Pre-school & Early Years
A happy beginning to a lifelong love of learning
At St Mary’s, we believe that the Early Years are incredibly important. They provide the foundations upon which children build their future learning, relationships, confidence and wellbeing.
Our Early Years provision includes Pre-School and Reception, providing children with a nurturing, stimulating and ambitious start to their education.
We want every child to feel safe, happy, valued and excited to learn. Through warm relationships, high expectations, purposeful play and carefully planned teaching, we encourage our children to become confident, curious and increasingly independent learners.
As a Catholic school, our faith and values are woven throughout everything we do. Children learn to care for themselves, one another and the world around them, recognising that each person is unique, special and made in the image of God.
Rooted in Love – Faith in Action – Learning for Life.
Our Early Years Curriculum
Our Early Years curriculum is carefully planned around the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework and the seven areas of learning and development.
The Prime Areas
- Communication and Language
- Personal, Social and Emotional Development
- Physical Development
The Specific Areas
- Literacy
- Mathematics
- Understanding the World
- Expressive Arts and Design
We provide a balance of high-quality adult-led teaching, purposeful play, exploration, first-hand experiences and carefully planned continuous provision.
Our curriculum is ambitious for every child. Practitioners get to know children well, identifying what they already know and can do and carefully planning what they need to learn next.
We recognise that children develop at different rates. Our teaching is adapted to meet individual needs, with additional support provided promptly where children need it.
We want children to leave Reception with secure foundations for their next stage of learning and, just as importantly, with confidence, curiosity, independence and a genuine love of learning.
What Will My Child Learn?
Our curriculum is carefully sequenced across Pre-School and Reception so that children's knowledge, vocabulary and skills develop over time.
Throughout the year, children explore engaging themes including:
All About Me
Celebrations
Journeys and Adventures
Let’s Investigate
Amazing Animals
People Who Help Us
These themes provide meaningful contexts for learning while allowing us to respond to children's interests, experiences and the world around them.
Our curriculum includes carefully chosen core texts, stories, rhymes and songs, alongside planned vocabulary and rich opportunities to talk.
Children's learning is enhanced through experiences beyond the classroom. These can include local walks and landmarks, travelling on a bus, visitors to school, observing chicks and butterflies, farm or zoo experiences, Careers Week, Sports Day and visits from people such as the Police and Fire Service.
Communication and Language
Communication and language are at the heart of our Early Years curriculum.
We know that strong spoken language provides an essential foundation for children's learning, reading, writing, relationships and future success.
Our adults model high-quality language and create opportunities throughout the day for children to:
- listen carefully;
- talk about their experiences;
- learn and use new vocabulary;
- ask and answer questions;
- explain their thinking;
- retell familiar stories;
- take part in conversations; and
- develop confidence when speaking to others.
We deliberately identify and teach vocabulary through our curriculum. As children move through EYFS, the vocabulary they encounter becomes increasingly rich and ambitious. Our Reception curriculum, for example, deliberately introduces vocabulary linked to concepts such as belonging, tradition, community, destination, investigate, predict, metamorphosis, habitat and responsibility.
Stories, songs, rhymes and conversation are an important part of every day at St Mary’s.
Reading and Phonics
Developing a love of reading
We want every child at St Mary’s to develop a love of books, stories and reading.
Children enjoy high-quality books throughout our Early Years provision. Our curriculum identifies carefully chosen core texts linked to children's learning, while our reading areas and story times provide opportunities to discover many more.
In Pre-School, children develop the foundations needed for successful reading through stories, songs, rhymes, listening activities, sound discrimination, oral language and vocabulary development.
Red Rose Phonics
In Reception, we teach phonics systematically using Red Rose Letters and Sounds, developed by Lancashire Professional Development Service.
Children receive regular systematic phonics teaching and are given frequent opportunities to apply their developing phonics knowledge through reading and writing.
Reading books are carefully matched to children's developing phonic knowledge, enabling children to practise what they have been taught and develop confidence, accuracy and fluency.
We also work closely with families so that they understand how we teach early reading and how they can support their child at home.
Mathematics
We want children to develop a deep understanding of number and a positive attitude towards mathematics from the very beginning.
Children explore mathematics through carefully planned teaching, practical activities, games, stories, songs, routines and their play.
We provide opportunities for children to develop their understanding of number, numerical patterns, shape, space and measure and encourage children to notice patterns, make connections, solve problems and explain their thinking.
Mathematical language is modelled and developed throughout the Early Years environment so that children learn that maths is all around them.
Learning Through Play
Play is an essential part of learning in the Early Years.
Our environment is carefully organised to encourage children to explore, investigate, communicate, create, practise and solve problems.
Children have opportunities to make choices about their learning and revisit and practise important knowledge and skills through our continuous provision.
Our adults play an important role within this. They observe children carefully, join children's play appropriately, model language, ask questions, introduce new ideas and extend children's thinking.
There is a careful balance between knowing when to support a child and when to allow them the independence to try something for themselves.
