All Saints' C of E Primary School

The All Saints’ Way…

Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS): Intent, Implementation, and Impact

Curriculum Intent

At All Saints’ Church of England Primary School, our EYFS curriculum nurtures the whole child, academically, socially, emotionally, and spiritually. We warmly welcome every unique child into our school family, creating a nurturing and inspiring environment where they feel cherished, supported, and free to blossom.

Our school vision, "Discovering God, Learning Together, Achieving Our Best," is the golden thread that runs through everything we do. We believe spirituality is a way of life lived and experienced daily. We provide space for wonder and reflection in our learning environment, outdoor space, and specifically, our spirituality garden. Through purposeful play, we guide children in a process of self-discovery. We celebrate their imagination in sessions like our 'magic story box' and small world play, seeing it as a divine spark for creativity. These experiences lay a solid foundation for a lifetime of learning, helping every child discover their full potential.

Our core values, Respect, Kindness, Courageous Determination, Curiosity, and Joyfulness are the heart of our ethos. We encourage strong relationships, fostering community through daily interactions. We build intimacy through shared worship and community links, and we build trust by creating a safe environment where children know they are loved and valued. Our curriculum empowers our youngest learners to become confident, capable, and compassionate individuals.

We have a heartfelt, relentless dedication to nurturing early language skills, immersing children in a language-rich environment with high-quality interactions and explicit vocabulary teaching. This cultivates strong oracy skills, enabling children to express themselves with confidence and preparing them for the next stage of their learning journey.

We believe in inclusive practice, ensuring every child receives the best possible start. Our high-quality, adaptive education allows every child to build strong foundations in communication, language, physical development, and personal, social, and emotional growth.

At All Saints’, the Early Years is not just about preparing for school; it is about fostering a love of learning that will last a lifetime!

Implementation

We expertly follow the EYFS Statutory Framework, which sets the legal standards for the learning, development, and care of all children from birth to five. We use this statutory guidance as our core foundation, ensuring we meet all curriculum needs and requirements. Alongside this, we use the non-statutory guidance of Development Matters and recent research from the Strong Foundations document to underpin our teaching, assess basic skills progression, and ensure the sequential progression of learning in the Early Years. This combination allows us to have a clear framework while tailoring a dynamic curriculum to the needs, interests, and unique developmental journey of each child.

Our approach blends explicit teaching with purposeful play, balancing adult-led activities with child-initiated learning. We intentionally create space for uninterrupted discovery, understanding this is where deep learning and spiritual reflection can unfold. We respect each child's learning process, providing encouragement as they navigate challenges.

Right from the very beginning, a huge effort is put into planning the progression of skills, building on each child's unique starting points. We are a knowledgeable team, with our planning informed by robust research from sources such as Stronger Practice Hubs, Ofsted’s Strong Foundations in the First Years of School, and the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF). This is supported by our commitment to high-quality Continuing Professional Development (CPD), including training from Read Write Inc. (RWI), Lacey Green Hub, and the Stockport Early Years Team, ensuring our staff are experts in early development and can make sure every child makes strong progress.

Our supportive transition process builds trust from the start, as we identify children's interests and needs to create a welcoming and successful learning environment. We swiftly provide interventions to ensure every child can 'keep up' and flourish.

We prioritise the three prime areas of learning: Communication and Language, Physical Development, and Personal, Social and Emotional Development. We nurture vocabulary and oracy through a language-rich environment and meaningful interactions, building strong relationships and a sense of shared community. We also foster intimacy through our Jigsaw and Think Equal programs, promoting understanding among peers.

As 'Physical Development Champions', we place vital emphasis on developing fine and gross motor skills through daily 'Dough Disco' sessions that ignite imagination, outdoor play, and weekly coaching from a professional PE coach. We use a clearly planned scheme, Get Set 4 PE, to ensure a sequential progression of skills in Physical Development, alongside Kapow for Art, Design and Technology, and Music. Furthermore, we actively promote oral health and hygiene routines, proud holders of Stockport's Gold Tooth Award.

