making wise choices in order to build a positive future for themselves and others. Our vision is that our children leave the school as compassionate citizens who respect the rights, beliefs and individuality of others.

EARLY YEARS FOUNDATION STAGE POLICY

SCHOOL MISSION STATEMENT

The school will provide the children with a sensitive, secure Christian environment.
This will lay the foundations for future learning and for success in life, by offering positive and rich experiences for all pupils.
Pupils will enjoy the richness of their learning, by accessing this in many different ways, visually, auditory and kinaesthetically.
We will endeavour to ensure that there will be no sense of tension between high standards and exciting learning.
All learning will be of a high quality. This will be planned and managed so that every child is supported and challenged.
There will be a strong commitment to inclusion, helping all children succeed, underpinned by strong relationships with parents and the community.
All in the school will promote high standards of behaviour, by teaching positive behaviour to all children.
The school will drive its own improvement, set its own challenging targets, recognising for the sake of our children, we can always do better.

Policy Statement

This document has been drawn up by the Early Years Foundation Stage Leaders in conjunction with all relevant Staff, and the Senior Leadership Team.

It is intended that this policy statement will be used as a working document for all staff, governors, parents and visitors to the Early Years Foundation Stage.

This policy is consistent with the school’s statement of purpose and objectives.

This policy is consistent with the statutory requirements of the school and the policies of the Education Department of Warrington Borough Council, the policies of the DfE, the policies of the school’s Governing Body and the School Development and Improvement Plans.

We believe that the time spent in the Early Years Foundation Stage is critical in children’s development and future achievement. Our aim is to engage children and immerse them in the excitement and fulfilment that learning opportunities can bring, by providing the quality and variety of creatively planned learning experiences along with care needed to help meet the diverse needs of all our children. We aim to harness children’s intrinsic curiosity in an environment that is challenging, exciting, rewarding and through which its sensitive, positive and non-judgemental approach motivates children to learn and prevents early failure.

In our Early Years Foundation Stage, children are working towards the Early Learning Goals, as defined in Development Matters, the Curriculum Guidance for the Early Years Foundation Stage. Some children may progress beyond these, towards Level 1 of the National Curriculum.

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES

We believe that equality at our school should permeate all aspects ofschoollife and is the responsibility of every member of the schooland wider community. Every member of the schoolcommunity should feel safe, secure, valued and of equal worth. At St. Ann’s C.E. Primary School, equality is a key principle for treating all people the same irrespective of their age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage & civil partnership, pregnancy & maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation (Equality Act2010).

At St. Ann’s we aim to ensure equality of opportunity by:

being aware of and following the schools agreed policy for equal opportunity, also taking into account the Equality Act
ensuring that resources represent other cultures and are not gender typical unless specifically to engage a child’s learning
ensuring all children feel included, secure and valued and that they are given opportunities to attain their full potential in all areas of learning, whatever their ethnicity, culture, religion, home language, family background, additional or special educational needs, disability, gender or ability, offering reasonable adjustments where appropriate
planning activities that represent the multicultural society in which we live

ADMISSIONS

All admissions to the Early Years Foundation Stageadhere to the same Admissions Policy devised by the Governing Body of the School.Admissions at the beginning of and throughout an academic year into the Upper Foundation Stage are managed by the LA.

The school holds a list of children whose parents want to take up a place within the Lower Foundation Stage who are then invited to apply through the LA process and notified by the school of a place. During the year children are admitted as they are 3 years old and places are available until 22 children are in each session. This allows for the admission of up to 8 two year old children to St Ann’s Early Learners. Admission to Early Learners is managed in conjunction with the LA.

It is made clear to parents that a place in the Nursery Centre does not guarantee a place in school.

AIMS OF POLICY

To provide a smooth and positive transition into and through the Early Learnersand the Early Years Foundation Stage for both parents/carers and children.

To provide rich opportunities for developing the whole child, through first hand experience and structured play.

To develop a structure which will provide:

a)Different starting points from which children develop their learning, building on the children’s interests and whatthe children already know.

b)Provide relevant and appropriate content that matches the different levels of young children’s needs, for both 2 year olds and 3-4 year olds.

c)Provide planned and purposeful activities that provide opportunities for teaching and learning both indoors and outdoors.

d)Provide learning opportunities linked to children’s interests, along with learning opportunities that can be followed in an open ended way to allowing children to pursue their interests and explore their fascinations.

