EYFS curriculum at St. Peter's
At St Peter’s, our Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum is designed to spark curiosity, foster independence, and provide the perfect launchpad for your child’s educational journey. We understand that these foundational years are about more than just early academic skills—they are about building confidence, resilience, and a genuine love for learning.
Our approach is rooted in the statutory EYFS framework, which ensures a balanced blend of adult-led teaching and purposeful, child-initiated play. By focusing on the "whole child," we create a nurturing, inclusive, and stimulating environment where every child is empowered to reach their full potential.
The Prime Areas (The foundations of growth)
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Communication and Language: Encouraging children to express themselves, listen actively, and build confidence through storytelling and interaction.
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Physical Development: Developing both fine and gross motor skills through movement, active play, and creative expression.
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Personal, Social, and Emotional Development: Helping children build positive relationships, manage their feelings, and develop independence in a safe, supported setting.
The Specific Areas (Building on the foundations)
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Literacy: Developing early reading and writing skills through phonics, books, and language-rich activities.
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Mathematics: Exploring numbers, patterns, shapes, and problem-solving through play and real-world experiences.
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Understanding the World: Guiding children to learn about nature, technology, communities, and diverse cultures.
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Expressive Arts and Design: Nurturing creativity through music, art, movement, and role-play.
Religious Education
In the Early Years, the curriculum is highly immersive. It prioritizes the child’s natural sense of awe and wonder. By focusing on the story of Jesus and the beauty of creation, children are encouraged to build a personal, loving relationship with God. The curriculum emphasizes that faith is not just something to "know," but something to "live" in their daily interactions with friends, their school community, and the wider world.
The Knowledge Lenses (What they learn)
These are the areas of focus in every lesson:
- Hear: Engaging with the Word of God in Scripture.
- Believe: Exploring the core tenets of the Catholic faith.
- Celebrate: Understanding prayer, liturgy, and rituals.
- Live: Putting faith into action through love, kindness, and moral choices.
The Ways Of Knowing (How they engage)
Rather than just memorizing facts, children develop skills through these three modes:
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Understand (Head): Developing a deep grasp of the meaning of stories and symbols.
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Discern (Heart): Reflecting on their own questions and feelings.
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Respond (Hands): Deciding how to act or live differently because of what they have learned.
English
At St Peter’s, we believe that literacy is the key that unlocks a child’s entire education. Our English curriculum for the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is designed to cultivate a lifelong love of language, storytelling, and communication within a warm, immersive environment.
A Language-Rich Environment
We treat every interaction as an opportunity to develop vocabulary and expression. Our approach goes beyond the classroom, weaving literacy into every corner of our setting:
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Storytime & Oracy: We prioritize daily storytelling, shared reading, and high-quality talk. By immersing children in rich narratives, we build their confidence to express themselves, ask questions, and share their unique ideas.
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The Power of Talk: We encourage children to use "talk for writing" strategies, helping them internalize the structure of stories and non-fiction texts through rhythm, repetition, and role-play.
Systematic Synthetic Phonics
Phonics is the cornerstone of our reading and writing journey. We use a rigorous, systematic synthetic phonics programme, Little Wandle, to ensure every child gains the foundational tools they need to decode words and express their thoughts in writing.
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Learning to Decode: We teach children to identify the individual sounds (phonemes) in words and match them to the written letters (graphemes).
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Segmenting and Blending: Children learn to "sound out" words (segmenting) and push them together to read (blending), moving from simple CVC words to more complex sounds and "tricky" words.
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Application: Phonics isn't just about worksheets; it is a vibrant, active process. We use multi-sensory resources, games, and daily practice to make learning to read an exciting, successful experience for every child.