Technology and screens are integrated intentionally and briefly for active, practitioner-led learning (such as interactive phonics and the digital Reception Baseline Assessment), ensuring screen time is always purposeful, carefully managed, and well under DfE daily limits.

 Reading is at the very core of everything we do. To ensure every child develops strong early reading skills with high expectations, we implement the systematic, synthetic phonics program, Read Write Inc. (RWI). This consistent and structured approach empowers children to quickly decode words, building fluency and confidence. Alongside structured teaching, we actively promote reading for pleasure. We model a genuine passion for books by immersing children in rich stories, rhymes, and poems throughout the day, as well as providing daily quiet reading time and bedtime story sessions to foster a lifelong love of reading. We take a similar approach to writing, building up fluency and understanding the importance of ‘practice makes permanent.  

For mathematics, we implement ‘Mastering Number’ accompanied by 'White Rose Maths’, an inclusive whole-class method that ensures every child gains the foundational knowledge and vocabulary they need for their journey through KS1 and beyond.

RE Today supports our teachings about religion and world beliefs. It supports our Christian ethos by providing a clear, structured way to explore faith, while also fostering curiosity, respect, and a sense of wonder about the diverse world, aligning perfectly with our school's values and spiritual framework.

Impact

The impact of our EYFS curriculum is visible in the joyful, engaged, motivated, independent, and confident children who are secure in their routines and live out 'The All Saints’ Way'. Our children d not  just go into Year 1, they soar in with confidence and joyfulness, ready for their next chapter!

To track their progress and plan next steps, we use a comprehensive combination of tools and assessments:

• Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA): A short, interactive assessment conducted by a teacher with each child within the first six weeks of starting Reception. This provides a national starting point for measuring cohort progress to the end of Key Stage 2.
• Ongoing Formative Assessment: In line with the EYFS Statutory Framework, we use Development Matters checkpoints and our own observation checkpoints, informed by research from the Strong Foundations document, to guide professional judgment.
• Tapestry Learning Journals: We build a rich online journal of each child's learning journey, with parents warmly encouraged to share achievements from home, building a strong connection between home and school.
• Class Floor Books & Pupil Voice: Group learning and shared experiences are celebrated in floor books, empowering children by listening to their thoughts and ideas.
• Core Attainment Checks: Reading attainment is assessed every half term, with gaps addressed quickly to ensure rapid progress. Mathematics attainment is assessed regularly, with gaps closed on the spot or through targeted interventions.
• EYFS Profile: At the end of Reception, staff assess each child against the 17 Early Learning Goals (ELGs) to provide a clear picture of their readiness for Year 1.

The EYFS team is committed to raising standards through continuous professional development (CPD), including regular visits from the Stockport Local Authority and yearly EYFS local cluster meetings to ensure our team is always at the forefront of best practice. We meet regularly with the Senior Leadership Team and Year 1 staff to celebrate achievements, ensure a smooth transition, and support continuous progress for every individual. This collaborative approach builds trust and strong relationships across the whole school.

Family & Community Support

Free Online Parenting Courses

We are delighted to offer our families free access to a variety of online parenting courses via In Our Place.

• Website Link: In Our Place Online Learning Portal
• Free Access Code: REDROCK

(Parents and carers can register for free using the access code above to unlock and download supporting courses).

At All Saints’ C of E Primary School, our Reception class is so much more than a classroom, it is a loving community where every child is valued, celebrated, and inspired to flourish. As our children embark on this wonderful early years adventure, we hold fast to the promise of our school Bible verse:

“The Lord says: ‘I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.’”

(Psalm 32:8)

Rooted in faith, guided by love, and supported by an ambitious, expert team, we walk alongside every child as they discover their unique gifts, build lifelong friendships, and take their very first steps along the best pathway for their life.