St Mary’s Catholic Primary School – EYFS Curriculum Intent

At St Mary’s, our Early Years curriculum is rooted in our Catholic mission to love one another, value each child as special to God, and nurture the whole child. Guided by the Early Years Framework, Development Matters, and our school’s curriculum drivers – Outdoor Learning, Sport, Growth Mindset, and Oracy – our bespoke curriculum is designed to meet the unique needs and experiences of our children and community.

Outdoor learning lies at the heart of our provision, offering real-life, vocabulary-rich opportunities that inspire curiosity, risk-taking, collaboration, and a deep respect for the natural world. We prioritise the Prime Areas – communication and language, physical development, and personal, social and emotional development – as the foundation for lifelong learning.

Through playful, purposeful experiences, high-quality adult interactions, and our topic approach, we support children to become motivated, independent learners. Our curriculum is underpinned by the Characteristics of Effective Learning, enabling children to think critically, explore creatively, and thrive socially and emotionally.

Nursery rhymes and rich language experiences are embedded across all learning to develop oracy, listening, confidence, and early literacy skills. Through everything we do, we help children grow into confident, capable individuals with a strong sense of self, belonging, and purpose.

Outdoor Learning

At St Mary's we are fortunate enough to have outside areas where our pupils can continue their learning and are perfectly situated to utilise the reservoir and Harrington Shore to enhance our outdoor learning further.  Pupils are encouraged to explore planned structured activities that support all areas of the EYFS curriculum.  The outside space provides pupils with a safe and motivating environment, that not only enhances academic achievement but also promotes a healthy lifestyle.  The natural environment provides comfort and calm, and assists pupils to develop regulation skills to support their well-being.  

Home Learning

We communicate the children's learning through the online platform 'Tapestry' in our Early Years. We will share what the children have been learning in class so that you can speak to them and further develop their understanding. We would love it if you could also share anything that you do at home with your children. This may include going for walks, arts and crafts, baking or gardening. The children will have an opportunity to share their photos with the rest of the class. 

Reading

To promote a love of learning, we begin by sending a book for pleasure home with the children each week to share with their grown-ups at home. These are always thoroughly enjoyed by the children and promote an opportunity to develop language through discussion around the story.

As well as the daily story times we have at Nursery, we encourage you to read lots of stories and sing lots of rhymes with your children. Doing so will help them massively with their language development and love of reading. 

Nursery Rhymes

Nursery rhymes are a golden thread through all of our Early Years curriculum. Behind every rhyme is a brain-building moment.

Repetition and rhythm help children:

• Predict patterns
• Understand sequencing
• Strengthen working memory

Nursery rhymes are mini workouts for growing minds!

Follow the link below for more information about how you can further develop your child's communication and language through the power of nursery rhymes. 

https://literacytrust.org.uk/resources/nursery-rhymes-in-the-early-years/

Nursery Phonics

At St Mary's we use the DFE validated 'Monster Phonics' scheme. The Foundations Programme develops speaking and listening skills. Children learn to become attuned to the sounds and begin to develop oral blending and segmenting skills. This teaching lays the foundations for teaching of systematic synthetic phonics.

The government Phase 1 curriculum consists of 7 aspects. Each aspect contains 3 strands:

• Tuning into sounds (auditory discrimination)
• Listening and remembering sounds (auditory memory and sequencing)
• Talking about sounds (developing vocabulary and language comprehension
•  

Click on the links below to see the EYFS Statutory Framework and Development Matters Documents...

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-foundation-stage-framework--2

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/development-matters--2

We currently offer afternoon sessions for our two-year olds. We also have availability for 2-year-old children with a Working Parent Funding Entitlement to take up a 30-hour place in school [8.45am-3.30pm daily].

If you are interested in applying for a place, please contact school on (01946) 830433