Welcome to St Elizabeth Catholic Primary School’s Early Years page. We are delighted to tell you all about our exciting and vibrant Nursery and Reception classes.  Our Early Years Foundation stage includes Nursery Caterpillar Class (2-year-olds), Nursery Butterfly Class (3 to 4-year-olds) and two Reception classes (4 to 5-year-olds).  The EYFS is led by a team of experienced teachers, nursery nurses and teaching assistants.  Our practitioners are effective, trained and knowledgeable in promoting challenging and enjoyable play experiences for our pupils.  We aim to provide a positive environment where pupils are listened to and valued.

At St Elizabeth we are proud to provide an anti-racist and inclusive approach to teaching and learning, ensuring our curriculum and learning environment promotes the cultural diversity reflected within our school community.

We believe that play is fundamental to children’s learning and strive to provide engaging and interactive lessons and experiences for the children. Children are given opportunities to choose activities and direct their own play.  Our team understands that children are unique and we take into consideration their ideas and interests during the planning process.  Opportunities and experiences are based on active learning and play is valued as key to children’s healthy development.  The children participate in a balance of adult led and child-initiated activities all based around the 7 areas of learning.  Throughout the day the children are given opportunities to choose activities and direct their own pay. All classrooms are accessible with a variety of resources readily available. 

Our EYFS team believe that children’s free choice is a critical factor in enriching their learning and contributing to their well-being and development.  Children use play in the natural environment to learn about the world they inhabit with others.   The outdoor area is an important part of the EYFS with many children choosing to learn outside for much of the day.  We try to ensure that the range of activities outside reflects the different curriculum areas, for example setting up quiet spaces for a maths game, reading areas and creating spaces for construction.

We believe that parents/carers are a child’s first educators.  We view parents and carers contributions as a vital part of our ongoing assessments of the children.  We want parents/carers to feel they can speak to us about their child at any time and feel comfortable in our setting.  We have an app that parents/carers can use to speak to teachers directly called Class Dojo. We hold parent consultation evenings each term, in addition to play and learn sessions every half term.