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St. Anne's Copp

Church of England Primary School

"Let us love, not in word, but in truth and action." 1 John 3:18

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School Logo

St. Anne's Copp

Church of England Primary School

"Let us love, not in word, but in truth and action." 1 John 3:18

EYFS

At St. Anne's Copp, we aim to provide a stimulating and exciting environment for the children to develop the early skills they need through a range of creative activities such as mark making, malleable, technology, constructing and building, exploring, problem-solving and physical development, both inside and outside the classroom. These approaches help the children to develop independence, the skills of problem-solving and critical thinking. The children will be taught key skills in reading, writing and mathematics through child-initiated play and focused led activities.

The Department for Education has published a guide for parents, produced by Sheringham Nursery School and Children’s Centre – ‘What to expect in the Early Years Foundation Stage’ (formerly ‘What to expect when’) which guides parents through what to expect in their child’s development. It aligns with the new Development Matters to help practitioners engage with parents about their child’s development. Please click on the link below to view this useful document. 

The EYFS curriculum was revised in September 2020 and was legally effective from 1st September 2021 for all providers of early years education and care. 

The Government’s two key aims for the changes to the EYFS;

  • To improve outcomes at age five, particularly in early language and literacy
  • Reduce workload so that practitioners can spend more time interacting with children in their care.

 

The Development Matters (see link above) offers a top-level view of how children develop and learn for all early years practitioners, including:

  • childminders
  • staff in nurseries
  • nursery schools
  • school nursery and reception classes in school

The guidance can help meet the requirements of the early years foundation stage (EYFS) statutory framework (see link above).

 

Please see the links below to the Pre-School and Reception class pages for more information. 

Speaking and listening

On entry to Pre-School, staff concentrate on developing children’s speaking and listening skills which lays the foundations for the phonic work (breaking words down into individual sounds which in turn helps children to read and write). The emphasis during this stage is to get children attuned to the sounds around them and ready to begin developing oral blending and segmenting skills (e.g. c-a-t =cat)

 

During this stage the children focus on three essential strands:

  • Tuning into sounds (auditory discrimination= is the ability to recognise differences between sounds)
  • Listening and remembering sounds (auditory memory and sequencing= the ability to remember spoken sequences such as numbers, words and sentences)
  • Talking about sounds (developing vocabulary and language comprehension).

 

As soon as the children enter our  Pre-School, they are exposed to regular story times, learning new songs, rhymes and poems. All this has a direct impact on the essential skills children need to become fluent readers and writers.

Early Talk Boost

Speaking and listening is a dominant focus as children begin their journey with us.  In our Pre-School, children are exposed to oracy through story, drama, play, poetry and song.

 

Early Talk Boost is a targeted programme aimed at 3-4 year old children who need help with talking and understanding words. Most importantly, the programme helps to boost their language skills to narrow the gap between them and their peers. The programme aims to accelerate children’s progress in language and communication by an average of 5 months after 9 weeks.

 

Children who are selected to take part in the programme will attend three sessions per week during circle/story time, each lasting 15-20 minutes delivered by our trained and experienced early years staff. The sessions include activities that cover the foundation skills in speech, language and communication that children need for learning and understanding new words, as well as having conversations.

WellComm

 

Language development is an essential aspect within all areas of learning. For this reason teachers prioritise this as a key area for development. The early years teachers provide a language rich environment where children are constantly hearing, developing and using new words to communicate.

 

WellComm is a Toolkit to help teachers to identify children who may need extra help with their Speech, Language and Communication Development. 

 

Every child is assessed for around 10-15 minutes on their understanding of what is being said to them (their “receptive” language) and also how they communicate verbally (their “expressive” language).

 

Supporting activities are then carried out in class if needed, or in some cases, a referral to speech and language services is necessary. We will speak to parents immediately if we feel a referral is necessary.

 

Pre-School Story Dough

To develop a love of words, story telling and imagination, staff deliver pop-up Story Dough sessions.  Sessions are based around a familiar text and involve working with all muscle groups to explore characters, attributes and expand vocabulary.  The short session fires the imagination of our youngest pupils and enables them to engage with stories in a very different and utterly enjoyable way.

 

Children use play dough to create their own story characters and utilise ambitious vocabulary to describe their creations.  Once the session nears the end, the Ultimate Button of Doom is activated and the session ends with a familiar closing song.  The children love these sessions!

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