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Hartside Primary Academy

Essential Information for

EYFS Parents

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Miss M. Porteus

Higher Level Teaching Assistant

The EYFS Staff

Mrs L. Burgess

Nursery Teacher

Mrs B. Hodgson

Reception Teacher

EYFS Leader

Assistant Head Teacher

Miss A. Mann

Teaching Assistant

Mrs D. Lomax

Higher Level Teaching Assistant

Mrs L. Sudder

Teaching Assistant

There are currently eight members of staff working within our EYFS Department.

Each member of EYFS staff is a key person for a small group of children for whom

she is particularly responsible for. She will aim to get to know your child very well

and will be your first port of call for communication.

However, all of the EYFS staff work with all children in all learning areas each

week.

Staff work in each of the different areas on a rota system.

Typically two members of staff work outdoors, two indoors and

two are either working with small groups of children or are

available to help with individual children's needs, such as toilet

training.

Miss S. Tutin

Apprentice

Miss E. Mustarde

Outreach Support Assistant

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School Opening Times Nursery sessions Morning 8.45am – 11.45pm

Afternoon 12.30pm – 3.30pm

Reception class 8.55 am—3.15 pm

EYFS breakfast club will run from 8.00am till 8.45am.

After School care is available until 5.30pm.

Please contact the School Office for EYFS breakfast club and after school care

availability. NB a small charge does apply.

Charges Breakdown

Our Senior Administrator, Miss Gent will invoice you, monthly, for any additional sessions

your child attends.

Item Cost

Breakfast Club £1.50

Lunch £2.40

After School Supervision £3.50 (per hour)

Lunch Time Supervision £1.50

Extra half day session 15.00

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Early Years Foundation Stage Induction Nursery experiences can create strong and lasting foundations on which to build in later

life, therefore it is vital that these first experiences are of the highest quality. By working

in partnership with you we aim to provide a stimulating, challenging environment where

children and adults can explore, have fun, play, talk and learn together.

The school aims to ease the transition into Nursery life by providing an induction

programme for parents and Nursery children.

Around the Term your child is 3

Years old Nursery staff will visit

you and your child at home. This is

a very informal, friendly

opportunity to say hello, introduce

ourselves and to get to know a little

bit about you and your child. This is

an invaluable way to begin a

meaningful dialogue between

home and school.

The week your child starts Nursery

Parents or a family member are invited to two stay and play sessions with our new

nursery children. Following this the children can attend their allocated nursery sessions

alone.

Reception Class

New Reception class children and parents will be invited to Stay and Play sessions within

the unit throughout July. There will be an opportunity for parents/carers to c hat to staff

and to receive information about the school day and guidance about how they can

prepare their children for school. Uniform may also be ordered at this time.

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Uniform Children are having the most fun in EYFS when they are be-

ing messy! Therefore it is best if the children wear a red

Hartside sweatshirt to their nursery sessions. It is not

necessary to buy any other items of uniform, as often they

are too complicated and fiddly for young children to man-

age themselves. Jogging bottoms or a pull on skirt (even

shorts in warmer weather) are the easiest for quick toilet

visits. We do provide aprons but small children have the

absolute amazing talent for keeping our aprons clean and

getting paint, glue and other interesting materials on jump-

ers!

Reception class children need to wear a Hartside School

uniform that can be ordered from the school website.

We work indoors and outdoors all day long, in all weather

so suitable footwear and coats are also essential. Small children often take items of cloth-

ing off and leave them on the floor! Please make sure all of your child’s clothing is clearly

labelled with their name.

A form to order uniform and a price list are included within your child’s welcome pack.

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Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum

The Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum is a foundation for the child’s fu-

ture learning and development. It emphasises that every child is unique, that

children learn through positive relationships, that the environment where they

learn has practitioners who respond to their needs and work in partnership with

parents and carers. Also that through playing and exploring, active learning and

creating and thinking critically children can develop and learn in different ways

and at different rates.

Nursery and Reception education is referred to as the Early Years Foundation

Stage (EYFS).

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The Learning Environment

We provide a rich and varied environment that supports

children’s learning and development. It gives them the

confidence to explore and learn in secure and safe, yet

challenging, indoor and outdoor spaces. Both our indoor

and outdoor environments are designed to encourage

open ended collaborative play

and exploration which are

key features of the early years learning process.

It is important that our children feel safe, happy,

cared for and relaxed within our EYFS unit. It offers

children access to indoor and outdoor spaces in

which they can explore, create, think, learn and de-

velop with the support and interactions from sensi-

tive, knowledgeable adults. As the children’s inter-

ests often change, our learning environment is very

flexible and is regularly altered in response to these

developing interests.

