Early Years Foundation Stage
At Ludgershall Castle Primary School we understand that every child is unique and we are committed to developing each and every child, embracing learning that is led by the children themselves. We believe it is important to ignite a passion for learning so that the children are excited, engaged and eager to learn throughout their whole education.
We promote positive relationships with parents/carers and work in close partnership with them to ensure the interests of the children come first.
We work very hard to provide an exciting and thriving learning environment both indoors and outdoors. We encourage the children to explore different aspects of learning through a range of continuous provision activities.
We want the children in our care to feel happy and safe at school, to flourish, to make good progress from their starting point and reach the Early Learning Goals by the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage.
At Ludgershall Castle Primary School we follow the Early Years Statutory Framework, as laid out by the Department for Education (DfE). This framework requires Early Years settings to focus on Prime areas and Specific areas of learning. The Prime areas being: Personal, Social and Emotional Development, Communication and Language, and Physical Development and the Specific areas being: Literacy, Maths, Understanding the World and Expressive Art and Design.
We use these 7 areas to plan activities to develop the children’s learning, however, we are flexible so we can meet the needs of the children. We promote active learning and strive to develop learning characteristics that are vital to support good learning behaviours. These Characteristics of Effective Learning include:
Playing and Exploring – Children investigate and experience things, and ‘have a go’.
Active Learning – Children concentrate and persevere when they encounter difficulties, and enjoy achievements.
Creating and Thinking Critically – Children have and develop their own ideas, make links between ideas, and develop strategies for doing things.
Our Introduction Phase
After accepting a place for September, at Ludgershall Castle Primary School, there are some key events to note. You will be invited to a ‘New Starters’ evening where you will have the opportunity to meet the teachers and other staff members who will be working closely with your child. After this, you and your child will be invited to ‘Stay and Play’ sessions. The first one allows for parents and carers to stay with their child and the subsequent sessions you will drop your child and leave them. This will allow time for the teachers to observe and begin to make relationships with each child and work out which children they play well with to help us put them into a well-suited class together.
We have two classes in Early Years – Butterfly Class and Bumblebee Class. As a unit we allow for free-flow opportunities throughout the day so that all children can interact with and play alongside each other.
Communicating with Teachers
After your child has started at Ludgershall Castle Primary School, you will be invited to join Class Dojo. This can be accessed via the internet or you can download the App. Class Dojo is the platform used by all teachers in the school to share key information and reminders weekly to parents. You will also be able to send messages to teachers on here and receive messages from them. If there is something you would like to share with your child’s teacher and it isn’t urgent (speak to the school office if this is the case) then you can share this on Class Dojo. This could be a reminder of an upcoming medical appointment, pictures of an exciting day out or even a piece of work completed at home that you are both proud of.
Each week on Class Dojo we will upload a tutorial on how to pronounce the current sounds we are learning in our phonics lessons as well as a video of a story to share with your child. Please ensure you have access to Class Dojo and check this weekly for updates.
For more information about the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum, please click on the links below: