Our Early Years Foundation Stage

At Redhill Primary School, we want to nurture our children and support them in developing into happy, resilient and kind citizens of the community with a real thirst for learning and a drive to be the best they can be.

This begins with our ‘Ducklings’ in Reception class. We believe that fundamental to a positive start to school-life is the formation of strong relationships between school and families and for this reason, we place high value on the home visits, induction sessions, pre-school visits and daily communication via the Class Dojo blog which form a key part of our induction process. In an ongoing way, the blog, parent workshops, open classroom sessions and whole-school events ensure that the relationship between home and school is built upon and that families feel that they are fully involved in their Duckling’s school journey.

 Our Foundation Stage Curriculum is play-based, facilitating the transition from pre-school settings, with a balance between whole-class teaching with teacher input, small group activities and independent exploration of carefully-resourced provision areas both indoors and outdoors. Through high-quality interactions with skilled practitioners, which encourage problem-solving and deeper learning, the children have lots of opportunities to facilitate their own learning whilst following their personal interests. Therefore, whilst the Foundation Stage Termly Planning outlines the teaching of knowledge and skills over the year, the topics within which this is explored and delivered vary from year to year depending on the children’s interests and current events. This child-centred approach is central to our planning and resourcing of learning activities on a weekly and daily basis.