Early Years Foundation Stage Unit

Early Years

Welcome to our amazing Early Years Foundation Stage Unit where your child will discover the joy of learning and the skills and knowledge which help them to become the best version of themselves that they can be! They learn to use our school values to build strong, positive relationships and we are dedicated to building strong and lasting positive relationships with our families too.

We believe that each child is unique and precious and we are privileged to be able to continue building on your foundations to help to make their most important first five years happy, memorable and successful.

The Unit

At Mount Pleasant, children of pre-school age (Nursery age) and children of school age (Reception) learn, play, communicate and grow together, sharing our well-resourced indoor and outdoor learning environments.  We call this our Foundation Stage Unit.

The caring and experienced team strive to build on children’s individual strengths, interests and experiences both academically and holistically.  Our environment and curriculum are designed to ensure that our children learn to value themselves and others happily, safely and in a supportive way.

There will be times when both Nursery and Reception come together to play and learn.  This could be, for example, focus days or stunning starts and fabulous finishes as part of our shared learning adventures.

Learning in the Early Years Foundation Stage

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) applies to children from birth to the end of Reception year and it describes the curriculum throughout the Nursery and Reception years.

There are four guiding principles which shapes the way we work in the early years settings. These are:

• every child is a unique child who is constantly learning and can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured;
• children learn to be strong and independent through positive relationships;
• children learn and develop well in an enabling environment in which their experiences respond to their individual needs and there is a strong partnership between practitioners and parents/carers, and
• children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates. The framework covers the education and care of all children in early years provision, including children with special educational needs and disabilities.

The learning experiences we provide are based on our assessment of each child's stage of development and then  matched with the Early Years Outcomes and Early Learning Goals (which summarises the knowledge, skills and understanding that all young children should have gained by the end of the Reception year) set out by the Government.

The EYFS Framework explains how and what children will be learning to support their healthy development. Children will be learning new skills, acquiring new knowledge and demonstrating their understanding through seven areas of learning and development. Children should develop the three prime areas first as they are the most essential for healthy development and future learning. These are:

• Communication and language
• Physical development
• Personal, social and emotional development.

As children grow, the prime areas will help them develop skills in four specific areas:

• Literacy
• Mathematics
• Understanding the world
• Expressive arts and design.

These seven areas are used to plan children's learning and activities.

Children in the EYFS learn by playing and exploring, being active, and through creative and critical thinking which takes place both indoors and outdoors.

Tapestry

We use an online Learning Journal called Tapestry which enables us to share each child's individual journey as they learn and grow.  This begins in Nursery and continues to be used to the end of Reception.  Tapestry is a great way for parents to see first hand what their child is learning while they are in school and to be able to share in their successes and their next steps. It is also used to communicate with parents and for parents to share what their child has been up to outside of school. We often share messages to let you know about events and key information on Tapestry too.  It is crucial that you as parents engage with Tapestry regularly so you don't miss out on the joys of Early Years life in school.

Please come in!

We love to invite parents/special grown-ups into our setting so that you can share in your child's learning and have the opportunity to chat to staff about how your child is developing and to discover even more ways to support your child at home.

When your child is in Nursery, you will be invited to Stay and Play sessions in Autumn and Spring, library time, Christmas celebrations and special days where the children and you can learn together. 

In Reception, you will be invited to Stay and Play in the Autumn and Summer Terms and to a more formal parents' evening in the Spring Term.

Meet Rod - the African Land Snail

Our Unit pet is called Rod and he is an African Land Snail who was kindly gifted to us by Angie at "Angie's Animal Antics".  He is an integral part of our curriculum and through him our children learn how to care for a living thing; how to be responsible for a pet; how animals grow and develop over time and is also used as inspiration for creative activities, writing and research among many other things.  The children also get to handle him carefully and this causes much joy and excitement.