Early Years Foundation Stage
“Welcome to St Anne’s Early Years Foundation Stage. The Early Years Foundation Stage is made up of the nursery and reception class who work closely together to provide an exciting and stimulating learning environment.
At St Anne’s we are passionate about children learning through play, and as much as possible, using real-life experiences to underpin their learning. We know that children learn best when their levels of wellbeing and engagement are high, so our team work collectively to ensure children feel safe, secure and valued. Our nursery and reception class are not only a happy place for pupils but a welcoming place for families too”. Miss Ellen Taylor
- Miss Ellen Taylor- EYFS Manager
- Mrs Helen Davison – Senior Early Years Practitioner/Higher Level Teaching Assistant
- Mrs Emily Tonge – Reception Class Teacher
- Miss Kate Musgrave – Nursery Teaching Assistant
- Mrs Becky Hart – Nursery Class Teacher
- Miss Megan Banks – Teaching Assistant
Our Nursery: We offer both full-time and part-time places. Children in Nursery learn through a mixture of short carpet sessions with focused intentions, self-directed play and planned small group interventions to support them in key areas. We welcome parents to come and share in their child’s learning at different points throughout the year as this helps us work in effective partnership with you to support your child.
Our Reception: Learning in our reception class is a balance of child-initiated play and adult led sessions. We believe that this leads to the best levels of progress and well-being for our children, and we ensure this is achieved by building on the children’s interests, motivation and developmental stage. We teach Phonics, Maths and Literacy daily in short sessions on the carpet. The remainder of the day is mainly self-directed, with children leading their learning through play and adults responding in order to move learning forward.
Admissions (nursery) St Anne’s Early Years is a Governor-Led Nursery and Reception Class. You can apply for a Nursery place for your child, after their first birthday. All three- and four-year-olds are entitled to 15 hours of free learning per week for 38 weeks a year, to be used over a minimum of 3 days per week. Please visit the school office or telephone Vicky our Office Manager to enquire 01388 603359. Children most often start nursery the term after their 3rd birthday, parents are informed by letter or telephone call and will be invited to visit with their child.
For more information about 30 Hours eligibility please visit Childcare Choices
Admissions (school) if you are considering applying for a school place and wish to visit the school, please telephone to school office to make an appointment. All new and year-in admission requests must be made through School Admissions at County Hall (03000 265896).
Durham County Council Admissions
The Environment plays a key role in supporting and extending children’s development and learning. At, St Anne’s our aim is to provide the best possible learning environment for your child – one that extends their skills, develops their confidence and builds upon what they already know.
‘The quality of teaching is highly effective. The learning environment in Nursery and Reception incorporates many colourful and innovative learning opportunities for children to develop their early reading and writing skills’. OFSTED 2019
Nursery and Reception have both indoor and outdoor learning spaces. The outdoors is open all year round and offers unique opportunities for social and linguistic skills, exploration and investigation and large-scale building and climbing challenges to support physical development
The First Day at of School poem 2020
Here are some photos of what your child might get up to when they start school.
Play underpins the EYFS and all aspects of learning and development. Through play, children develop language skills, their emotions and creativity, social and intellectual skills. We provide opportunities for spontaneous play both indoors and outdoors and encourage children to be imaginative and creative together.
Please visit the school office for an information pack or click on the links below:
You can find out further information about our curriculum and our curriculum plans on our website.
If you would like any further information please contact St Anne’s school office or Miss Ellen Taylor
- Tel: 01388 603359
- Email: stannes@durhamlearning.net
A great website for parents is:
Foundation Year – A parents Guide
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You may need a product like Adobe Reader (free download) to view our PDF documents on our website.
What will your child need?
EYFS Uniform/clothing
We do ask that children in the EYFS stage of St Anne’s wear the school uniform polo shirt and jumper but parents can choose suitable bottoms for their child.
- Light blue polo shirt
- Burgundy school jumper or cardigan (this does not have to have the school logo)
- Grey trousers/skirt/pinafore/jogging bottoms
- Suitable/flat shoes
EYFS children are outside in ALL weathers so please ensure that your child has a suitable coat and footwear for the winter weather and sun cream and a hat in the summer.
Please send a spare change of clothes in your child’s bag. EYFS staff focus on independence and ask that you encourage your child to dress/undress as independently as possible.
Reception Class children
- Children will need a book bag. These can be purchased from our school office
- PE kit should be placed on your child’s peg
- A named water bottle
- A named waterproof coat
- A pair of labelled wellies to leave in school
Nursery children
- A named water bottle
- A named waterproof coat
- A pair of labelled wellies to leave in school
Get label happy
You can minimise losses by encouraging your child to look after their own belongings, putting things away in bags and hanging items on specific pegs. When it comes to labelling clothing, maybe ask your child to choose a specific symbol that is their own unique mark, perhaps a smiley face or a star, to help them recognise their own belongings at a glance. It is especially useful to add a key-ring to your child’s book bag. Remember that other children in the setting will be wearing similar clothing and shoes of the same size and so name labels are the only way of truly identifying which items belong to each child.
‘Class dojo’ helps to support behaviour and our children love to achieve green dojos for good or kind behaviour!
