Early Years Foundation Stage

St Andrew's School

Early Years Foundation Stage

Our principal expectation for the children in our care is to feel happy and safe, as well as developing a lifelong passion for learning.

Pupils in the EYFS are organised into Nursery, Pre-Reception and Reception classes, where they all follow the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum. This is divided into three 'Prime Areas' and four 'Specific Areas' of learning. 

As an independent school, we recognise the many benefits that the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum has to offer. In addition, one of our primary aims is for our pupils to be challenged academically. 


Prime Areas:

  1. Personal, Social & Emotional Development: Self-Regulation, Managing Self and Building Relationships.
  2. Physical Development: Gross Motor Skills and Fine Motor Skills.
  3. Communication & Language: Listening & Attention and Understanding & Speaking.

Specific Areas:

  1. Literacy: Comprehension, Word Reading and Writing
  2. Mathematics: Numbers and Numerical Patterns
  3. Understanding the World: Past and Present, People, Culture and Communities and the Natural World
  4. Expressive Arts & Design: Creating with Materials and Being Imaginative and Expressive

In addition to these areas of learning are: Characteristics of Effective Teaching and Learning:

In planning and guiding what children learn, practitioners must reflect on the different rates at which children are developing and adjust their practice appropriately.

Three characteristics of effective teaching and learning are:

• playing and exploring – children investigate and experience things, and ‘have a go’

• active learning – children concentrate and keep on trying if they encounter difficulties, and enjoy achievements

• creating and thinking critically – children have and develop their own ideas, make links between ideas, and develop strategies for doing things.


We incorporate the more exploratory and creative areas of learning into our curriculum, alongside a structured academic programme in Reception for Literacy - including phonics, reading and writing - and Mathematical Development.

Young children learn best when they are motivated through playful learning experiences and are given opportunities to direct their own learning both indoors and within outdoor environments.

Our EYFS classrooms are extremely well resourced and organised in order to spark curious minds, encourage sustained shared thinking, promote fundamental British values and cater for individual learning styles.