Welcome to EYFS
Welcome to the Early Years Foundation Stage at Locking Stumps Primary School. We are committed to providing every child with the strongest possible foundations for future learning through a nurturing, ambitious and engaging curriculum.
Our dedicated EYFS team includes Mrs. MacDonald, EYFS Lead, alongside our experienced Teaching Assistants, Mrs. Holley and Mrs. Myles.
Mrs. Holley works within EYFS each morning and, in the afternoons, provides targeted support for children with identified or emerging speech and language needs. She delivers individual Speech and Language Therapy programmes, as well as our chosen whole school speech and language programme, WELLCOMM, ensuring children develop the communication skills they need to thrive. Mrs. Myles works full time within EYFS, providing consistent support and helping to create a rich and stimulating learning environment.
Together, we place children at the heart of everything we do, ensuring their individual needs, interests and starting points are recognised and valued. Through high quality teaching, strong relationships and carefully planned experiences, we nurture confident, curious and independent learners who are ready for the next stage of their education.
Our EYFS Intent at Locking Stumps
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At Locking Stumps Primary School, we believe every child deserves the best possible start in life to enable them to fulfil their potential. Our EYFS provision is underpinned by the principles set out in Strong Foundations in the First Years of School, prioritising high-quality interactions, early language development and emotional security to support all children to thrive.
We are committed to nurturing happy, confident and resilient learners within a safe, inclusive and stimulating environment where every child feels valued and understood.
Strong, trusting relationships are at the heart of our EYFS provision. Staff take time to know each child as an individual, forming secure attachments that support emotional well-being and readiness to learn. We work in close partnership with families and the wider community, recognising their vital role in supporting early development and securing the best outcomes for all.
We promote positive behaviour through praise, rewards and consistent boundaries, helping children feel secure and confident. We value children’s strengths and celebrate the small steps that lead to significant progress, enabling children to develop confidence, resilience and a positive attitude towards learning.
Our EYFS Curriculum
At Locking Stumps Primary School, our Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum is carefully designed to provide children with the knowledge, skills and experiences they need to make strong progress from their starting points. The curriculum is taught through a range of engaging and meaningful topics that reflect children’s interests while ensuring full coverage of the EYFS framework.
Our approach is underpinned by clear curriculum intent, with well sequenced learning that builds cumulatively over time. Each topic is planned to develop children’s communication and language, personal, social and emotional development and physical development alongside the specific areas of learning. High quality texts, rich vocabulary and purposeful opportunities for talk are embedded throughout.
Teaching is responsive and adaptive, with practitioners using ongoing assessment to shape learning and provide appropriate challenge and support. A balance of adult led teaching and carefully planned continuous provision enables children to practise, consolidate and deepen their understanding across all areas of the curriculum.
This ambitious and inclusive curriculum ensures that all children develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes required to be ready for the next stage of their education and achieve the Early Learning Goals.
Literacy in EYFS
Pencil Control
At Locking Stumps Primary School, we recognise that developing strong foundations in pencil control is essential for children’s future writing success. From the earliest stages, we prioritise the development of both fine and gross motor skills through a carefully planned and engaging curriculum. Our continuous provision is thoughtfully designed to strengthen children’s hand and finger muscles, incorporating opportunities such as spray bottles in the potion area, utensils in the messy kitchen and a wide range of mark-making and writing tools across our creative and writing spaces.
Practitioners closely observe and monitor each child’s pencil grip and physical development, providing timely support and challenge where needed. Through high-quality teaching, including our systematic approach using the Little Wandle handwriting scheme, we ensure that children develop the control and confidence required for writing. By the end of Reception, we aim for all children to form recognisable letters, with most letters correctly formed, so they are well-prepared for the demands of Year 1.
Pencil grip stages
Writing in EYFS
At Locking Stumps Primary School, we place a strong emphasis on developing early language skills, communication and a love of reading as the basis for successful writing.
Writing is taught through a rich diet of traditional stories alongside high quality texts that link to our wider curriculum topics. These texts provide meaningful contexts and inspire children to write for a range of purposes.
