We feel privileged to be part of the first steps in developing a love of life-long learning in our children’s education at South Bank Primary School.  Through stimulating, engaging and language-rich environments, children have the opportunity to become independent and resilient learners. As a school, we base our teaching on Rosenshine’s principles of instruction.  Even from our youngest children, learning is most effective with repetition. 

At South Bank Primary School, Early Years begins with Nursery which includes 2, 3 and 4 year-olds and 4 and 5 year-olds in our Reception. Children can attend our Nursery on a 15 hour place. The children attend either a  morning or an afternoon place. The nursery sessions are 3 hours and the children attend 5 sessions a week.  We have some limited availability for 30 hour places.

We work closely with Private, Voluntary and Independent (PVI) settings and childminders and signpost families to these provisions where required. 

Early Years Curriculum

The prime areas of learning take priority as the children begin their Nursery education and continue to develop and run throughout Reception through all of the 7 areas of learning. We are passionate in the belief that strong foundations in the prime areas successfully aids the building  blocks towards quality teaching and learning in the specific areas. 

The 7 areas of learning are at the heart of all that we do.  Our bespoke curriculum ensures that it encompasses all 7 areas of learning.  We have carefully selected check points for four different phases throughout the foundation stage journey from entry to Nursery to the end of Reception. This allows practitioners to understand the needs of all individual children and quickly identify gaps in learning. This then informs us on a daily basis as to what interventions are needed to ensure all children achieve age-related expectations and meet their observational checkpoints.

Engaging Environments 

The provision of engaging learning opportunities and environments within our setting is key to successful implementation and impact. Areas of provision are carefully planned as a team and always with the children’s interests in mind. We believe it is important to involve the children in the planning of some of our areas. When setting up the environments, it is always with a good understanding of where our children are in their journey through the checkpoints and how each and every activity/area will impact the children’s development. Most importantly, it must allow for the development of spoken language. 

Early Years Foundation Stage 

At South Bank Primary School, we offer the children a broad, appropriate, ambitious curriculum which follows The Early Years Foundation Stage Statutory Framework September 2021. This is delivered using the Development Matters in the Early Years Foundation Stage Document September 2020 alongside our own developed and personalised progressive curriculum. This enables the Early Years teachers to incorporate the seven areas of learning and development into a stimulating, creative, cross-curricular approach, ensuring breadth and depth.

Prime Areas 

Communication and Language	Personal, Social and Emotional Development	Physical Development
Listening, Attention and Understanding	Self-Regulation	Gross Motor Skills
Speaking	Managing Self	Fine Motor Skills
	Building Relationships

Specific Areas 

Literacy	Maths	Understanding the World	Expressive Arts and Design
Comprehension	Number	Past and Present	Creating with Materials
Word Reading	Numerical Patterns	People, Culture and Communities	Being Imaginative
Writing		The Natural World

Characteristics of Effective Teaching and Learning

• Playing and exploring,
• Active learning 
• Creating and thinking critically.

At South Bank Primary School we are committed to underpinning our provision with the four themes of the Early Years Foundation Stage in our Nursery and Reception classes.

• A Unique Child
• Positive Relationships
• Enabling Environments
• Learning and Development

Cultural Capital  

Our Early years children are provided with an abundance of opportunities to learn about rights and responsibilities and appreciate what it means to be a member of a diverse society. They are encouraged to develop their sense of self-worth by developing competencies and by playing a positive role in contributing to school life and the wider community. Children will develop an understanding about other cultures, races and backgrounds around the world. At South Bank Primary, pupils learn routinely about a variety of different current topical issues within PSHE and Relationships Education that are present in our local coastal area of Redcar and around the world.

The Adults in the Early Years Team

We provide the children with a safe and secure environment where they feel happy.  All adults in Early Years quickly form good relationships with all children interacting positively with them and taking time to listen. All practitioners model and support children in forming positive relationships and friendships with one another. All members of staff are knowledgeable in child development and have access to continued professional development to maintain and extend their specialist expertise. The quality of teaching from teachers and support staff is exemplary. Through productive reflection, staff quickly identify the different rates at which the children are developing and adjust practice appropriately with carefully planned interventions to allow for progress for all children.  Teaching is highly effective, with skilled practitioners modelling new language and planning sequences of lessons which effectively build on and develop previously learned skills.

British Values in Early Years

Respect

Star of the Day, class rules, school rules, circle time, working relationships.
Culture and beliefs, celebrate Diwali, Chinese New Year, Shrove Tuesday, Mothers Day, Fathers Day, St George’s Day, Bonfire Night, Harvest Festival, Remembrance Day, Christmas Nativity.
We do not shout out. We show respect to each other. We respect the adults. We help each other.
Working with the wider community, and visits within the local community including places of worship.

Tolerance

We provide positive relationships.
We promote tolerance of other cultures.
We share and take turns.
We help and support each other.
We wait for our turn when speaking to others.
We listen to others

Individual Liberty

We listen to the views of everyone.
We learn to understand the views of everyone.
We learn to give our own views in a fair way.
We make individual choices about where we work in the class.

Democracy

We are all involved in decision making.
We have a say in our learning environment.
We have a say in where we go and what we do.
We give our parents/carers the opportunity to be involved in our education.

Rule of Law

We understand our Code of Conduct written by School Council and children in our school.
We decide the class rules.
We follow the rules to keep us safe in the playground.
We understand the rules to keep us safe during visits.
We show good manners and are polite.