At Saxton Primary School, we recognise that a child’s early years are the building blocks for their future. This crucial stage of development lays the foundation for a lifetime of learning and personal growth. We place great importance on fostering a positive and nurturing early years experience for our youngest children.

Our Early Years Principles:

We believe in the following principles for effective early years practice, which guide our approach to early childhood education:

1. Every Child is Unique: We celebrate and respect the individuality of each child. Our teaching and learning practices are tailored to cater to the unique needs, interests, and abilities of every child. We understand that no two children are alike and that their learning journeys are personal.
2. Positive Relationships: Building strong relationships is at the heart of our early years practice. We focus on creating a safe, secure, and nurturing environment where children feel valued, supported, and encouraged. These positive relationships provide a strong foundation for learning.
3. Play-Based Learning: Play is the primary mode of learning for young children. We embrace play-based learning as it is the most natural way for children to explore, experiment, and understand the world around them. Play encourages creativity, problem-solving, and social development.
4. The Outdoor Environment: We believe that outdoor learning is an essential part of early years education. The outdoors offer endless opportunities for exploration and hands-on experiences. Our outdoor environment is carefully designed to promote physical activity, exploration, and contact with nature.
5. Observation and Assessment: Our practitioners continuously observe and assess children’s development and learning. These observations guide our planning, enabling us to provide activities and experiences that align with each child’s progress and interests.
6. Communication and Language: Developing strong communication skills is a cornerstone of early years education. We foster language development through rich, stimulating conversations, storytelling, and activities that encourage speaking and listening.
7. Independence and Resilience: Encouraging children to develop independence and resilience is integral to their personal growth. Our children learn how to make choices, solve problems, and persevere in the face of challenges.
8. Parental Engagement: We value the partnership between parents and the school. Collaborating with parents is essential to ensure that each child’s learning journey is consistent at home and school. We encourage open communication and active involvement from parents.
9. A Holistic Approach: We focus on the holistic development of children, recognizing that academic, physical, social, and emotional development are interconnected. Our curriculum and activities are designed to address all aspects of a child’s growth.
10. Positive Attitudes Towards Learning: Fostering a love for learning is a fundamental goal. We strive to nurture children’s natural curiosity, enthusiasm, and self-motivation, which they will carry with them throughout their educational journey.

You can read how we apply these principles in our school here – Early Years Principles at Saxton

The Early Years Journey:

The early years are a unique and precious time when children are active learners and investigators, developing essential life skills. Our early years setting is designed to ensure that children feel safe, happy, and stimulated. We offer a variety of activities and experiences to ignite their imagination, inspire creativity, and encourage exploration.

The principles for effective early years practice lay the groundwork for children to flourish academically, emotionally, and socially. We believe that these principles, combined with a warm and nurturing environment, enable children to embark on their educational journey with confidence and a love for learning.

At Saxton Primary School, we are dedicated to providing an early years education that nurtures young minds, lays a strong foundation for future learning, and instils a lifelong passion for knowledge. We embrace the uniqueness of each child and are committed to creating a caring, inspiring, and stimulating environment in which they can thrive.

As outlined in the Statutory Framework for EYFS ‘Every child deserves the best possible start in life and the support that enables them to fulfil their potential. Children develop quickly in the early years and a child’s experiences between birth and age five have a major impact on their future life chances. A secure, safe and happy childhood is important in its own right. Good parenting and high quality early learning together provide the foundation children need to make the most of their abilities and talents as they grow up.’ (July 2020)

You can find out more about the statutory EYFS Framework Here

In planning and guiding what children learn, we reflect on the different rates at which children are developing and adjust their practice appropriately. We adhere to the three characteristics of effective teaching and learning which are:

• playing and exploring – children investigate and experience things, and ‘have a go’
• active learning – children concentrate and keep on trying if they encounter difficulties, and enjoy achievements
• creating and thinking critically – children have and develop their own ideas, make links between ideas, and develop strategies for doing things

All the seven areas of learning and development are important and inter-connected.

Three areas are particularly crucial for igniting children’s curiosity and enthusiasm for learning, and for building their capacity to learn, form relationships and thrive. These three areas are the prime areas:

Communication and Language

Physical Development

Personal, Social and Emotional Development

Children are also supported through the four specific areas, through which the three prime areas are strengthened and applied.

The specific areas are:

Literacy

Mathematics

Understanding the World

Expressive Arts and Design 

Children are provided with a range of rich, meaningful first-hand experiences in which children explore, think creatively and are active. We aim to develop and foster positive attitudes towards learning, confidence, communication and physical development.

As a team, we write medium term plans using the EYFS principles looking at the particular needs of that cohort, offering experiences in all seven areas. We plan in small steps so that children progress incrementally towards the ELG, and these are mapped in ‘honeycomb’ documents. We speak with the children on a regular basis regarding what they would like to learn about these plans then inform our short-term weekly planning. We plan a balance between children having time and space to engage in their own child-initiated activities and those that are planned by the adults. During children’s play, early years practitioners interact to stretch and challenge children further.

We teach our children in a variety of groupings such as whole class, small group or individually.

We teach Phonics using the Sounds Write guidance. You can find out more about phonics and how children learn to read here.

Parents as Partners and the Wider context

We strive to create and maintain a partnership with parents and carers as we recognise that together, we can have a significant impact on a child’s learning. We welcome and actively encourage parents to participate confidently in their child’s education and care. Working with other services and organisations is integral to our practice in order to meet the needs of our children. At times we may need to share information with other professionals to provide the best support possible.

We draw on our links with the community and each other to enrich children’s experiences by taking them on outings and inviting members of the community into our setting.

Parents are invited to attend regular events in school, including church services, so that they are included and we build relationships that are conducive to effective partnership working.

The times of the school day for children in our Reception (EYFS) class are the same as the rest of the school.

If you would like your child to be part of our EYFS setting, you can apply for a place by following the guidance on our admissions page.