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Hartside Primary Academy
Essential Information for
EYFS Parents
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Miss M. Porteus
Higher Level Teaching Assistant
The EYFS Staff
Mrs L. Burgess
Nursery Teacher
Mrs B. Hodgson
Reception Teacher
EYFS Leader
Assistant Head Teacher
Miss A. Mann
Teaching Assistant
Mrs D. Lomax
Higher Level Teaching Assistant
Mrs L. Sudder
Teaching Assistant
There are currently eight members of staff working within our EYFS Department.
Each member of EYFS staff is a key person for a small group of children for whom
she is particularly responsible for. She will aim to get to know your child very well
and will be your first port of call for communication.
However, all of the EYFS staff work with all children in all learning areas each
week.
Staff work in each of the different areas on a rota system.
Typically two members of staff work outdoors, two indoors and
two are either working with small groups of children or are
available to help with individual children's needs, such as toilet
training.
Miss S. Tutin
Apprentice
Miss E. Mustarde
Outreach Support Assistant
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School Opening Times Nursery sessions Morning 8.45am – 11.45pm
Afternoon 12.30pm – 3.30pm
Reception class 8.55 am—3.15 pm
EYFS breakfast club will run from 8.00am till 8.45am.
After School care is available until 5.30pm.
Please contact the School Office for EYFS breakfast club and after school care
availability. NB a small charge does apply.
Charges Breakdown
Our Senior Administrator, Miss Gent will invoice you, monthly, for any additional sessions
your child attends.
Item Cost
Breakfast Club £1.50
Lunch £2.40
After School Supervision £3.50 (per hour)
Lunch Time Supervision £1.50
Extra half day session 15.00
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Early Years Foundation Stage Induction Nursery experiences can create strong and lasting foundations on which to build in later
life, therefore it is vital that these first experiences are of the highest quality. By working
in partnership with you we aim to provide a stimulating, challenging environment where
children and adults can explore, have fun, play, talk and learn together.
The school aims to ease the transition into Nursery life by providing an induction
programme for parents and Nursery children.
Around the Term your child is 3
Years old Nursery staff will visit
you and your child at home. This is
a very informal, friendly
opportunity to say hello, introduce
ourselves and to get to know a little
bit about you and your child. This is
an invaluable way to begin a
meaningful dialogue between
home and school.
The week your child starts Nursery
Parents or a family member are invited to two stay and play sessions with our new
nursery children. Following this the children can attend their allocated nursery sessions
alone.
Reception Class
New Reception class children and parents will be invited to Stay and Play sessions within
the unit throughout July. There will be an opportunity for parents/carers to c hat to staff
and to receive information about the school day and guidance about how they can
prepare their children for school. Uniform may also be ordered at this time.
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Uniform Children are having the most fun in EYFS when they are be-
ing messy! Therefore it is best if the children wear a red
Hartside sweatshirt to their nursery sessions. It is not
necessary to buy any other items of uniform, as often they
are too complicated and fiddly for young children to man-
age themselves. Jogging bottoms or a pull on skirt (even
shorts in warmer weather) are the easiest for quick toilet
visits. We do provide aprons but small children have the
absolute amazing talent for keeping our aprons clean and
getting paint, glue and other interesting materials on jump-
ers!
Reception class children need to wear a Hartside School
uniform that can be ordered from the school website.
We work indoors and outdoors all day long, in all weather
so suitable footwear and coats are also essential. Small children often take items of cloth-
ing off and leave them on the floor! Please make sure all of your child’s clothing is clearly
labelled with their name.
A form to order uniform and a price list are included within your child’s welcome pack.
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Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum
The Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum is a foundation for the child’s fu-
ture learning and development. It emphasises that every child is unique, that
children learn through positive relationships, that the environment where they
learn has practitioners who respond to their needs and work in partnership with
parents and carers. Also that through playing and exploring, active learning and
creating and thinking critically children can develop and learn in different ways
and at different rates.
Nursery and Reception education is referred to as the Early Years Foundation
Stage (EYFS).
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The Learning Environment
We provide a rich and varied environment that supports
children’s learning and development. It gives them the
confidence to explore and learn in secure and safe, yet
challenging, indoor and outdoor spaces. Both our indoor
and outdoor environments are designed to encourage
open ended collaborative play
and exploration which are
key features of the early years learning process.
It is important that our children feel safe, happy,
cared for and relaxed within our EYFS unit. It offers
children access to indoor and outdoor spaces in
which they can explore, create, think, learn and de-
velop with the support and interactions from sensi-
tive, knowledgeable adults. As the children’s inter-
ests often change, our learning environment is very
flexible and is regularly altered in response to these
developing interests.
