Early Years Foundation Stage

At Weston Park, the Early Years Foundation Stage encompasses the children’s learning, development and welfare in Nursery and our two Reception Classes (Poppy and Daisy). The children all follow the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum which incorporates 6 areas of learning: personal, social and emotional development, communication, language and literacy, problem solving, reasoning and numeracy, knowledge and understanding of the world, physical development and creative development.  We provide a play-based curriculum which uses both the indoor and outdoor environment, which helps the children develop lively and enquiring minds as well as social and physical skills.  We plan the curriculum through a continuous programme of observation and assessment of each child, so that it is appropriate to the needs and development of the individual.   Parents play a vital role in their children’s education and we encourage their active involvement.

Nursery

In the Nursery, we particularly value creative development across the board and view this period as a perfect opportunity for fostering imagination and inhibition, which are important tools for future learning. We encourage children to freely experiment with ideas and resources for much of the time, without the constraints of adult-defined outcomes.  Staff ensure that adult-led activities are not over prescriptive, and allow opportunities for self-expression.

Reception

Poppy and Daisy Class represent the second year of the Early Years Foundation Stage and whilst being run on very similar lines to the Nursery, the children now stay for the full day and receive more whole-class and small group teaching as well as participating in whole-school events like ‘India Day’, where appropriate. The curriculum is largely delivered through topics such as ‘Ourselves’ or ‘Dinosaurs’ which are developed through the children’s interests.  These will include visits out of school.  We teach early literacy skills, which include phonics through RML (Ruth Miskin Literacy), as a more discrete subject.