Early Years Department
EYFS Intent, Implementation and Impact
‘Living our faith, learning in love’
EYFS Curriculum Intent
At All Saints’ School Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provision is rooted in the teachings and values of the Catholic faith. We aim to provide a nurturing, inclusive, and spiritually rich environment where every child is recognised as a unique creation of God, loved and valued. We believe in providing a secure foundation for future learning and development for our children. Our EYFS curriculum recognises children’s prior knowledge and learning. We aim to work with parents and carers to encourage independent, happy learners who reach their full potential from their various starting points. The EYFS curriculum and the experiences we plan embrace the community and locality of the school. We celebrate and welcome the differences within our school community. Reception and Nursery work closely with each other to ensure continuity and consistency between the foundation stage. Our Mission statement ‘Living our Faith, Learning in Love’ is at the heart of everything we do. Our values shape how we behave, what we say, how we build relationships and how we learn. Our mission statement is incorporated in every aspect of school life at All Saints’. We want children to develop social skills, build resilience and become creative critical thinkers through the experiences and enhancements we provide. We place strong emphasis on the religious, spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of all our pupils.
The ability to learn is underpinned by the teaching of basic skills, knowledge, concepts and values. We want our children to develop a love for reading and awe and wonder at the world around them. Our EYFS prepares children not only for successful transition into Key Stage 1, but also to grow in faith, confidence, and resilience, as they begin their lifelong journey as loving witnesses of Christ’s message.
EYFS Curriculum Implementation
We strive to make the transition process into our EYFS as smooth and effective as possible. We do this through home visits, information meetings and discussions with previous key workers and parents. We understand the importance of parental engagement and believe that our parents have a crucial role to play in their children's education. We work hard to create strong partnerships between home and school. Parents receive half-termly newsletters and weekly updates on Tapestry to inform them of what their child is learning in school and to explain how they can support this at home. Parents enjoy using Tapestry to engage in their child's learning and share experiences from home. Parents are kept informed through Tapestry, text messages and the school website. We regularly communicate with parents regarding their child’s achievements, needs and support. Strategies to include and inform parents include ‘Stay and Play’ sessions, phonics workshops, reading records, craft sessions, ‘Stay and Pray’, class pages on the website and an open-door policy.
We deliver our curriculum through a blend of child-initiated play, adult-guided experiences, and high-quality direct teaching that promotes awe and wonder in God’s world. Gospel values underpin all aspects of provision, with daily opportunities for prayer and reflection. Children are introduced to the liturgical year through stories, celebrations, and symbols of the Catholic faith, helping them to develop a sense of belonging to the Church family.
Our curriculum is designed around the three Prime Areas (Communication and Language, Physical Development, and Personal, Social and Emotional Development) and the four Specific Areas (Literacy, Mathematics, Understanding the World, and Expressive Arts and Design). These are interwoven with themes of Catholic social teaching such as kindness, stewardship, respect, and service.
We aim to foster a lifelong love of learning through the Characteristics of Effective Teaching and Learning:
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Playing and Exploring – Children are encouraged to actively engage with the world God created, investigating and experiencing new things with curiosity and joy. Through purposeful play, they are supported to take risks, follow their interests, and 'have a go', developing confidence in a nurturing and inclusive setting.
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Active Learning – We support children to persevere, even when they encounter challenges. Rooted in Gospel values such as resilience and courage, children learn to take pride in their efforts, celebrate their achievements, and find joy in the learning journey.
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Creating and Thinking Critically – Children are guided to develop their own ideas, solve problems, and make meaningful connections. They are encouraged to think deeply, reflect on their learning, and discover their unique potential as thinkers, creators, and future contributors to God’s world.
EYFS Curriculum Impact
The impact of our Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum is seen in the development of confident, compassionate, and capable children who embody our Catholic values and are ready to thrive in KS1.
Our curriculum is ambitious for all learners, including those with SEND and EAL. Assessment is ongoing, formative, and used purposefully to identify next steps and address learning gaps. The majority of children make better than expected progress from their starting points, and outcomes at the end of EYFS are consistently above the national and local average in the Prime Areas and key Specific Areas, particularly in:
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Communication and Language
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Personal, Social and Emotional Development
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Literacy
At the end of EYFS, staff complete the EYFS profile for each child. Pupils are assessed against the 17 early learning goals. The EYFS team meet for regular meetings and receive the necessary training. Teachers attend in-house and external moderations and attend regular pupil progress meetings to ensure progress is being made for each individual child. The EYFS lead is committed to raising standards by attending relevant CPD and ensuring each child at All Saints has the best start on their school journey.
By the end of the Reception year, children are emotionally secure, spiritually aware, and academically ready for Year 1. They possess the confidence to express themselves, the perseverance to overcome challenges, and the values to guide their choices. Our EYFS lays the foundation not only for school success but for lifelong learning and faithful discipleship.
We use a Growth Mindset approach to promote attitudes to learning throughout the school and use the characteristics of effective learning when planning our curriculum and enhancements which reflect the values and skills needed to promote responsibility for learning and future success.
Community involvement is an essential part of our curriculum as we celebrate local traditions, learning new skills to enable children to take an active role in events throughout the year.
Our EYFS curriculum is inclusive, ambitious, and rooted in Gospel values, ensuring that all children make strong progress from their individual starting points. Drawing on the latest statutory guidance and developmentally appropriate practice, we make use of a range of evidence-based resources to deliver high-quality, engaging, and meaningful learning experiences. These include:
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Development Matters (2023 update) to inform sequenced learning and responsive teaching
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The NETCH Maths Scheme, aligned with mastery principles and CPA pedagogy to develop strong number sense
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Read Write Inc. for high-quality, systematic phonics and early reading fluency
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Talk for Writing to support vocabulary, storytelling and oral rehearsal
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Drawing Club to foster creativity, imagination and fine motor control
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WELLCOMM for early speech and language assessment and intervention
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‘The Vine and the Branches’ as the foundation for spiritual, moral and religious education within a Catholic context
We prioritise creating a ‘language-rich’ environment through the use of songs, nursery rhymes, stories and providing time for quality interactions between adults and between peers. Trained staff ensure that interactions are positive and progressive, allowing children to flourish and gather words at pace in order to become confident communicators. Children are encouraged to become early readers through enjoyment of books and the systematic teaching of phonics. The children learn nursery rhymes and develop their mathematical thinking through direct teaching and exploration. We want our children to become confident mathematicians who can apply what they have learnt to real life experiences.
At All Saints’ School we believe that the whole curriculum can be covered in a well-planned outdoor environment, and that there is some learning that can only take place outdoors. The children have the right to the outdoor environment all year round and access to the area is available daily throughout the session with constant adult supervision and interaction. Children develop through wonderful, exploratory, sensory experiences in our mud kitchen, sandpit and taking part in Forest School sessions. Our learning environment is adaptable in order to reflect children's interests and progression. The children are supported to learn to work together, manage their feelings and ask questions through skilled adult-facilitated play.
The curriculum is taught through topics which are enriched with classroom enhancements, trips and visitors. Topics are supported by quality key texts. These are chosen carefully to encourage children's speech, language and communication development. Where possible, the children’s own interests are used by the adults to engage the children in higher level thinking and deeper learning. Child-initiated learning is valued and encouraged. Each area of learning and development is implemented through planned, purposeful play, and through a mix of adult- led and child-initiated activities.