Over time, children develop their writing skills progressively, beginning with mark making, labels and lists, before moving on to captions, simple sentences and increasingly complex sentence structures. Through carefully planned teaching and continuous provision, children are supported to build confidence, accuracy and independence in their writing in order to achieve the Early Learning Goal.
Reading in EYFS
At Locking Stumps Primary School, reading is at the heart of our curriculum and is supported by a strong focus on oracy and high quality phonics teaching. We recognise that developing children’s spoken language skills is essential for reading success, as it enables children to articulate their ideas, build vocabulary and develop comprehension.
We follow the Little Wandle phonics programme, which provides a systematic and structured approach to the teaching of early reading. Children take part in three guided reading sessions each week, where they read a fully decodable book matched to their phonetic knowledge. This book is then taken home to consolidate learning and build fluency. https://www.littlewandle.org.uk/
In addition, children take home a sharing book that is carefully matched to their phonetic ability to promote confidence and enjoyment in reading. Alongside this, children receive a phonics home learning pack, enabling them to practise the grapheme phoneme correspondences and tricky words taught in school that week.
This consistent and well structured approach ensures that all children make strong progress and develop the skills and confidence needed to become successful early readers.
Maths in EYFS
At Locking Stumps Primary School, we recognise the importance of developing strong early mathematics skills as a foundation for future learning. In line with the Department for Education’s Strong Foundations in the First Years of School guidance, we prioritise the development of number sense, subitising and a deep understanding of number through meaningful and engaging experiences.
Children are supported to build their mathematical understanding through a balance of adult led teaching and carefully planned continuous provision. Opportunities are provided for children to explore, reason and talk about mathematics, developing their mathematical thinking and vocabulary.
We follow the White Rose Maths scheme of learning, which provides a coherent and progressive structure to the teaching of early mathematics. Through this approach, children develop confidence in counting, recognising patterns, understanding relationships between numbers and applying their knowledge in a range of contexts. https://whiteroseeducation.com/
This strong foundation ensures that children are well prepared to meet the Early Learning Goal and continue their mathematical learning with confidence and competence.
How is our Curriculum taught?
At Locking Stumps Primary School, our Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum is carefully designed to provide children with the knowledge, skills and experiences they need to make strong progress from their starting points. The curriculum is taught through a range of engaging and meaningful topics that reflect children’s interests while ensuring full coverage of the EYFS framework.
Our approach is underpinned by clear curriculum intent, with well sequenced learning that builds cumulatively over time. Each topic is planned to develop children’s communication and language, personal, social and emotional development, and physical development alongside the specific areas of learning. High quality texts, rich vocabulary and purposeful opportunities for talk are embedded throughout.
Teaching is responsive and adaptive, with practitioners using ongoing assessment to shape learning and provide appropriate challenge and support. A balance of adult led teaching and carefully planned continuous provision enables children to practise, consolidate and deepen their understanding across all areas of the curriculum.
This ambitious and inclusive curriculum ensures that all children develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes required to be ready for the next stage of their education and achieve the Early Learning Goals.
Autumn 1 - Tell me a story, Sing me a song
During the topic Tell Me a Story, Sing Me a Song, children listen to a range of familiar stories and nursery rhymes, developing attention and understanding through repeated, meaningful experiences. They learn new vocabulary through high quality interactions and begin to respond to questions, talking about characters, events and feelings in simple sentences.
Children retell stories and join in with repeated phrases, building confidence in speaking. Through drawing and adult supported writing, they begin to understand that spoken language can be recorded and that marks carry meaning. Opportunities for role play, small world play and creative activities allow children to explore and embed their understanding, while music, movement and imaginative expression support engagement and enjoyment, laying strong foundations for future learning.
Autumn 2 - Celebrations
In this unit, children explore how people celebrate different occasions. They talk about celebrations that are important to them and their families, developing their ability to describe personal experiences.
Children are introduced to a range of celebrations from different countries and cultures, learning that occasions can be significant in different ways for different people. They begin to compare these with their own experiences, identifying similarities and differences. Through discussion and shared learning, children develop an understanding of diversity and respect for the traditions of others.
