Early Years

Welcome to the Early Years Foundation Stage at Bilton Infant School—a warm, nurturing environment where learning begins through curiosity and joy. We are committed to ensuring every child feels happy, safe and confident as they start their school journey.

Our EYFS, led by Miss Garvey, is built on strong relationships, playful exploration and a sense of belonging. We nurture a love of learning, encourage independence and creativity, and support children in forming friendships within our school community.

We have two Reception Classes; Ladybirds Class (Miss Garvey) and Bumblebees Class (Mrs. Hughes). Through a carefully planned and engaging curriculum, we provide a strong foundation in phonics, early reading, writing and mathematics. Children are inspired through exciting themes and high-quality texts, becoming active learners who explore, create and collaborate.

On our EYFS pages, you will find information about what and how we teach, how we keep our children safe and how we work closely with families and nursery settings to ensure a smooth and positive transition into school. We recognise how vital these early experiences are in shaping children’s attitudes towards learning and their sense of self.

We value strong partnerships with parents and carers. We offer workshops and opportunities to share in your child’s learning journey, including contributions to floor books. Each week, we provide curriculum-linked home learning to encourage meaningful conversations and shared experiences at home, allowing children to take pride in ‘teaching’ you about their learning. We greatly appreciate your support with this, as well as regular reading at home—ideally daily, but at least four times a week—with this recorded in your child’s reading diary.

Our aim is for every child to feel excited about coming to school, to be motivated and engaged, to persevere and try their best, and to make excellent progress. Above all, we strive to nurture a lifelong love of learning in every child.

What do we want our curriculum to achieve?

Be challenging and enjoyable in all areas of learning
Enable children to play and explore; actively learn; create and think critically
Provide equality of opportunity, so every child is included and supported
Provide a secure foundation where every child makes progress and ensure no child gets left behind
Provide planned learning and development opportunities based around the needs of the children

How will we fulfil this?

Provide a broad and balanced curriculum based upon The Curriculum Guidance for Early Years and Foundation Stage. All areas of learning and development are important
Place a strong emphasis on our six values - Care, Cooperation, Resilience, Respect, Forgiveness and Honesty
Offer a range of high quality core texts that are well-thought-out and challenging for every child to access during their learning journey
Key strategies are addressed over time and revisited
Connections are made between some areas of learning
Build on and build from previous knowledge with the understanding of where we want our children to get to by the time they reach the end of Reception.

The EYFS Curriculum

The EYFS curriculum covers Pre-school and Reception and is split into seven areas of learning, three prime areas and four specific areas.

In the EYFS, the three prime areas are at the heart of what we do and underpin all learning and development. These areas are particularly crucial in supporting children’s early development, as they provide the foundations for building relationships, expressing ideas, and engaging with the world around them. As children grow in confidence and capability within the prime areas, they are better equipped to access and make progress in the specific areas.

Our EYFS curriculum is underpinned by a play-based approach where children have access to all areas of learning within the classroom and in the outside learning area. Children will engage in self-chosen activities as well as carefully planned adult-directed sessions, including daily Phonics, Reading Practice and Mathematics. Objective-led planning covers children’s interests and skilfully links all the areas of learning. The children are continually observed and assessed by teachers and support staff so that they progress rapidly.

Characteristics of Effective Learning

We ensure that our environment and delivery of the curriculum incorporate the three characteristics of effective teaching and learning.

PLAYING AND EXPLORING – Children investigate and experience things, and ‘have a go.'

ACTIVE LEARNING – Children concentrate and keep on trying if they encounter difficulties and enjoy achievements.

CREATING AND THINKING CRITICALLY – Children have and develop their own ideas, make links between ideas, and develop strategies for doing things.

We use our special animal friends to promote these characteristics and encourage our children to apply these in their daily lives.

At the bottom of the webpage, you will find documents outlining how we ensure skills progression, an overview of our broad and balanced curriculum, the learning covered each term, and other important information about your child’s Reception year, which we encourage you to explore. We have also provided website links below, offering advice and practical suggestions to support your child at school.