Welcome to our Early Years Foundation Stage
The period from age three to the end of the reception year is described as the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). It is a distinct stage and important both in its own right and in preparing children for later schooling.
At Ireby CE Primary School, we currently have a dedicated EYFS unit, where children in nursery and reception are taught following the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum. The EYFS Curriculum at Ireby, encourages children to develop into independent, happy and confident children who have a desire to learn and play. Children have access to an indoor and outdoor environment at Ireby and benefit from the opportunity to enhance the curriculum through learning outside the classroom.
Our EYFS curriculum is underpinned by the following values:
Secure, respectful and reciprocal relationships
- Partnerships with parents or carers and other professionals
- Respect for diversity
- Ongoing learning and reflective practice
- Provide the best start for every child
- Respect for the world we live in
At Ireby, we use the EYFS curriculum to identify the Characteristics of Effective Learning.
This shows us how each child engages with other people and their environment, how they play and explore, if they are active learners and if they are creating and thinking critically. We have a balance of adult initiated and adult directed tasks as part of our curriculum offer to ensure that children make the best progress.
Development Matters report
50 recommended Reception reads
Reading unlocks doors and helps us understand our world.
At Ireby, we believe that all our children need to leave us as capable and confident readers able to decode and engage fluently with complex texts; ready for the world beyond our school. The ability to read to proficiently also supports our Christian vision, 'created to do good' Ephesians 2:10.
Children at Ireby start their educational journey with a thorough grounding in phonics. Phonics involves matching the sounds of spoken English with individual letters or groups of letters.
Teachers are supported in this process by Read, Write , Inc, a Government backed scheme renowned for its excellence. Using this resource, teachers take children on a step-by-step journey which allows them to practise the sounds they learn in the schematic books they read. This approach supports their ability to decode the words they read and supports the standards achieved by children in our school.
Click this banner for information about our phonics scheme