Mather Street Primary School

EYFS

At Mather Street Primary School, we have a part-time morning nursery. We have an arrangement with Pre-School so that the children can attend nursery in the morning and Pre-School in the afternoon. This works extremely well and helps the children prepare for Reception. 

Our Early Years Provision consists of two large indoor classrooms and a well-resourced outdoor classroom. We have recently had a shelter built so that the children can use the outdoor area in poor weather. 

Parents of children in EYFS can access Tapestry where our staff upload photographs and comments relating to their children's progress. Parents can also add photographs and comments of their own. 

Intent:
At Mather Street, we understand the importance of child development in the early years and strive to create a learning environment where all of children can flourish and achieve the best outcomes. We recognise that all our children come to us with very different starting points. We give careful consideration to their:
-    Cultural backgrounds
-    Prior Knowledge
-    Life experiences
-    Skills and knowledge
Before our children begin their journey with us, we actively gather this information from parents and carers and other professionals. This is then used to plan children’s next steps in their learning. 
We aim to build strong foundations with the opportunity to make as much progress as possible whilst developing a love and enthusiasm for learning. Some areas of our curriculum, like communication and language, are given extra priority due to the starting points of our children. We focus on developing these skills early to have the biggest impact so that our children are able to achieve success and are ready for the next stages of their educational journey. 
Implementation: 
Our curriculum is designed to meet the specific needs of the individuals from our community.  We thrive to create memorable moments to captivate our learners. We aim to provide a broad and balanced curriculum, that is progressive and inclusive. High-quality texts broaden children’s understanding of the world and are used to foster a love of reading, enhance language and literacy skills as well as providing opportunities for rich discussions and continuous provision enhancements.  We deliver daily systematic, synthetic phonics sessions which empower our children and provide them with the skills they need to independently read and write simple sentences by the end of the reception year.
Integral to our curriculum design is how we use our assessments of what the children know, understand and can do, as well as taking account of their interests and dispositions to learn (characteristics of effective learning).  Our topics for the year and high-quality texts help us ensure we follow the statuary EYFS Curriculum. They are sequenced carefully to enable progression. Our continuous provision plans are based on the needs of our children. We use objective-led planning, to plan children’s next steps in learning and to monitor their progress. 
 We have created a daily timetable that balances adult-directed activities with child-led learning. In whole class sessions, children learn to listen intently and to respond positively to adults and children whilst developing their knowledge and understanding. Our provision is carefully planned so that children can apply and consolidate their knowledge and skills. This is enhanced by quality interactions between adults and children. We have also planned to provide our children with the cultural capital they need in the form of trips and visitors. 
We actively encourage positive partnerships with our parents and carers: sending weekly learning updates about their children’s learning via Tapestry; inviting parents into phonic lessons; hosting parent art and craft sessions; and sharing our learning outcomes in the form of half-termly topic knowledge mats.

Impact: 
Our children are active learners and this is apparent in the culture and ethos of our provision: most children come into school each day keen to learn and are proud of their achievements here. They show positive attitudes to learning through high levels of curiosity, concentration and enjoyment.  They learn to respect and care for others and to develop self-regulation and important life-long social skills. Our children experience a curriculum with memorable experiences in a stimulating, safe and well-organised learning environment.  
Our outcomes over the past few years have been strong. Most of our pupils are ready for their next stage of education. Those pupils that do not meet end of year expectations, still make good progress from their starting points. 
In summary, we strive to provide our children with a broad and balanced education so that they will have the best chance to become confident, respectful and happy individuals ready to succeed in the next stages of their education and beyond, in an ever-changing world. 

50 things to do before you're 5

Follow the links below to find ideas for activities suitable for young children. 

https://oldham.50thingstodo.org/app/os#!/welcome

https://50thingstodo.org/