At St Paul’s we have one Nursery and one Reception class. We teach through a creative, play based curriculum using a combination of whole class teaching sessions, small focus groups and working with children individually. The children learn through a combination of child initiated and adult led activities. We believe that hands on and real world experiences are an important way for children to learn.

Staff promote high levels of interest and creative thinking with a strong emphasis on developing language throughout all the curriculum areas. Through exploration and discovery learning in a stimulating environment the children develop confidence and an interest in the world around them.

Our Aims for the Early Years here at St Paul’s are to:

• Plan for and deliver a curriculum filled with awe and wonder which makes the children’s first steps along their educational journey truly memorable
• Provide a broad and balanced curriculum for every child to develop the building blocks for future learning
• Provide quality and consistency in teaching and learning so that every child makes good progress and no child gets left behind
• To develop close working relationships with parents and carers

At St Paul’s we follow the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage.

The EYFS areas of learning are:

• Communication and Language
• Physical Development
• Personal, Social and Emotional Development
• Literacy
• Mathematics
• Understanding the World
• Expressive Arts and Design

In each area there are Early Learning Goals, which summarise the knowledge, skills and understanding that all young children should have gained by the end of Reception year.

Communication between home and school is a big priority at St Paul’s. Before starting in Nursery or Reception, every child has a home visit. This provides an opportunity for parents to share information about their child as well as ask questions about the school. Once a term, following a child being a ‘focus child’ for the week, parents are invited into school to discuss their child’s progress.  We also warmly invite parents/ carers to join us for our weekly ‘stay and play’ session where you will have the opportunity to see what your child is learning about in school that week. Staff are also available throughout the year if parents have queries or concerns.

PLEASE SEE OUR NURSERY AND RECEPTION CLASS PAGES UNDER THE ‘YEAR GROUPS’ TAB TO FIND OUT EVEN MORE ABOUT OUR EXCITING AND ENGAGING CURRICULUM.