Spring 1 - The World Around Me
In this unit, children explore the town they live in, building on prior learning about their homes and families. Using familiar stories, they compare town and village environments, identifying similarities and differences in buildings, transport and ways of life.
Children observe seasonal change, focusing on winter, and take part in simple investigations such as freezing and melting, as well as exploring materials and their properties. Through learning about Chinese New Year, they develop an awareness of different cultures and traditions, comparing these with their own experiences and deepening their understanding of the wider world.
Spring 2 - Beyond my World
In this unit, children develop their understanding of the world, building on prior learning about their home, street and local area. They explore cities, with a focus on London, and begin to compare different locations, including their own locality and life in an African village, recognising similarities and differences.
Children learn about a range of transport, how it connects places and how it has changed over time. Through hands on experiences, including designing and making their own vehicle, they develop creativity and problem solving skills. This unit fosters curiosity about the wider world, an appreciation of diversity and an early understanding of change over time.
Summer 1 - Do all animals come from eggs?
In this unit, children explore the natural world by observing animals, plants and their habitats. They learn about life cycles and how living things grow and change over time. Through exploring dinosaurs, animals and different environments, children develop an understanding of past and present, while making connections between living things, people and places locally and globally.
Summer 2 - Look How Far We've Come!!
In this unit, children explore changes over time through the story Seesaw. They reflect on their own growth and development, while learning about generations within their families and communities. Children compare toys and games from the past with those used today, developing an understanding of how life and play have changed over time.
Through stories, discussion, role play and creative activities, children explore past and present, using their imagination to design and create their own toys and inventions.
Parent Partnership
At Locking Stumps Primary School we recognise the importance of establishing positive relationships with parents and carers. We believe that a strong partnership between school and home has a significant impact on children’s learning and development.
We value the role of parents as children’s primary educators. Parents are kept informed about school life through regular letters, reading records, SchoolPing messages and informal discussions at the beginning and end of the day. Class newsletters are shared each half term and whole school newsletters are sent fortnightly.
Parents are invited to attend parents’ evenings throughout the academic year. The first takes place in the autumn term and provides an opportunity to discuss how children have settled into school. A second meeting is held in the spring term where teachers share feedback on children’s progress and development.
In addition, we invite parents into school to support their understanding of the curriculum. During the autumn term, workshops are offered in phonics and early reading. In the spring term, parents are invited to attend a mathematics workshop. In the summer term, parents can attend a design and technology workshop.
Our Environment
Our EYFS environment is carefully designed to inspire curiosity, independence and a love of learning. We provide children with a rich range of natural, familiar and open-ended resources that encourage exploration, creativity, problem solving and meaningful engagement across all areas of learning.
We recognise the importance of learning both indoors and outdoors and make the most of every opportunity to extend children’s experiences beyond the classroom. Our carefully planned environment allows children to investigate, take risks, develop their ideas and apply their learning in purposeful contexts. Through a balance of adult guided experiences and high quality continuous provision, children are supported to become confident, independent learners who are motivated to explore and discover.
A Day in Our EYFS Class
Every day in our EYFS class is carefully planned to provide children with a balance of high-quality adult-led teaching, purposeful play, and opportunities to develop independence, curiosity and confidence. While every day is different and responsive to children’s interests, needs and developmental stages, children experience a consistent routine that provides security and supports successful learning.
Children begin their day by entering the classroom, selecting their lunch choice and independently organising their belongings. These routines encourage children to develop independence, responsibility and confidence as they take ownership of their day.
To support children’s physical development, children begin with a carefully selected fine motor activity. These activities are designed to strengthen hand muscles, develop coordination, pencil control and the skills needed for future writing. Children are encouraged to talk about their learning, explain their thinking and persevere with challenges before independently tidying away and joining the carpet.
Our first whole-class teaching session usually focuses on literacy, where children develop their communication, vocabulary, comprehension and early reading and writing skills through high-quality interactions, carefully chosen texts and engaging learning experiences.
Children then enjoy a supervised snack time, developing independence, social skills and positive routines through conversation, healthy choices and responsibility.
