We provide a ‘language rich’ environment that has been carefully arranged to promote collaborative play and problem solving. Staff are situated throughout the spaces to ensure we can play alongside children, offering high-quality interactions, introducing new vocabulary, and moving language foreword. Vocabulary acquisition is developed in a number of ways, it is planned along with topic cycles, throughout provision areas and developed through high quality texts and poems. Ambitious vocabulary is also taught ‘Drawing Club’ sessions. 

We use poems from ‘The Poetry Basket’ that are planned throughout Nursey and Reception, meaning that the children have a bank of known poems and rhymes by the end of their time in Early Years.  

Children with communication and language difficulties are highlighted early on, allowing us to share concerns with parents, offer strategies to use at home, and carry out some targeted intervention work in school. Early Years staff use ‘ELKLAN’ strategies and ‘Keys to Communication’ to support language development.

Wellcomm Speech and Language package is used to carry out screening and deliver interventions to those in need. Children are referred to Speech and Language Therapists when necessary, through clear channels.

Establishing positive relationships with all children and families is what the heart of what we do. 

Our children settle quickly, due to  the nurturing and encouraging relationships they create.  Our environment well is set up to support transition and develop relationships and social skills. Open ended resources that are enhanced according to children’s needs and interests and ensure children have the opportunity to play collaboratively together. Our environments are carefully planned to promote collaborative play, problem-solving and negotiating. 

We understand that every child is a unique child, with different strengths, talents and needs. We know that children are experts in their own rights, and celebrate talents and skills within the classroom, and share news from out of school . 

Positive relationships and high expectations ensure that the children’s self esteem is raised.  Children are encouraged to try their best, have a positive attitude to learning and persevere. We use ‘Zone of Regulation’ to talk about our feelings and find ways to regulate our behaviuor. 

Children receive ‘People in the Pot’ for following the class rules and receive a whole class treat when the pot is full. Behaviours are also rewarding through  the use of  specific praise, certificates, stickers and taking the ‘Everywhere Bear’ home. 

Independence is a key skill and children are encouraged to be as independent as possible, they are encouraged to take off their coats in the morning, access resources independently, tidy up and take care of our resources. 

In Reception children are paired up with a Y6 child as part of our ‘Seeds and Gardener’ Programme.  The Y6 children act as a positive role model to the children and help them to settle in.  We meet up regularly and the children form positive relationships and create a strong bond.

At St. Aidan’s

A large outdoor learning environment can be found in both our Nursery and Reception classrooms. Children develop gross motor skills and spatial awareness through our outdoor play. Provision includes; bicycles, scooters, large construction, large scale water play, mud kitchens and large-scale mark-making opportunities. 

Children have continuous assess to a range of opportunities in the indoor and outdoor environment. 

Nursey have regular ‘Dough Disco’ sessions that develop to ‘Pen Disco’ sessions. In Reception we start to have weekly PE lessons. We focus on Dance, Gymnastics and Games. It is critical that children develop fine motor skills early in life, in order for them to become effective writers. Our children enjoy a range of activities throughout the indoor provision. Resources and activities are carefully planned,  to meet the physical needs of all children, including encouraging the development of scissors skills, progression in mark making and the development of gross and fine motor skills. 

At St. Aidan’s

We are passionate about reading and  want to ensure that our children develop a life-long love of reading. We nurture this passion by sharing both fiction and non-fiction books and poetry throughout the school day and beyond. Throughout the provision, books are carefully chosen to support the resources and interests identified. Areas of provision have mark-making opportunities, and practitioners skilfully incorporate writing for a purpose into play wherever possible.

All children in the EYFS take home sharing books every week, ensuring that they are exposed to a wide variety of rich, high-quality texts. The importance of reading with children is shared with parents, and communication between parents and teachers around reading, is fluid. In Reception, children also take home a book to read, which is matched perfectly to their phonic ability, to practise fluency.