To develop early communication and language skills by planning for a range of opportunities, both within continuous provision and enhanced activities, to develop understanding, speaking and listening and attention.
To develop literacy and numeracy skills, and to provide a wide range of contexts and activities through which children can explore, develop and practise these skills both independently and with adult facilitation.
To nurture a positive attitude to learning, ensuring that each child develops independence, a sense of responsibility, self-confidence and self esteem.

To enable children to develop their potential.

To introduce the children to new situations and aspects of life encouraging play to explore learning situations and the world around them.
To encourage an appreciation of each other and the differences we have.
To provide a secure, happy, caring and stimulating environment where children and parents can meet to socialise, talk and learn with other children and adults.
To ensure that the curriculum meets the diverse needs of the developing child socially, emotionally, intellectually and physically and provides equal opportunities for all children at all stages of development, according to their individual needs.
To ensure reasonable adjustments andcareful plans to identify and meet individual needs are made in line with the EqualityAct in order for all children to access play and learning.
To encourage,support and engage parents to become active participators in their child’s learning journey.
To encourage home learning through offering facilities such as home reading, toy/game library and Firm Foundations scheme together with parenting courses. Welly walks, story sessions & links to local Sure Start staff, facilities and resources are accessed –seeking to work as a team to enhance children’s learning and provide positive experiences for the family.The participation of parents in trips enables an enriching of relationships.
To provide continuity and progression within the Early Years Foundation Stage.
To offer a Christian perspective in all we do and to be aware that the world is part of God’s creation.
To learn to respect other cultures and religious beliefs.
To learn appropriate behaviour in a variety of situations.
To learn to respect and use a variety of resources for learning and to respect the building and each other’s property.
To teach the children the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum and aspects of the National Curriculum as appropriate.
To encourage choice and active participation in children’s own learning.Children’s interests are embraced to enhancemotivation.
To encourage independence by access to & organisation of resources & modelling of activities together with appropriate behaviours.Problem solving in a range of contexts is offered to enable children to develop this skill in their independent activities.
To develop children’s self esteem, personal development and emotional literacy.
To provide opportunities which facilitate a positive transition into general school life such as continuous lunchtime provision, and participation in whole school activities including Collective Worship.

ST ANN’S EARLY YEARS FOUNDATIONSTAGE

St Ann’s Early Years Foundation Stage begins in the Nursery Centre with our 2 year old provision ‘St Ann’s Early Learners’. We have up to 8 places available in each session, and these places are allocated in conjunction with the LA using the 2 year old funded places criteria.

Our 3 and 4 year old provision is based in the same setting, and is the Nursery provision within St Ann’s CE Primary School. We have up to 22 places in each session, and these places are allocated in line with our St Ann’s Primary School, Nursery Centre & Early Learners Admissions Policy. Staffing ratios are 1:4 for our 2 year old Early Learners, and 1:13 for our 3 & 4 year olds.

In our Upper Foundation Stage the ratio is 1:30. These ratios are in line with The Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage. (DfE 2012)

POLICY STATEMENT

At St Ann’s Early Years Foundation Stage we aim to offer high quality learning in a secure yet stimulating environment, tailored to the stage of development of our learners.

LEARNING EXPERIENCES

The Early Years Foundation Stage staff use the Curriculum Guidance for the Early Years Foundation Stage to help devise a holistic approach to a play based curriculum, which covers the seven areas of learning:

Personal, Social and Emotional development
Communication and Language
Physical Development
Literacy
Mathematics
Understanding the world
Expressive Arts and Design

PERSONAL, SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

We believe that successful personal, social and emotional development is critical for very young children in all aspects of their lives both now and in their future and gives them the best opportunity for success in all other areas of learning. Those children in the Upper Foundation Stage who are in need of more support may have these needs provided for within the There 4 U Nurturing Project

At St. Ann’s Nursery Centre & Early Learners, our children are given developmentally appropriate opportunities to:

Develop social skills, good manners, concentration and display behaviour which is acceptable to others.
Share and take turns in small and large groups.
Work independently, make choices, take risks and develop a positive attitude to learning.
Help them embrace with a positive attitude others who they may consider different to themselves
Establish positive relationships with their peers and key adults in a safe environment, with extensive opportunities to role play different situations and explore ways of interacting with others on a positive and cooperative way.