Following snack, children access continuous provision and directed learning opportunities. Our environment is carefully designed to support children in applying and extending their learning across all areas of the curriculum. Adults interact purposefully with children, using questioning, modelling and feedback to deepen understanding and challenge thinking.
Children then take part in a daily phonics session, developing the knowledge and skills needed to become confident early readers and writers. Phonics learning is reinforced throughout the day through a series of intervention groups.
Children enjoy lunch and time to develop social skills, independence and positive relationships with their peers.
After lunch, children take part in further focused teaching sessions, this may inlcude, Guided reading, Maths or handwriting sessions.
Children then return to continuous provision and directed learning opportunities, where they are encouraged to independently apply new knowledge, practise skills and deepen their understanding. Practitioners use their knowledge of each child to provide targeted support and challenge, ensuring all children make progress from their individual starting points.
At the end of the day, children come together for story time, enjoy fruit and reflect on their experiences before going home.
Across the week, children typically experience four carefully planned carpet-based teaching sessions each day, alongside rich opportunities for child-initiated learning. Children also participate in PE twice a week and take part in whole-school singing, developing physical skills, confidence, creativity and a strong sense of belonging within our wider school community.
Our EYFS day is designed to ensure children are happy, engaged and motivated learners. Every experience, interaction and opportunity is carefully considered to build strong foundations for future learning and support every child to thrive.
SEND and Inclusion
At our school, we recognise that every child is unique and that all children arrive with different experiences, abilities, interests and starting points. We are committed to providing an inclusive environment where every child feels valued, supported and able to achieve their full potential.
We understand that children develop at different rates and may require different levels of support to access learning successfully. Our skilled and knowledgeable EYFS team carefully gets to know each child, building strong relationships and using ongoing assessment to identify individual strengths, needs and next steps. This allows us to adapt our teaching, environment and provision to ensure all children are able to participate, make progress and experience success.
We believe that high-quality inclusive practice benefits all children. Through thoughtful adaptations, targeted support and carefully planned experiences, we ensure that children with additional needs are fully included within classroom life and have access to the same rich learning opportunities as their peers.
We are fortunate to have a specialist SENDCo within school, Mrs. Barlow, who works closely with children, families, staff and external professionals to ensure that appropriate support is identified and provided. Mrs. Barlow supports staff in understanding children’s individual needs, developing effective strategies and ensuring that children receive the right support at the right time.
We work in close partnership with parents and carers, recognising that families are experts in their children. By sharing information, celebrating progress and working together, we create a consistent approach that helps every child feel confident, secure and ready to learn.
For further information about our graduated approach to SEND, including support, guidance and key information, please visit our SEND section of the website.
Transition into Year 1
At Locking Stumps Primary School, we place great importance on ensuring a smooth and effective transition from the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) into Year 1. In line with the principles set out in Stronger Foundations for the Future, we recognise that “children’s experiences in Reception should provide the foundations for all future learning” and that continuity in pedagogy is key to sustained success.
Prior to children starting in Year 1, the EYFS Lead meets with the Key Stage 1 Lead and Year 1 teacher to conduct a detailed transition meeting, where every child is discussed in depth. Particular attention is given to those who have not achieved a Good Level of Development (GLD), as well as those who were working at the cusp of this standard. These children are clearly identified and shared with staff, enabling the Year 1 team to implement a targeted GLD intervention group designed to bridge gaps and secure key knowledge and skills. For children requiring additional support, transition booklets in the form of personalised social stories are shared with families to help children become familiar with their new environment, routines and expectations.
To further support this transition, teaching in the Autumn term of Year 1 reflects the effective practice of EYFS, as recommended in national guidance, ensuring children continue to learn through a balance of adult-directed and child-initiated experiences. Continuous provision remains a key feature of the Year 1 environment, allowing children to build on their independence, curiosity and engagement. Throughout the year, children are supported to deepen their learning through carefully planned weekly challenges, promoting sustained concentration, resilience and independence.
This carefully structured approach ensures that all children, regardless of their starting point, are supported to successfully transition into Key Stage 1 and are fully prepared for the next stage of their learning journey.