Early Years Foundation Stage at St Finian's
Early childhood is the foundation on which children build the rest of their lives. Research is clear that high-quality early education establishes the foundations for later success, including academic achievement, good health and well-being. (Best Start in Life Strategy DfE July 2025, Strong Foundations DFE October 2024). We also know that engaging in a play rich environment on a daily basis, is the most powerful way for children to learn and grow, nurturing rich language development, social and emotional skills.
Our EYFS curriculum is where the journey starts. Through high quality child-adult interaction, we focus on building fluency, foundational knowledge and skills that set children up not only for their primary school years ahead but for the journey beyond.
Rich language development, organisational and social skills are fundamental building blocks of the EYFS curriculum.
Children also begin to learn ...
- how to compose simple sentences orally
- how to hold a pencil correctly and form letters and numbers
- how to spell
- how to become a fluent reader
Play-based learning through a Continuous Provision approach (CP)
Every day in EYFS is carefully planned to offer a rich menu of learning experiences that prioritise the development of the whole child.
Through a challenging, enabling environment, children develop social interaction skills- communication, language and critical thinking. Supported by adults, this rich learning environment, facilitates independent thinking, through high-quality adult-child conversation.
We use the ShREC (EEF) approach, which focuses on improving children's oral communication and language skills through high-quality interactions.
Teaching is adapted to meet the needs of the individual child, enabling every child to work towards achieving Early Learning Goals (ELGs).
Our CP approach makes use of both the indoor and outdoor classroom; the large terrace and play area provides an extended learning environment which the children access through independent play in the following ways:
- Role Play
- IT
- Construction
- Maths
- Books
- Dough/clay/sand
- Small world
- Mark making in all areas
- Paint
- Junk modelling
- Water play
- Woodwork
- Cooking
Continuous provision increases the opportunities for children to:
- use their own initiative
- become independent learners
- make decisions about which activity to select and pursue
- build on their own interests and previous experiences
There are many different ways in which adults help our young children to learn, including:
- participating in child-initiated play
- communicating and modelling language
- showing, explaining and exploring ideas with children
- encouraging, questioning, recalling and providing a narrative for what children are doing
- setting challenges and helping children to achieve them
- providing a stimulating physical environment with established daily routines
- setting expectations for behaviour, modelling the school behaviour curriculum
Well-planned play is crucially important, giving children opportunities to practise using their knowledge and skills to:
- explore and make sense of the world around them
- learn to focus their attention
- learn to communicate and cooperate with others
Our EYFS curriculum is built on the following principles.
Daily routines- at St Finian's, the daily pattern of repeated activites and routines, helps our children to feel secure and confident; they know what is expected of them and through our nurturing and supportive approach, they develop a strong sense of belonging.
Play based learning - at St Finian’s we recognise that play is powerful; we foster our children’s learning and development through meaningful play.
Quality interactions between children and adults – at St Finian’s we play alongside our children; through quality interactions, we help to build their knowledge and understanding.
Positive relationships – at St Finian’s we recognise the important role parents play in their child’s early development. Communication with parents is key; we enable them to take an active part in their children's learning journey, opening our doors and welcoming them inside.
A love of language – at St Finian’s we read and explore books together; adults model language and introduce new vocabulary throughout the day to enrich children’s talk and conversation.
A rich, holistic curriculum unique to our setting – at St Finian’s, we draw upon the expertise of leading early years practitioners to deliver the seven areas of learning in a way that is both exciting and challenging. Our approach reflects the unique character of our school environment and is carefully designed to meet the needs of every child.
An enabling environment – at St Finian’s we create an environment where children can be active in their learning both inside and outside, where they can discover things for themselves through independent play.
Reaching milestones – at St Finian’s we assess what our children know, understand, and can do on a daily basis. We use this information to plan their next steps in learning and to monitor their progress.
Every child is unique – at St Finian’s we understand that every child is unique and made in God's image. We take the time to get to know our children, taking account of their individual characters, needs and interests.
School REadiness
Our EYFS Curriculum
St Finian's EYFS Progression Map