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

As part of a Church of England primary school, religious education is an important part of the curriculum.

In the Lower Foundation Stage all children take part in simple acts of worship daily as well as joining the school once a week for Collective Worship.

In the Upper Foundation Stage children initially take part in a limited number of school Collective Worship opportunities, as well as simple daily acts of worship. Being a caring, responsible member of our community is a central part of our religious teaching as well as learning about the Christian faith and beliefs of others. We implement the scheme from the Diocese and use RE in the Early Years Foundation Stage produced by Solihull LA as a supplement together with the EYFS.

COMMUNICATION AND LANGUAGE.

We recognise that the development of children’s communication and language depends on learning and being competent in a number of key skills, together with having the confidence, opportunity, encouragement, support and disposition to use them.

At St. Ann’s Nursery Centre & Early Learners, our children are given developmentally appropriate opportunities to:

Communicate thoughts, ideas, feelings in a range of ways and in different contexts, and to build up relationships with adults and each other.
Talk about their interests and experiences with individuals and groups in a context that is safe and encouraging.
Have language modelled and mirrored back appropriately to support the development of appropriate vocabulary and grammar.
Link language with physical movement in action songs and rhymes, role play and practical experiences.
Work in an environment that reflects the importance of language through notices, signs and books.
Develop spoken language through conversation between adults and children, both one to one and in small groups, using their home language where appropriate, for children where English is an additional language.
Develop listening skills and begin to check understanding through the asking and answering of a range of simple questions.

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

At St. Ann’s Nursery Centre & Early Learnerswe believe that physical development in the Early Years Foundation Stage is about improving skills of coordination, control, manipulation and movement together with learning the importance of a healthy lifestyle. Physical development helps children gain confidence in what they can do and enables them to feel the positive benefits of being healthy and active.

Our children are given opportunities to:

Experience activities that offer appropriate physical challenges, both indoors and outdoors on a daily basis.
Experiment with a wide range of resources that can be used in a variety of ways, and to support specific skills.
Experience the language of movement, alongside their actions.
Develop, with support, increased independence in physical activities.
Learn how to move and use equipment safely.
Use and learn through all their senses.
Develop gross and fine motor skills essential for a wide range of activities, including mark making development, through carefully planned activities aimed at promoting these skills.
Children are introduced to the concept of healthy choices in terms of food through discussion about snack and food based activities, and to the notion that physical activity is good for our body.

We provide time and opportunities for children with physical disabilities or motor impairments to develop their physical skills, working as necessary with other stakeholders.

LITERACY

At St Ann’s we strive to foster a love of reading and a keen interest in mark making for a range of purposes. To achieve this, we aim to ensure that children:

Experience planned activities that involve communication, language and literacy, in all areas of learning both indoors and outdoors.
Share and enjoy a wide range of rhymes, music, songs, poetry, stories and non-fiction books.
See adults demonstrating the use and enjoyment of language for reading and writing.
Experiment with mark making materials for themselves, moving on to emergent writing.
Develop their phonic skills through participation in POPAT and the Letters and Sounds Programme

MATHEMATICS

We recognise that mathematical development depends on becoming confident and competent in learning and using key skills. We believe that mathematical understanding should be developed through stories, songs, games and imaginative play, so that children enjoy using and experimenting with all aspects of mathematics in real-life situations. Laying the Foundations in mathematics is used as a resource to enhance teaching and learning in number and pattern.

At St. Ann’s our children are given opportunities to:

Experience planned activities that focus on mathematical language and development both indoors and outdoors.
Initiate activities within the planned environment that promote mathematical learning.
Experience mathematical activities that are imaginative, enjoyable and purposeful through play.
Consolidate and extend their learning through games.
Practise their mathematical skills and knowledge and begin to develop problem solving skills.
Practise and discuss mathematical activities and become confident about themselves as mathematicians.
Develop skills in problem solving
Begin to record their mathematics.
Use mathematics and extend concepts through role play.

Mathematical development includes counting, sorting, matching, seeking patterns, making connections, recognising relationships, working with numbers, shape, space and measures.