Early Years Foundation Stage 

We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stopped playing

- George Bernard Shaw

A Welcome From Us!

If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to contact us via Tapestry.

The Early Years Foundation Stage is a very special place, being the first link between home and school. Our aim is to build upon the experience provided by you as parents and to set the fundamental foundations which allow your children to thrive through their primary educations.  We aim to create a happy, secure and stimulating environment, encouraging independence, confidence and growth in all areas of child development. 

Parental involvement and strong home-school relationships are viewed as an integral part of early years education in our setting. Our staff will gladly and readily discuss your children, their progress and what they have been learning during whilst in school.  Our staff are also always keen to find out about what children are interested in and what they have been doing at home. This can be discussed with staff in person, or photos and comments can be uploaded through Tapestry. 

Key Information:

  • All children should wear the correct school uniform which is clearly labelled with their name.
  • All children should bring their coat and water bottle into school every day.
  • Children are encouraged to bring wellies when it is wet and sun cream and
    sunhats when it is sunny.
  • We are a NUT FREE setting. Children are not allowed to bring food into school that contains nuts or has traces of nuts.
  • Drop-off/ pick up times vary depending on the child’s year group. All drop off and pick ups will use the Foundation Stage entrance. 

Nursery full day sessions: 8.55am-3.10pm
(half day session on Wednesdays 8.55am-11.25am/12.45pm-3.10pm)
Reception: 8.45am-3.20pm

Key Policies for The Early Years Foundation Stage

Early Years Foundation Stage Policies & DocumentsDownload
EYFS Policy 2023 2025Download
Intimate Care Policy EYFS 22 24Download
Intent, Implementation and Impact Statement- EYFSDownload

Click to view our Foundation Stage Prospectus

What do we offer in EYFS?

The Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum

Throughout their time in the early years all children at Clapgate will experience and rich, ambitious and skills-based curriculum which is designed in a sequential way to ensure progress towards the end of year group expectations.  Please see our curriculum documents below. 

The Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum is based on the premise that children learn through practical play-based activities.  Play is a vehicle for learning which enables children to explore and find out about the world around them. 

Our Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum focuses on the overall development of each individual child.  It encourages children to become more independent and it fosters their natural curiosity through exploration and investigation.  We focus on helping children to develop positive attitudes to learning as well as ensuring they gain the skills and competencies that form the foundations for future learning.  The curriculum is mainly planned from the children’s interests; however, we incorporate a range of key themes and non-negotiable learning experiences for all our children. We begin each theme by finding out what the children already know and then we find out what the children would like to learn to ensure that the learning is matched to their interests and needs. Activities are planned for both indoors and outdoors to ensure children have a range of different experiences.  We hugely value the need for child-led learning which is reflected in our daily timetable and all children in the Early Years have free flow access to their own outdoor environment, all of the day, in all weathers.  Each half term we arrange visits/ experiences out of school to support learning through a practical, hands on approach.

Underpinning all the teaching within EYFS curriculum is the ‘Characteristics of Effective Teaching and Learning’.  The focus of these characteristics is about how children learn rather than what they learn.  A child’s individual characteristics when learning will determine the way they respond to both the teaching and learning.  There are three characteristics of effective teaching and learning that will define how our children learn.

  1. Playing and Exploring – children investigate and experience things, and ‘have a go.’
  2. Active Learning – children concentrate and keep on trying if they encounter difficulties and they celebrate their achievements and learning.
  3. Creating and Thinking Critically – children have and develop their own ideas, make links between ideas, and develop strategies for doing things.

As part of our curriculum, we have also carefully planned out which key stories, rhymes, and poems our children will know and love by the time they leave Reception. Each half term the children in the early years are exposed to a selection of books/ rhymes which they read continuously over the half term. This repetition allows for our children to understand the story structures, characters, vocabulary and key themes as well as learning to love well-known children’s stories. Please see below. 

Please see use the tabs below to find out more information about our approaches to Reading, Writing and Maths. 
Please see below for an example ‘rhythm of the day’ for both our Nursery and Reception. 

Take a sneak peek at our amazing classroom environments!

Reception Classroom

Nursery Classroom

You may also like to check out the EYFS websites below:

  1. White Rose Math: White Rose Maths Team has prepared a series of five maths lessons for each year group from Year 1-8. Every lesson comes with a short video showing you clearly and simply how to help your child to complete the activity successfully.
  2. Active Learn: Read online Bug Club Books and visit the Math Factor. 
  3. Numberblocks:  Sing along and learn all about numbers with the Numberblocks!
  4. Alphablocks:  Watch as the letters of the alphabet tell stories and make words using phonics. Play the learning game, watch clips and print colouring pages.
  5. Epic Phonics: One month free membership.
  6. Phonics Play:  You will find lots of games and ideas to explore with children at home. Free membership.
  7. Tapestry 
  8. Stay at Home Story Time:  Oliver Jeffers will be reading one of his books every weekday and talking about some of the things that went into making it.
  9. Time To Come In, Bear written by Kim St. Lawrence  – A story explaining social distancing to young children.

APPs for EYFS:

Privacy Policy

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We do not store personal information about individuals who visit this site except where they provide contact information via our contact us page and contact forms available on various pages throughout the website.

Any information you provide will only be used for the reasons specified and it will not be shared with any third party without your consent, unless required by law.

Your contact details are kept securely and are only accessed by authorised members of staff as part of the provision of school services. If you do not wish us to keep this contact information please tell us.

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This website contains links to other websites. The School is not responsible for the privacy practices of other sites or organisations and recommends you consult the privacy information on those sites.

This policy will be reviewed and updated versions will be posted on the website.

If you have any questions about the use of your personal information, the Information Commissioner is the independent regulator for both Data Protection and Freedom of Information.