Early Years Foundation Stage – Why?
We recently spent some time chatting with our Head of Primary School, Caroline Smith, on WHY we offer EARLY YEARS FOUNDATION STAGE (EYFS) schooling. What is the benefit and why should parents consider this?
Our EYFS is centred around child led, play based learning, following the Early Years Framework as set out in the English National Curriculum. It encompasses In the Moment Planning (ItMP), which allows us to provide age appropriate, child focused opportunities to learn.
All our Early Years Practitioners are fully qualified with a minimum Level 2 CACHE qualification (www.cache.org.uk) or equivalent. As well as being fully qualified they are kind, caring and compassionate. They share their knowledge and expertise in a calm and patient manner which is essential when working with our youngest learners.
Our low child/teacher ratio, in line with UK specifications, allows us to ensure individual attention, which helps our children to quickly gain self confidence, knowledge and skills within a safe, nurturing and supportive environment.. Every child from PN1 to Foundation 1 is assigned a Key Worker to help them thrive and develop as young learners.
Our classrooms have been specifically designed to provide a calming environment and include many areas including loose parts play, creativity, reading and mark making. Our EY Practitioners follow the Reggio Emilia approach to learning which helps encourage self-expression, investigative skills, communication skills, logical thinking and problem solving.
Our EYFS Department will be hosting their annual OPEN DAY on Wednesday 04 March from 9:30-11:00 and we welcome parents who are curious to come and see for themselves what fun we have learning at LES EYFS!