We understand the power of repetition when it comes to reading, which is why our planned texts can last for a week or two, allowing the children to truly delve in to the text, unpick, discuss, act out, share thoughts and opinions, make links, and retell. The planned texts are chosen carefully to link to current interests or themes, with opportunities to embed knowledge across other areas of learning too. We use ‘The Poetry Basket’ to teach child a wide rage of poems, these are planned across Nursey and Reception and result in children having an oral bank of poems by the end of their time in Early Years. 

We teach phonics using  Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised, which is a systematic and synthetic phonics programme.  We ensure that Nursery children are well prepared to begin learning grapheme-phoneme correspondences and blending in Reception by providing well sequenced pre-reading opportunities. Phonics sessions are taught daily in Nursery and Reception, the length of these sessions increase as the year progresses.

Pencil grip, letter formation and writing expectation are carefully planned and developed throughout Early Years. In Reception, writing is taught as part of our phonics session and also outside of these sessions in Guided Writing sessions.  We also use ‘Drawing Club’ sessions to develop a love for drawing, mark making and writing. 

At St. Aidan’s:

Maths is everywhere! Our provision areas have been carefully planned to ensure that there are opportunities to apply and consolidate maths skills. 

We use schemes of learning from’ White Rose’ maths, carefully adapting them to meet the needs of our children. Through a balance of adult-initiated and child led learning opportunities, children develop a grounding in number and skills, including understanding shape, pattern, cardinality and comparison. 

Opportunities to develop maths skills are evident throughout the spaces including opportunities to count resources when tidying, talk about size and length when selecting paper/ribbon the creative area.  Discuss size, similarities and differences when using the  block and small world areas. 

Children learn number rhymes and counting songs. Our youngest children develop a sound understanding of how numbers change, and what that looks like, through using a wide range of practical resources.. Practitioners plan activities to consolidate learning, so that children can apply new knowledge in a natural and meaningful way.

Maths language and vocabulary is clearly planned and progressive and is modelled by skilled adults during play and guided activities.  

At St. Aidan’s:

Our curriculum is purposely designed to provide opportunities to embed cross-curricular links. Our key texts are carefully planned to address history, geography and scientific learning, embedding new knowledge in a purposeful way, whilst creating a smooth transition to KS1 curriculum. We want our children to have a sound understanding of their personal community and wider community. , children develop a sense of belonging, whilst keeping in touch with the community and other people and buildings within it. 

Children take walks in their local area, visit the local woods at different seasons and attend Forest School sessions. 

Children enjoy a range of hands on experiences such as farm visits, visits to the zoo, visits linked to topics, such as ‘Aspiration Street’. As well as a wide range opportunities within provision such as; cooking, planting and growing, and caring for the environment and for those who share it with us. 

Children initially develop a sense of history which is relatable to themselves, how they have grown, things they like to play with. History knowledge then progresses to events outside of their own experiences through stories and links to topics, which may include significant individuals. 

We celebrate a diverse range of festivals from around the world, throughout the year, exposing children to, and celebrating differences. Through our RE scheme ‘Come and See’ the children learn about different religions and festivals.

At St. Aidan’s:

We understand that children develop the ability to express themselves through a range of arts, such as poetry, music, role play, dance, storytelling and creative art.

Our environment is planned to develop creativity and allows children to express themselves and explore their own ideas.  We have  workshop, construction, small world and writing areas that contain loose parts and a wide range of open ended resources that allow children to work creatively. 

As part of our topic cycle, children are exposed to work of different artists for inspiration in creative arts. They are also taught specific skills linked to Art and DT. 

Children follow the ‘Charanga’ music scheme, teaching skills such as pulse and rhythm which exposing children to music from different genres and cultures. 

We use ‘Poetry Basket’ to nurture a love of hearing and reciting poetry. The children are given the opportunity to perform these poems to an audience. 

The range or resources provided in role-play reflect the broad range of cultures and background that are familiar and less familiar to us.