Mission Statement

With Jesus, we learn to love and love to learn

Our Vision

To give every child a sense of belonging, so that they have a safe and stable base from which to develop and learn.

To enable every child to grow academically, socially, morally, spiritually and culturally in the knowledge that they are loved by God and can feel safe and valued within our school community.

To nurture and support children through their primary school journey so that they are confident and well equipped  to progress into the wider world as strong, independent learners and thoughtful, caring individuals.

Our Values

Resilience

Inclusion

Honesty

Compassion

Respect

Love

Our Intent

The Statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage sets the standards for learning, development and care for children from birth to 5 years.

At St Clare’s Catholic Primary School we offer a balanced range of adult led and child initiated opportunities across the 7 areas of learning. We use continuous play and small group activities to help and support the children make progress in their learning and development. We follow a topic based approach using the Cornerstones Curriculum alongside the children’s individual interests.

Adult led learning and activities are carefully planned using high quality programs and resources. We use ‘My letters and Sounds’ to deliver daily comprehensive phonic lessons. The children also have structured teaching sessions following the White Rose Curriculum and have an in depth knowledge of the fundamental maths skills they need because of the Maths Mastery program.

By the end of the Reception year, our intent is to ensure that all children make at least good progress from their starting points and are equipped with the skills and knowledge to have a smooth transition into Year 1.

Implementation

Our children benefit from meaningful learning and are encouraged to make links in the world around them. We carefully timetable our days to ensure the balance is correct and opportunities are available to excite and enthuse our youngest learners. We scaffold the learning in order to ensure language is used fully throughout the day and there are many opportunities to learn new vocabulary (maths talk. Maths mastery, T4W, etc). We encourage self-selection, independence and curiosity by carefully planning and resourcing areas within the classroom and outside.

Children are encouraged to read at home and are listened to regularly in school. They are given books that match their phonic knowledge in order for them to apply their learning with the aim of becoming successful, confident and fluent readers. We develop a Love of reading through library visits and books Our timetable changes throughout the year to take into consideration the changing needs of the children in order to allow them to achieve their full potential.

Impact

Prior to children starting, staff spend time speaking to the child’s parents and their previous settings to gain an understanding of the whole child. During the first half term in Reception, all staff use ongoing assessments, observations and conversations with the child to develop a baseline assessment. This identifies each individual’s starting points in all areas so we can plan experiences to ensure progress. The statutory Reception Baseline Assessments (RBA) are also carried out.

All ongoing observations are used to inform weekly planning and identify children’s next steps. Staff draw on their knowledge of the child and their own professional judgements through discussions with other staff, photographs and physical examples such as a child’s drawing or making. Observations are uploaded using Tapestry and shared with the parents. Staff are aware of children who receive PPG and all receive extra support in the area that has been identified as an area of need. Similarly, staff understand the needs of our SEND pupils and effectively use their one plans to work on the child’s individual targets.

Phonic assessments are carried out using my letters and sounds weekly to quickly identify pupils that are not making expected progress. Our aim is for children to ‘keep up’ rather than ‘catch up’ where possible.  By reading with our children 1:1 we effectively track how they are applying their phonics knowledge to their reading.

Target Tracker assessments are completed half termly. In Summer Term, the EYFSP is completed where teacher judge whether the child has met each of the 17 ELG’s. They will be assessed as either ‘Emerging’ or ‘Expected.’ 

Our curriculum and its delivery ensure that children make good progress. Children in our early years, on average, arrive with much lower starting points than national. During their time in our EYFS, children make rapid progress so that we meet the national expectation for GLD at the end of the year and almost all children make good progress from their starting points.