Hello!

The staff team in Foundation Stage classes are Miss Elliott, Mr Marshall, Mrs Bycroft, Mrs Clegg, Mrs Crawford and Mrs Kennedy.

Our EYFS vision

At Our Lady Queen of Martyrs, we work with children, families, and the wider community to provide the highest quality of care and education to all our pupils. This process starts in the early years, and the Nursery and Reception classes are foundational and formative in shaping resilient, inquisitive, emotionally secure learners, who go on to thrive in school.

Our mission is to provide children with the skills and knowledge that they need in their ‘toolkit’ by the end of Reception, to enjoy learning throughout KS1 and KS2, tackle the National Curriculum and grow into well-rounded individuals who make a positive impact on society.

We provide an enabling, vocabulary-rich environment that promotes the learning and development of every child attending our setting. Children’s learning is led through a balance of discrete, adult-led sessions and carefully planned continuous provision, which gives the children the opportunity to explore and play freely, and to investigate and apply their learning. We use accurate assessment to ensure provision is tailored to the individual needs of our pupils, enabling all children to make excellent progress.

Our Class Saints

St Francis:

Saint Francis is the patron saint of animals, as well as the patron saint of merchants and ecology. He started his life as a very rich man with no interest in God or the Church, but he felt the call of God to leave this world behind. He left home to live outside in the natural world and he developed a love for and deep relationship with animals and birds. His feast date is 4th October.

St Peter:

Saint Peter is the patron saint of fishermen, net makers, and ship builders. As one of Jesus’ first and closest disciples, he learned a lot first hand about the life of study, prayer, and good works, and went on to become the very first Pope, leading the church in Rome. His feast day is 29th June.

Our Learning environment

We plan our learning environments carefully, to cater for the individual needs and interests of the children in our setting, with teaching staff on hand to support. In Foundation Stage St Peter and St Francis, the children have access to both inside and outdoor learning, with freeflow between to two accessible whatever the weather.

Our EYFS Curriculum

At our school, we are passionate about moving all children on in their learning from their starting point with us, expanding their horizons and ensuring that their knowledge and skillset increase as they play, learn, and explore.

Each half term, we choose a topic linked to the children’s interests and set out our curriculum intent through a toolkit of key skills that we want the children to acquire. We implement our curriculum through a mix of exciting experiences for the children, engaging and focused teaching, and provocations in the continuous provision, aimed at inviting children to apply their newfound knowledge through play. We then evaluate as a team and ascertain the progress the children have made as result, tweaking our learning environment and teaching, accordingly.

The wider intent and mapping of the whole school curriculum begins from our children’s entry to the school in Nursery through to Year 6 to ensure teaching provides appropriate progression and challenge and builds on prior learning and experiences. There is a joined up, cohesive approach to all learning. Our EYFS teachers work in a Phase team with our Year 1 teachers, to ensure that pupils’ progression of skills flows from Reception into Year 1. Reception teachers and Year 1 teachers work together closely to ensure that pupils leave the EYFS with the requisite knowledge and skills to tackle KS1.