Our Vision for Early Years Foundation Stage
At Netherseal St. Peter’s, we believe in ‘Growing Learners for Life’. We want children to be happy, determined, independent, respectful and inspired individuals, motivated to be the best that they can be.
Our Early Years vision is to provide all children with a high-quality education which develops the knowledge and learning behaviours that they need to succeed in life.
Early Childhood
- We celebrate the uniqueness of each child, recognising that they all learn and develop in different ways, at different rates and bring diverse experiences to our school.
- We have the highest aspirations for every child, believing that they should be empowered to take ownership of their learning and their environment.
- We believe that risk and challenge are vital in order for our children to develop critical thinking, resilience and perseverance.
- We are committed to partnerships with families to provide every possible opportunity for our children to become confident well-rounded individuals, good communicators, socially competent, resilient and develop the necessary physical skills.
Enabling Environment
- We recognise that children learn best through practical hands-on experiences and interactions with the environment. Our indoor and outdoor spaces are safe and stimulating, designed to offer opportunities to learn through play and promote high levels of involvement and learning.
- Learning is led through a balance of discrete, adult-led sessions and carefully planned continuous provision, supporting all children to be fully engaged in purposeful play of their choice and promoting all aspects of learning and development.
- Our daily routines are flexible and a key teaching strategy to embed learning.
Staff
- Our greatest resource is the highly motivated adults who have a good understanding of child development and are reflective and evaluative.
- Positive relationships with children and their families is a priority.
- Staff are warm and welcoming. They care for the children and keep them safe.
- All our staff recognise the importance of consistency, fairness and clear boundaries. They constantly model skills, learning behaviours and high expectations.
- Adults provide high quality teaching and continuous provision to ensure that they offer developmentally appropriate opportunities and that children make progress in all areas on their learning journey to KS1.
- Skilful adult–child interactions focus on extending thinking, broadening communication and introducing challenge.
- Adults use assessment effectively to be responsive to the children’s needs and interests, ensuring that all children make progress from their starting points.
What OFSTED say about our Early Years Provision:
'Children in the early years have a positive start to their education. A well-sequenced and ambitious curriculum ensures children are ready for their next phase of learning.'
EYFS Learning progressions (click the links below):
EYFS Reading and Writing Overview
Continuous Provision progressions:
Starting school is a big step and we will do everything we can to make this transition as smooth as possible.
You will probably have lots of questions and we will invite you into school to show you round, discuss arrangements and give you the opportunity to meet the staff. In the meantime, some of your questions may be answered using the information and links below but if you have any further queries, please do not hesitate to contact us on info@netherseal.derbyshire.sch.uk
Click here for a link to our Online Safety page
Tips for starting school:
- Do be positive - starting school is exciting and there will be lots of fun things to do
- Do be 'matter of fact'. Everybody goes to school and it means that you are now a big boy or girl!
- Talk to your child about starting school and give them plenty of time to get used to the idea
- Please do not use school as a threat if children misbehave!
- Try to get your child into a routine for getting up and ready in plenty of time in the morning. Children do not like to be late and a stressful start to the day is not the best for children or parents
- Teach your child to ask for the toilet and ensure they can manage their own personal hygiene:
- It is normal to be a bit apprehensive about your child starting school but please, if you do have a niggling worry, no matter how silly you may think it sounds, let us know!
Click on the links below for some activities to try before you start school:
Early Years Topmarks (3-8 years old)
Oxford Owl (Free e-books and advice on reading)
Once a Week, Take a Peek!
Within most schools at any one time, there may be a small number of children infected with head lice so we would advise you to ‘once a week, take a peek’, and check your child for head lice using a nit comb which are available from the local chemist.
Head lice cannot fly, jump or swim but spread by clambering from head to head. They are caught by head-to-head contact with someone who already has them. Although anyone can catch them, they prefer the heads of four- to 11-year-olds. Clean hair is no protection against them.
Lice are most easily detected by combing really well-conditioned soaking wet hair with a fine-tooth comb. Really wet lice stay still and cannot escape. Combing dry or damp hair with a fine-tooth comb is not a reliable way to detect lice. In dry or damp hair, lice move quickly away from the disturbance caused by a comb
Treat lice as soon as you spot them but there is no need to keep your child off school if they have head lice.
Why don’t we exclude children from school who have head lice?
This is not an option. The Department for Children, Schools and Families advises that pupils should not be excluded. The reason for this is that although head lice are unpleasant it is not classed as an infectious disease, which warrants keeping a pupil away from school.
Click here to see if your child is 'school ready'
Click here for the Derbyshire Ready for School Information Leaflet
Click here for Physical Activity Guidance for Early Years
Preparing Your Child for School A Guide for Parents and Guardians Leaflet.pdf
Click here for Ready for School Toilet Training Stage 1
Click here for our New Starters Activity Pack
If you have a child starting at any other time, please contact the office regarding visits
When buying uniform, please consider the types of clothes you send your child to school in, particularly for younger children e.g. elasticated waist trousers, skirts, Velcro shoes (any clothing that does not require adult assistance/supervision).
Moving on...
When children leave Netherseal at the end of Year 6, they will usually go to one of the local secondary schools. As part of the transition arrangements, we work closely with the secondary schools to provide children with the opportunities they need in order to feel as ready as possible to begin their next adventure!
