Parents As Partners – Early Years & Foundation Stage

The Foundation Stage is where children get their first experience of school life. It is a crucial period to settle in, meet new friends and get to know the staff at Priory.

Here are some details about the Foundation Stage curriculum and the type of learning children undertake:

Development-Matters-FINAL-PRINT-September 2014
EYFS_Parents_Guide September 2014

Parents as Partners at Priory!

At Priory CE Primary School we value the input, and recognise the importance of our parents and guardians to the children’s learning and development. Because of this, we ensure that there are numerous opportunities available for you to get involved with school life; some of which are whole school and some which are just Early Years orientated.

For instance, over the year we like to offer opportunities for parents and guardians to come into the Early Years for activity afternoons. These offer the chance for you to experience the environment and kinds of activities that the children are able to access on a daily basis as well as providing opportunity to talk with staff on an informal basis and get rather messy!

There are two formal parents evenings each year where you will get the chance to speak with your child’s key worker about all aspects of their attainment and development. We have an open door policy where you can speak to key workers before and after school or make arrangements to speak to staff at any time. Our door is always open, we highly value contact with parents and carers.

Each half term your child will bring home their Record of Achievement. This book contains information about the progress they make each half term and what their next steps for learning are. Parents get the opportunity to comment in the Record of Achievement as to how well you think your child is getting on at school and if there is anything that we can do to help. By completing the Wow Stars (detailed below) we can build a picture of what your child gets up to at home and use this to inform their attainment record.

We conduct various curriculum events throughout the year where parents are invited to come and experience the activities that the children get up to and also parents learn how best to support at home. These events address issues such as early reading, writing and maths.

When children join us in the Nursery class, we conduct home visits. We come to your home to meet parents and family and see your child in their home environment. These home visits give us the opportunity to have a detailed talk about your child and their personality, any additional needs or fears that they (or you) may have about starting school. We also visit our new children in their preschool environment and have a chat to their keyworker about their development and if there is anything which we can do to ensure a smooth transition into school life.

In the Nursery parents get the opportunity to hire activity packs for a week for a nominal fee of 50p a week. These packs are themed for example, around a story or a rhyme. Contained within the pack is a little book in which you can replay messages to the staff to let us know how well your child engages with the pack. We can use this information to help us to plan learning activities for your child.

We value what your child gets up to and achieves at home, to share this with us we have Wow Stars for you to write on. These can be found on the planning board in the entrance as well as downloadable from this section of the website. We like to hear about all things such as staying in their own bed all night, trying their vegetables to writing their name or learning to skip. We use this information as evidence in your child’s Early Years Foundation Stage Profile which is the document we keep to track attainment and help us to plan your child’s next steps for learning.

All of the staff in the Early Years team, and at Priory Primary look forward to working with you in partnership to support your child’s development and learning. We all strive together to “Be the best that we can be”. Please let us know if you feel that there is anything you need help with or that we can improve upon.

We are always looking for ways to involve Parents and Carers in the completion of the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile which is the document we keep on the progress which your child is making during their time with us.

Wow Stars

Often children say or do things that make us say “wow”, it might be by sharing a toy with another child without being prompted to do so, or by pointing out a number that they recognise or drawing and explaining a brilliant picture. We want you as Parents and Carers to let us know when your child does something that makes you say “wow”. You can do this by completing one of the Wow Little Stars and handing it to your child’s key worker.

Please ensure that the notes are dated and try to include exactly what your child said/did so we know where best to use the evidence.

We can’t wait to read the “wow” moments you have with your child!

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