Welcome to Port Isaac School's Early Years Foundation Stage
Nursery (Nippers) and Reception (Seals)

At Port Isaac Academy, the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is made up of Nippers Nursery and Reception (Seals) children. Our EYFS children, in both Nursery and Reception, work collaboratively to build a culture of shared learning. Teaching and learning in the EYFS is led by a passionate and experienced team of Teachers and support staff and a Higher Level Teaching Assistant (HLTA).

 

 

Our ethos places great value on the development of children as individuals and providing them with the skills, knowledge and understanding they need to prepare them for the challenges in Key Stage One and beyond. Our aim in the EYFS is to build strong foundations rooted in academic success, as well as to achieve to their full potential socially and emotionally, so that our pupils go on to be active citizens of society and happy, curious life-long learners. 
 

Our curriculum is therefore the cultural capital we know our pupils need so that they can gain the knowledge, skills and understanding they require for success. They can only do that if we embed the right habits for learning through the Characteristics of Effective Teaching and Learning – Play and Exploration, Active Learning and Creative and Critical Thinking. This all takes place in the context of a safe and nurturing school environment where each individual child is known, and their learning journey is unique to them.
 

Our priority is to enable our pupils to succeed in the 21st century by providing a rich, relevant and exciting curriculum. In doing so, the children will develop a lifelong love of learning. Developing oracy, talk and vocabulary skills to be able to express themselves, reading for information and pleasure, writing for different purposes and being able to apply their maths skills to real life situations, being able to explain, analyse and persuade is at the heart of what we do.  Embedded in this learning, children are taught how to show the Port Isaac way, working together and being kind, safe learners in order to meet the high expectations for behaviour.
 

Our enabling environment is well equipped and organised both indoors and outside which ensures a calming space in which children can demonstrate awe and wonder. In turn, this leads to effective, meaningful and impactful learning. Alongside this, warm, skillful adult interactions support the children as they begin to link learning to their play and exploration. As the pupils move through early years, we invest time and energy into helping pupils set and reflect on their own goals by aiming high and developing a love of reading, writing and number.  This is delivered through a holistic curriculum which maximises opportunities for meaningful cross-curricular links and learning experiences as well as promoting the unique child by offering extended periods of play and sustained thinking following children’s interests and ideas. We value imagination and creativity and seek to create a sense of enjoyment and fascination in learning through a vibrant continuous indoor and outdoor provision, alongside trips, visits and regular outdoor learning sessions.
 

At Port Isaac Academy, we believe that learning is an active collaboration between home and school. In addition to regular homework challenges, we encourage parents to become involved in project work and topics. In the Early Years, parents are regularly invited to share their knowledge of their child/ren to inform our learning enhancements. This further reinforces the value of our teaching and learning, as the interests and passions of our pupils are at the forefront of our enhanced provision.
 

In Nippers Nursery, we currently offer:
 

• Free places for 3 and 4 year old children for 15 hours per week from the term after their 3rd birthday.
• Paid sessions available as soon as your child turns 3.  
• You can pay to top-up your free places and your child could stay for extra sessions when they are offered.
• An open session for any adult who would like to join in the fun and learning in the Early Years Foundation Stage class, or would like to spend time in the classroom before choosing a school for their child/ren. All adults are welcome and you may bring younger brothers and sisters along with you.

 

Our early years foundation stage (EYFS) curriculum

Within the early years foundation stage, we follow the revised Development Matters.

Within this, we focus on both the prime and specific areas of learning.

The prime areas of learning include:

• communication and language
• personal, social and emotional development
• physical development

These are the fundamental skills that support all other learning. It is important that children have strong skills in these areas to help support them fully within the specific areas of learning:

• literacy
• mathematics
• understanding the world
• expressive art and design

Within the foundation stage, we set realistic and challenging expectations that suit the needs of our children, so that most achieve the early learning goals by the end of the foundation stage.

We use a digital system called ‘Tapestry Learning Journal’ to carry out observations and capture key pieces of children’s development throughout the year. These observations and our knowledge of the children helps to inform our next steps for them on their learning pathway.

 

The foundation stage team around the child

Within the foundation stage, we have a group of highly-experienced and knowledgeable early years professionals. We are passionate about what we do and how we do it. We see ourselves as guardians of childhood whilst supporting children to learn, grow and develop. We bring together a wealth of experiences working in a range of different early years settings and know how important collaboration is.

 

Parents as partners

We value the link between home and school. We are proud of the open relationships we create with parents and carers, which helps to support the children socially, emotionally and educationally as they grow.

A member of the foundation stage team is always available at the end of the day if you need to catch us briefly for anything or alternatively you can arrange a longer meeting in private with the office.