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).
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.
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 throughout the school day 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
Provision of this kind 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:
- interacting with children during planned and child-initiated play and activities
- communicating and modelling language
- showing, explaining and exploring ideas
- encouraging, questioning, recalling and providing a narrative for what children are doing
- setting challenges and helping children to achieve them
- paying attention to the physical environment and resources, as well as the daily structures and routines that establish expectations
Well-planned play is important. It gives 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.
Play based learning - at St Finian’s we recognise that play is powerful, and we foster our children’s learning and development through meaningful play.
Daily routines- at St Finian's, the daily pattern of repeated activites and routines, helps our children to feel secure and confident and to know what is expected of them.
Quality interactions between children and adults – at St Finian’s we play alongside our children and through quality interaction throughout the day, help to build their knowledge and understanding.
A love of language – at St Finian’s we read and explore books together and the adults model language and new vocabulary to enrich the children’s talk and conversation.
A rich, holistic curriculum unique to our setting – at St Finian’s, we draw on 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 assess what our children know, understand, and can do on a daily basis. We use this information to plan our children’s 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 interests and dispositions.
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.
School REadiness
Our EYFS Curriculum
St Finian's EYFS Progression Map