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Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum

Children in Nursery and Reception Class follow the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum

which is a developmental curriculum aiming for children to succeed in achieving 17 Early

Learning Goals by the end of their Reception year in school. The EYFS Curriculum is divided

into 3 sections;

Characteristics of Learning

Three prime areas of learning

Four specific areas of learning

Characteristics of learning

Playing and exploring the children are find-

ing out and exploring, playing with what they

know and being willing to ‘have a go’.

Active Learning the children are involved and concentrating, persevering and enjoying

achieving what they set out to do.

Creating and thinking critically the children have their own ideas, making links and

choosing ways to do things.

Prime Areasof Learning

Personal, Social and Emotional Development is when the children are making relation-

ships and getting along with one another and adults. They are developing their confi-

dence and self-awareness, and being able to manage their feelings and behaviour. This

is also an area of learning that is emphasised further in our EYFS wraparound care.

Communication and Language is where children are given many opportunities to devel-

op good listening, attention and understanding skills. They are also able to speak and

express themselves effectively.

Physical Development is all about developing large and small movements in a variety of

ways, having good control and co-ordination when handling different tools and equip-

ment. It also covers health and self-care, looking at ways to keep ourselves healthy

and safe.

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Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum

Specific Areas

Literacy where children learn about stories, rhymes, books and reading. The children

are also given lots of opportunities to develop their mark making and emergent writing

skills.

Mathematics is when the children find out abut numbers, counting, shape, space and

measure.

Understanding the World where children find out about people and communities. Chil-

dren develop an understanding about the world they live in, including ICT.

Expressive Arts and Design where children are given many opportunities to explore mu-

sic, dance and song. The children use a variety of media and materials to develop crea-

tivity and imaginative play.

Our aim is to provide a curriculum that is enriching, broad and balanced to

prepare children for their future school life and beyond! Staff plan a range of

play experiences in response to the children's interests to help children to

progress in each of these areas of learning.

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Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum

Learning through play

It is a well known fact that children learn best through play. Play helps children to learn

and develop through doing, talking, exploring, investigating, creating and experimenting.

“Play underpins the EYFS. It also underpins learning and all aspects of children’s de-

velopment. Through play, children develop language skills, their emotions and creativity,

social and intellectual skills. . Play takes place indoors and outdoors and it is in these

different environments that children explore and discover their immediate world. It is here

they practise new ideas and skills, they take risks, show imagination and solve problems on

their own or with others.” (Early Years Matters 2012)

We provide interesting experiences that are appropriate for children’s age and stage of

development. Staff endeavour to take your child forward in their learning by building on

what they already know and can do. Everyday is varied, stimulating, imaginative and fun!

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Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum

Assessment

In EYFS assessment of children

is carried out daily with staff

playing alongside children and

making regular observations of

what children do and say. Pho-

tographs, jottings and anno-

tated pieces of work are col-

lected to record children's indi-

vidual progress and inform fu-

ture plans for learning. We

keep all of this evidence in individual children’s learning journals.

Learning Journals

Each child’s Learning Journal builds up during EYFS to become a lovely document showing

how your child has grown and progressed in our care. We encourage parents to become

involved with Learning Journals by sharing your observations and stories about your child

from home. Each child will be given a home/school diary, this is a good way for family

members to share these ex-

periences.

Piggy Pot

We ask for a £1.00 donation

each week for our EYFS piggy

bank. This helps pay for our

trips and other nice activities

we do in EYFS.

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A Typical Week in EYFS

Each morning begins with

Funky Fingers, where the

whole unit has our funky mu-

sic playing and all of the chil-

dren are working on activities

led by an adult to develop

their fine motor skills.

The children then split into

their key worker groups for

teaching time. During this

time the children are learning

about numbers, phonics, language or the world, led by an adult.

Direct teaching time is followed by a staggered activity where a small group work di-

rectly with an adult, completing a fun activity to consolidate their learning.

The children then freely access provision, both indoors and outdoors, choosing from a

wide range of play activities. The staff in each of the areas work with the children in

play. The adults role is to model language and good relationships; facilitating and de-

veloping the learning taking place in the play activities.

At the end of each session the Reception children return to their key worker groups

for direct teaching activities. Nursery children gather for a chat about what they have

been doing and to share a story or sing.

Over the week your child will experience a wide range of activities, some which are

led by an adult and others that are led by the children.

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Stay and Play You will have the opportunity to visit your child during EYFS ‘Stay and Play’ ses-

sions. This is a valuable opportunity for you to come into the EYFS unit with

your child. These sessions are not at all a typical hour in EYFS but it is a oppor-

tunity for your child to show you all of the fun activities they like to take part in

each day. You will be able to get a glimpse at some of the activities we have

available in EYFS.