This helps children develop confidence, resilience and problem-solving skills. Appropriate challenge and managed risk are also an important part of children's development and growing independence.
Learning Beyond the Classroom
We are fortunate to have beautiful school grounds and to be situated in the heart of our rural community.
We want our children to experience the world rather than simply learn about it.
Outdoor learning, our local environment, seasonal changes, visits, visitors and real-life experiences all enrich our curriculum.
Children have opportunities to observe nature, explore, investigate, move, take appropriate risks and experience learning on a larger scale outdoors.
We also make links with our wider school and local community, helping even our youngest children understand that they belong to something bigger than themselves.
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
Children learn best when they feel safe, secure and valued.
Warm and positive relationships are therefore fundamental to our Early Years provision.
We support children to understand their emotions, develop friendships, become increasingly independent, manage routines and expectations and learn how their actions affect others.
Clear routines and consistent expectations help children understand what is expected of them and enable them to feel secure and ready to learn.
Our Catholic ethos underpins these relationships. Children learn about kindness, forgiveness, respect, responsibility and caring for others through their everyday experiences at St Mary’s.
Every Child Matters
Every child is unique.
Our practitioners build strong relationships with children and families so that we understand each child's strengths, interests and needs.
Assessment in EYFS is purposeful and proportionate. Practitioners use their knowledge of children and what they observe during everyday learning to identify what children understand, what they need to learn next and whether additional support may be required.
Where children need additional help, we believe in identifying this early and working closely with families to provide appropriate support.
High-quality teaching remains at the heart of our provision for every child. This reflects national guidance emphasising the importance of a coherent curriculum, high-quality teaching, early identification and timely intervention during the first years of school.
Strong foundations in the first years of school - GOV.UK
Working in Partnership with Families
Parents and carers are children's first and most important educators.
We know that children achieve the best outcomes when home and school work together.
We therefore aim to build warm, trusting relationships with families from the very beginning. We encourage parents to share information about their child's interests, routines, achievements and needs and provide opportunities for families to understand what their child is learning in school.
We also recognise that raising a young child brings lots of questions!
To support families, we have developed a collection of Early Years Parent Guides covering some of the everyday experiences and developmental milestones families may encounter.
Early Years Parent Guides
Starting Pre-School or Reception – Supporting Your Child to Settle
Starting a new setting is a significant milestone. Our guide explains how familiar routines, relationships and a gradual transition can help children feel safe, secure and ready to learn.
Toilet and Potty Training
Practical information about working together between home and school to support children's developing independence.
Supporting Healthy Sleep
Information about the importance of sleep for children's health, learning and emotional wellbeing and how home and Early Years settings can work together.
Healthy Eating and Nutrition
Information to help families and school work together to establish positive, healthy eating habits.
Understanding and Managing Childhood Illnesses
Useful information about common childhood illness, infection control and working together to keep our children healthy and safe.
Safe Exploration, Managed Risk and Everyday Accidents
An explanation of why appropriate challenge and managed risk are important in developing children's confidence, coordination, resilience and independence.
Supporting Learning at Home
Supporting your child at home does not mean recreating school.
Some of the most valuable things families can do are also the simplest:
Read together every day. Talk about the pictures, characters and what might happen next.
Talk together. Tell stories, ask questions and encourage your child to explain their ideas.
Sing songs and nursery rhymes. These are incredibly valuable for developing children's language and early reading skills.
Count in everyday life. Count the stairs, plates for dinner, cars on a journey or apples in the shopping basket.
Notice the world around you. Talk about seasons, weather, plants, animals, buildings and places you visit.
Play together. Board games, construction, drawing, imaginative play, puzzles and outdoor play all develop important skills.
Encourage independence. Allow your child to practise dressing, putting on their coat, using cutlery, tidying away and looking after their belongings.
Most importantly, talk, read, play and enjoy spending time together.
Useful Links for Families
We have selected some useful resources to help families support children's learning and development at home.
Parental links for the website:
Oxford Owl for Home: help your child learn at home - Oxford Owl
Phonics videos – help your child learn to read - Oxford Owl
CBeebies Parenting – advice, tips and podcasts for parents
Play, explore and learn - Lancashire County Council
Learning conversations: 3 to 5 years - Best Start in Life - NHS
Games - Early years Maths - BBC Bitesize
An A to Z of Nursery Rhymes and Songs - BBC Teach
Starting Your Journey at St Mary’s
Choosing the right Early Years setting is an important decision for every family.
We warmly welcome prospective families to come and visit St Mary’s, meet our staff, explore our Early Years environment and see our children learning and playing together.
Whether your child is beginning their journey with us in Pre-School or Reception, we want St Mary’s to be a place where they feel that they belong.
A place where they are known, loved and valued.
A place where they can explore, discover and grow.
And a place where the foundations are laid for a lifelong love of learning.
Please contact our school office to arrange a visit or to find out more about places in our Pre-School and Reception.
Rooted in Love – Faith in Action – Learning for Life.