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Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum
Children in Nursery and Reception Class follow the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum
which is a developmental curriculum aiming for children to succeed in achieving 17 Early
Learning Goals by the end of their Reception year in school. The EYFS Curriculum is divided
into 3 sections;
Characteristics of Learning
Three prime areas of learning
Four specific areas of learning
Characteristics of learning
Playing and exploring the children are find-
ing out and exploring, playing with what they
know and being willing to ‘have a go’.
Active Learning the children are involved and concentrating, persevering and enjoying
achieving what they set out to do.
Creating and thinking critically the children have their own ideas, making links and
choosing ways to do things.
Prime Areasof Learning
Personal, Social and Emotional Development is when the children are making relation-
ships and getting along with one another and adults. They are developing their confi-
dence and self-awareness, and being able to manage their feelings and behaviour. This
is also an area of learning that is emphasised further in our EYFS wraparound care.
Communication and Language is where children are given many opportunities to devel-
op good listening, attention and understanding skills. They are also able to speak and
express themselves effectively.
Physical Development is all about developing large and small movements in a variety of
ways, having good control and co-ordination when handling different tools and equip-
ment. It also covers health and self-care, looking at ways to keep ourselves healthy
and safe.
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Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum
Specific Areas
Literacy where children learn about stories, rhymes, books and reading. The children
are also given lots of opportunities to develop their mark making and emergent writing
skills.
Mathematics is when the children find out abut numbers, counting, shape, space and
measure.
Understanding the World where children find out about people and communities. Chil-
dren develop an understanding about the world they live in, including ICT.
Expressive Arts and Design where children are given many opportunities to explore mu-
sic, dance and song. The children use a variety of media and materials to develop crea-
tivity and imaginative play.
Our aim is to provide a curriculum that is enriching, broad and balanced to
prepare children for their future school life and beyond! Staff plan a range of
play experiences in response to the children's interests to help children to
progress in each of these areas of learning.
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Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum
Learning through play
It is a well known fact that children learn best through play. Play helps children to learn
and develop through doing, talking, exploring, investigating, creating and experimenting.
“Play underpins the EYFS. It also underpins learning and all aspects of children’s de-
velopment. Through play, children develop language skills, their emotions and creativity,
social and intellectual skills. . Play takes place indoors and outdoors and it is in these
different environments that children explore and discover their immediate world. It is here
they practise new ideas and skills, they take risks, show imagination and solve problems on
their own or with others.” (Early Years Matters 2012)
We provide interesting experiences that are appropriate for children’s age and stage of
development. Staff endeavour to take your child forward in their learning by building on
what they already know and can do. Everyday is varied, stimulating, imaginative and fun!
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Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum
Assessment
In EYFS assessment of children
is carried out daily with staff
playing alongside children and
making regular observations of
what children do and say. Pho-
tographs, jottings and anno-
tated pieces of work are col-
lected to record children's indi-
vidual progress and inform fu-
ture plans for learning. We
keep all of this evidence in individual children’s learning journals.
Learning Journals
Each child’s Learning Journal builds up during EYFS to become a lovely document showing
how your child has grown and progressed in our care. We encourage parents to become
involved with Learning Journals by sharing your observations and stories about your child
from home. Each child will be given a home/school diary, this is a good way for family
members to share these ex-
periences.
Piggy Pot
We ask for a £1.00 donation
each week for our EYFS piggy
bank. This helps pay for our
trips and other nice activities
we do in EYFS.
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A Typical Week in EYFS
Each morning begins with
Funky Fingers, where the
whole unit has our funky mu-
sic playing and all of the chil-
dren are working on activities
led by an adult to develop
their fine motor skills.
The children then split into
their key worker groups for
teaching time. During this
time the children are learning
about numbers, phonics, language or the world, led by an adult.
Direct teaching time is followed by a staggered activity where a small group work di-
rectly with an adult, completing a fun activity to consolidate their learning.
The children then freely access provision, both indoors and outdoors, choosing from a
wide range of play activities. The staff in each of the areas work with the children in
play. The adults role is to model language and good relationships; facilitating and de-
veloping the learning taking place in the play activities.
At the end of each session the Reception children return to their key worker groups
for direct teaching activities. Nursery children gather for a chat about what they have
been doing and to share a story or sing.
Over the week your child will experience a wide range of activities, some which are
led by an adult and others that are led by the children.
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Stay and Play You will have the opportunity to visit your child during EYFS ‘Stay and Play’ ses-
sions. This is a valuable opportunity for you to come into the EYFS unit with
your child. These sessions are not at all a typical hour in EYFS but it is a oppor-
tunity for your child to show you all of the fun activities they like to take part in
each day. You will be able to get a glimpse at some of the activities we have
available in EYFS.