Learning & Development

Early Years Foundation Stage

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) applies to children from birth to the end of the Reception year. Within the Early Years we help children to learn through play and exploration.

The EYFS seeks to provide quality and consistency so that every child makes good progress and no child gets left behind. At Red Lane, we seek to provide a secure foundation through learning and development opportunities which are planned around the needs and interests of each child and are assessed and reviewed regularly. We believe that all of our pupils have potential and we strive to give them the necessary foundations to enable them to succeed in the rest of the schooling and future prospects. We do this by ensuring partnership working between parents and practitioners and where necessary adopting a multi-agency approach.

Our school provides equality of opportunity and anti-discriminatory practice, ensuring every child is included and supported. We are passionate about developing respectful children who will become successful future citizens that contribute positively to a society in which all members are equally valued.

At Red Lane we offer places for children from the age of 2. Our 2 year old Nursery is able to provide places for children who are entitled to free childcare but also to parents who may wish to pay for care. To find out if you are eligible for free childcare for 2 year olds, please click here.

From age 3 all children are entitled to free childcare which in our setting equates to 15 hours per week and this is provided through our main Nursery for 3 and 4 year olds. Some children are eligible for 30 hours – to check if you are eligible, click here.    

Both of our Nursery provisions are extremely popular and book up quickly and so we advise that you put your child’s name down for a place as soon as possible (this may be up to a year before they start). If you would like to apply for a place in our Nursery or would like further information please contact the school office on 01204 333580

We welcome visits from prospective parents and will be holding an open afternoon in the Autumn term. Admissions into Reception are coordinated by the Local Authority who will handle all procedures for reception admissions into school and will arrange an independent panel for any appeals that may arise. More information can be found here. 

Learning within the EYFS at Red Lane

Our EYFS unit is devoted to providing young children with the ability to develop, consolidate and deepen their current knowledge, understanding and skills across all the areas of learning within the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum. It builds on what children know and can do, towards cumulatively sufficient knowledge and skills for their future learning.  Each and every pupil has access to a rich, broad and balanced curriculum that is differentiated to ensure that all individual needs are met.

Children within our Under 3s and Nursery have a mix of child-initiated and adult-led learning through continuous provision and small group activities. In Reception, the children are offered a higher number of adult-led experiences (which increases throughout the year) in order to ensure the children are school ready. We feel it is important to offer new ideas and thoughts to our children, which they may not have been exposed to before.The Early Years curriculum has regard to supporting individuals in terms of ability, gifts, talents and any additional needs they may have. The EYFS curriculum provides no limits or barriers to the children’s achievements, regardless of their backgrounds, circumstances or needs. The high ambition it embodies is shared by all staff. We provide an enriching and exciting curriculum that offers challenge to all pupils, including those with SEND and our disadvantaged pupils.  

We have designed a curriculum which is used to enhance pupil experiences and give opportunities that pupils may not have access to outside of school. Some of these experiences include: attending a traditional birthday party, visiting a park and visiting a farm. These fundamental experiences give children the necessary foundations for the rest of their schooling.

Our curriculum overviews can be found here: 

Curriculum Overview

At Red Lane we believe that working in partnership with our parents is key to the success of our pupils. That is why throughout a child’s time in EYFS parents are regularly invited into school to take part in not only reviews of their child’s learning but also to take part in learning activities with their child through our successful stay and play sessions. We also provide a wealth or resources and support for parents so that they are able to support your child at home, this includes parent workshops and also take home activity bags. You will find a wealth of resources for all ages through our parent guide section of Learning and Development. 

 

Communication and language

https://www.bbc.co.uk/tiny-happy-people

An excellent website to support parents to develop your child’s communication and language skills.

https://www.boltonstartwell.org.uk/resources/learning-development/3?documentId=3&categoryId=7

Resources for communication and language development ideas from our Bolton Startwell Team.

 

Home Learning activities

https://abcdoes.com/home-learning/

Useful home learning activities to try at home!

www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies

Many games often recognised by children from their favourite programmes. 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/websites/eyfs/

Links to particular Cbeebies games from areas of learning. 

www.poissonrouge.com

Many delightful games. Spend some time exploring!

http://www.topmarks.co.uk/Search.aspx?Subject=37

Games of varying quality to support different areas of learning.

https://www.abc.net.au/abckids/shows/play-school/

Various educational games, videos and craft ideas

 

Phonics and Reading

http://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/freeIndex.htm

Great site with some free phonics games

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbeebies/stories

Cbeebies stories and rhymes.

http://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/for-home/

Interactive books and reading activities to share with your child at home.

http://www.funwithspot.com/

New and improved! Try creating your own Spot story.

http://www.ictgames.com/looCoverWriteCheck/LCWC_demo/index.html

Good for spelling high frequency and tricky words! 

https://www.teachyourmonstertoread.com/

Links to our phonics scheme to help you teach your child to read.

 

Literacy and Numeracy resources

http://www.ictgames.com/

Some excellent numeracy and literacy resources

http://www.crickweb.co.uk/Early-Years.html

Lots of maths and literacy games

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/group/b08bzfnh

Number blocks to help your child learn to count

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/b01cz0p1/alphablocks

Alpha blocks to help your child learn to recognise letters.