Welcome to our EYFS information page

(Early Years Foundation Stage)

If you would like to know more about our curriculum please visit our curriculum page. If you would like to know more about EYFS please click on our class page.

                Early Years Teachers 

Early Years Teaching Support Team 

Attendance:

Term 1 Timetable:

For the first few weeks of school, our main priority is helping your child to feel safe, settled and happy. Phonics and Maths will begin from your child's first full week back, but we aim to introduce Drawing Club by Week 4. 

PE & Swimming 

Forest School - TUESDAY AM

Forest School will take place on Tuesday mornings (alternate week for each class). When your child is not at Forest School, we will have a Discovery Time session based in our outdoor areas with some nice nature themed inspirations! Please see below for the days and dates your child will be doing their Forest School Session:

Week 2: None - Mrs Hyde, our Forest School teacher, is going to spend time in the classrooms explaining all about Forest School to your child. She will share some of her favourite books too.

Week 3 (15th Sept) - Owls

Week 4 (22nd Sept) - Hedgehogs 

Week 5 (29th Sept) - Owls

Week 6 - (6th Oct) - Hedgehogs 

Week 7 (13th Oct) - Owls

Week 8 (20th Oct) - Hedgehogs 

This is an outdoor activity, so your child will need: Wellies, warm, waterproof clothing, spare socks and a coat. On your child's Forest School day, please send them into school wearing own clothes, not school uniform. Please note that particularly in the Winter months, children should be dressed in warm clothes and suitable shoes. We ask for no laces on trainers. 

Church

At Sir Henry Fermor, we greatly value our partnership with our church, All Saints. We attend church (usually every first Wednesday of the month) and ask that you child is dropped off at church between 8:45-8:55. We will then walk the children back with help from our Year 6 buddies.

Each year group has a class values that underpins their church service. Parents and carers are allowed to stay for services, but priority goes to the parents/carers of the year group holding the service. Owls and Hedgehogs share the value of Forgiveness. 

We also meet at church to celebrate other festivals such as Harvest, Christmas and Easter. Church dates will be updated on the newsletter, so please ensure you are checking regularly.

The EYFS Curriculum

The Early Years Foundation Stage aims to develop children to their full potential through play based learning. The areas of learning are divided into 7 areas of learning:

Prime Areas:

• Personal, Social and Emotional Development
• Communication and Language
• Physical Development

Specific Areas:

• Mathematics
• Literacy
• Understanding the World
• Expressive Arts and Design

At Fermor, we provide a safe and stimulating environment. The teachers and TAs observe and assess learning to inform next steps. We see every child as an individual and plan exciting learning opportunities to meet each child's specific needs. Throughout the day, there are opportunities for adult led, adult-initiated and child-led activities. 

Our day is split between 2 sessions; Challenge Time and Discovery Time:

During Challenge Time your child will engage with carefully selected activities and challenges that link to our EYFS curriculum objectives. For example this might be matching objects together as part of Maths, or writing a word/sentence as part of our English.

Discovery Time is our child-led learning time. Children explore their own interests and ideas, inside and outside. The role of the adult is to support learning and this is where we focus on the 'Characteristics of Effective Learning', these are split into three key areas:

- Playing and Exploring 

- Active Learning 

- Creative and Critical Thinking 

We aim for all children to become active learners, who take ownership of their learning, through thinking about how they can challenge themselves in their play.

Parent Partnership

At Fermor we pride ourselves on our partnership with parents. We enjoy opportunities to invite parents in to share activities with us, swimming, forest school and for special events. 

Each week we will share key news from Early Years which this can be found on the class page of our website. Please also make sure you read our weekly whole school newsletter for key dates and information. 

Transition

At Fermor we feel that the transition from pre school to nursery is a big step for children (and parents). Therefore, we provide supportive opportunities for the children to visit their new classroom and get to know the team through stay and play sessions, story times and nursery visits in term 6. Before children start in Reception, a home visit is offered to new parents, giving the opportunity to talk informally with the Early Years Foundation Stage staff.

Parent quote: “I love how much time they spend learning outdoors. The muddier my son is when I pick him up the more fun he has had learning that day”

Parent V

British Values

We promote British Values through Learning and Play. We support children's Personal Social and Emotional development (PSED)  by developing their self-confidence and self awareness; giving opportunities to the children to make choices about what they choose to learn and the resources they will need. We encourage the children to manage their own feelings and behaviour. The children put together a list of expectations and rules and this is reflected on regularly.