Early Years Foundation Stage

At Lostock Gralam, the children are at the heart of everything we do and Christ is the light that guides us.

At Lostock Gralam Church of England School, children are at the heart of everything we do and we believe children learn best when they are absorbed, interested and active.  We are proud that our Early Years setting promotes learning through play, building children’s confidence as they learn to explore, develop relationships, set their own goals and solve problems.

Learning is child-led, guided by the children’s interests and their curiosity, we establish themes and topics to explore with each term, incorporating high quality texts and hands on experiences through our learning environment which are regularly enhanced to challenge children and encourage meaningful play.

We have high ambitions for all our children and give them experiences to help them to become well-rounded individuals who are independent, resilient, and confident in themselves and with others. We ensure that the teaching of Christian Values is embedded throughout our curriculum and an integral part of our school day.

Children have an abundance of opportunities to learn through play. We ensure that learning is fun, engaging and challenges all children where ever their starting point. As an EYFS team and effective role models, we provide high quality interactions in order to develop and deepen the children’s learning opportunities. We deliver our curriculum through a balance of adult led and child-initiated activities based on the EYFS Framework and the children’s interests.

We understand and appreciate the importance of the outdoor environment for our children. It is a continuation of our indoor provision and is used at every opportunity. We provide our children with opportunities to develop their gross motor skills, to deepen their imaginations and also their sense of curiosity. We want the children to feel safe and secure at all times.

Communication with families

Communication is important to us and we greatly value the relationship that we develop with parents throughout this vital year. In Reception, we use Class Dojo to share our learning journey in EYFS, this is an interactive, online resource that allows parents to view highlights from their child’s day, communication with teachers and is a closed system that is accessible only to parents of the class.

We encourage a strong partnership with our parents so they are actively involved in their children's learning. Transition is key to successful, happy children. We have a thorough process, working with pre-school and nursery settings, parents and carers before children start in Reception, ensuring that children have many opportunities to meet staff and visit school through transition days and stay and play activities.  Our partnership with parents means that parents have the opportunity to work closely with us to support children’s transition into the setting and we would like parents to feel secure in the knowledge that their child is well cared for and happy at school. 

At the beginning of the year, we hold a 'Meet the Teacher' meeting where parents can learn more about how we help the children to learn at school and ways that they can help at home. We also have open afternoons throughout the year where parents can view and discuss their child’s progress. We regularly invite parents to join us in the classroom as ‘Mystery Story-tellers’ which provide a great opportunity for children to enjoy the magic of reading with their grown-ups.

We believe that children’s early years’ experience should be happy, active, exciting, fun and secure; and support their development and learning needs that enables them to fulfil their potential.  

What do we learn in Early Years?

The EYFS framework explains how and what children will be learning to support their development.

Children will learn skills, acquire new knowledge and demonstrate their understanding through 7 areas of learning and development.

• Communication and language
• Physical development
• Personal, social and emotional development
• Literacy
• Mathematics
• Understanding the world
• Expressive arts and design

All 7 areas of learning are used to plan children’s learning and activities.  The EYFS framework is designed to be flexible so that we can follow the children's needs and interests. We take time to talk to and listen to the children and we enjoy finding out what they are interested in. This allows us to be able to plan lots of learning experiences and activities based on what the children like.

If you visited our classroom, you would see a range of activities taking place such as role-play, practical games, painting, cutting and sticking and reading in the book corner. You would also see the outdoor classroom in operation, with equipment such as building blocks, cars, sand and water.

We feel it is so important that our children in reception are starting their journey through school happy and with a smile.

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