Early Years
We provide children with purposeful, enriching learning opportunities through high quality teaching and a well-planned learning environment. This ensures the development of strong characteristics of effective learning in the children we teach so they confidently and fluently progress in skills development through our remarkable Early Years setting where no child is left behind. Our early years curriculum is well established and includes the teaching of subject specific knowledge to develop children’s vocabulary. We focus our learning around stories to promote vocabulary development.
Why choose Beckfoot Heaton Early Years?
Your child will receive a high-quality education from qualified teachers and early years practitioners
Our curriculum develops early Literacy skills and effective communication
Our curriculum supports development of strong personal, social and emotional skills
Our school provides high quality outdoor spaces
Engaging indoor provisions are designed to stimulate creative and critical thinking
Children learn phonics and writing using the Read, Write Inc scheme
Our Early Years is judged ‘Good’ by Ofsted (November 2019)
Our Early Years Structure
Nursery hours
Our 2 Year and 3 Year nursery pupils can come to school for 15 hour or 30 hour sessions.
The morning session runs from 8.25am – 11.25am
The afternoon session runs from 12.15pm – 3.15pm
Children staying all day come from 8.25am – 3.15pm
Reception Hours
8.30am – 3.00pm Monday to Friday
We also have an Early Years Breakfast Club that nursery children can attend from 7.45am. External providers Kanga, also offer after school care from 3.15pm – 5.45pm for 3 year nursery children.
Please contact us to register your place on the waiting list as soon as possible.
Lunch
Children in nursery can either bring a packed lunch or pay for a school lunch if they are staying all day. Nursery pupils eat their lunch in the nursery setting.
All children in Reception are eligible for free school lunches. Children can have a school lunch or bring a packed lunch and will participate in a family dining experience, where the lunchtime supervisors serve the Reception children in the Early Years Hall before they venture outdoors into their Reception outdoor area.
Staffing
We value the importance of the early years, and aim to give all children the best possible start to their education, therefore we have experienced teachers who lead our early years.
2 Year Nursery – In our 2 year nursery we follow a 1:5 ratio. We have an experienced early years lead practitioner who leads the 2-year-old provision.
3 Year Nursery – One of the benefits of attending our school nursery is that the children are taught by a qualified teacher as well as early years lead practitioners. We have two classes in our nursery setting. Working alongside the teacher we have three members of staff per nursery class with an additional SENTA to support children who have additional needs.
Reception – In reception we have three classes, each class has a teacher and teaching assistant. We also have two SENTAs who work across reception.
Beckfoot Heaton Early Years Curriculum
Our Early Years curriculum has been carefully designed to engage and challenge children from 2-5 years old, encouraging children to explore, play and critically think. Providing them with the solid foundations for a great life.
Our learning is progressively planned through a book-based curriculum. We follow a balanced approach with aspects of direct teaching skills and knowledge as well as child led play, where children follow their interests and actively learn in a purposefully planned environment. Children have free flow access indoors and outdoors throughout the day. We are very fortunate to have a school woodland on site and children regularly access this through planned curriculum days as well as weekly sessions to explore, play and take risks.
We have a strong focus on early literacy skills, laying solid foundations across the prime areas of learning including personal, social and emotional development (PSED), communication and language (CL) and physical development (PD). We have a qualified teacher who works throughout Early Years ensuring all our children have been given the opportunity to develop foundational skills to have a great life.
How we support children with SEND in early years
We promote inclusive classrooms where all children are supported to learn more and remember more. We use Makaton throughout early years to support and encourage communication and interactions between all pupils and staff. We work closely with families and external agencies and settings to help identify and support children who have additional needs. Individual support plans and targets are developed and followed to ensure all children have a great start to their early education. If additionality is needed, we apply for Early Years Inclusion Funding (EYIF) to provide children support in Early Years.