“Every child deserves the best possible start in life and the support that enables them to fulfil their potential. Children develop quickly in the early years and a child’s experiences between birth and five have a major impact on their future life chances. A secure, safe and happy childhood is important in its own right. Good parenting and high-quality early learning together provide the foundation children need to make the most of their abilities and talents as they grow up”.
(Statutory Framework for EYFS, September 2021
We are so pleased to share with you that we have had our existing Early Years Quality Mark renewed in July 2021. A huge thank you to the children, staff and families for all your contributions to renew the basic skills in Early Years award.
Please see the letter below detailing the renewal.
Early Years Foundation Stage at Pleasant Street Primary School
In the Early Years at Pleasant Street Primary School our children are happy. They are excited and motivated to learn through rich and challenging learning experiences; opportunities to explore and take risks, and first-hand experiences.
The curriculum we provide is linked within the following four overriding principles of the Early Years Foundation Stage. Our early year’s education is based upon:
A Unique Child
At Pleasant Street Primary School we have high ambitions for all our children and recognise that children have different starting points to their learning. We plan according to children’s stage of development so all can thrive and develop. We recognise that children develop in individual ways, at varying rates. Children’s attitudes and dispositions to learning are influenced by feedback from others; we use praise and encouragement, as well as celebration and rewards, to encourage children to develop a positive attitude to learning. We aim for children to be well-rounded individuals who are resilient, responsible, reflective, resourceful and able to reason.
Positive Relationships
At Pleasant Street we recognise that children learn to be strong and independent from secure relationships. We aim to develop caring, respectful, professional relationships with the children and their families.
Enabling Environments
At Pleasant Street we recognise that the environment plays a key role in supporting and extending the children’s development. Through observation and interaction we continuously assess the children’s interests, stages of development and learning needs, and plan challenging, achievable activities and experiences to extend the children’s learning. In this way, assessment and planning forms a continuous cycle to promote children’s well-being, learning and development.
Learning and Development
All areas of Learning and Development are important and interconnected. These areas are particularly crucial for igniting children’s curiosity and enthusiasm for learning. The indoor and outdoor learning environments are organised to allow children to explore and learn securely and safely. There are areas where the children can be active, or be quiet and rest. Both Nursery and Reception are set up in learning areas, where children are able to find activities, equipment and resources independently. Provision in these areas includes familiar and continuously accessible activities and resources, as well as activities which are varied and enhanced to fit in with children’s current interests and learning needs. Each day is composed playing and learning through of a balance of teaching, adult-led activities and child-initiated time.
Early Learning Goals
The EYFS curriculum consists of 7 aspects of Educational Programmes, at Pleasant Street Primary School we provide our pupils with the opportunities the meet the Early Learning Goals in all of these aspects.
To find out more about the Early Years Statutory Framework click the link below.
Additional Non Statutory Information can be accessed on the link below.
What to expect in the Early Years Foundation Stage: a guide for parents can be accessed on the link below.
What to expect in the EYFS complete FINAL
Other Useful Documents
This week in reception we have been learning about parts and whole of numbers 3 and 4. Reception have watched how numberblocks create their stampolines patterns and then the class had a go at creating their own patterns of 3 and 4 using paint and sticky notes.
The children listened to the story ”Unique and Wonderful” for diversity day today. The class had a discussion about what makes us unique and wonderful, the class talked about hair, eyes and our skin colour. The class then created some fantastic portraits and discussed why they are unique.
This term Reception have been focusing on the story Juniper Jupiter by Lizzy Stewart, the children have loved learning about Juniper Jupiter and her sidekick Peanut! The children received a letter from Juniper Jupiter asking if the children could create a poster as to become her sidekick whilst Peanut is unwell. The children created some fantastic drawings of themselves being superheroes and explained what their superpowers would be.
Reception enjoyed their pumpkin picking trip, this trip allowed children to have first hand experiences of life cycles, growth and discuss their prior learning. They were able to recognise the pumpkin seeds and flowers before choosing a variety of pumpkins to take back to school. They also had the opportunity to pick some corn which we will cook and eat 🌽.
We had a fantastic time visiting the Pumpkin Patch, we enjoyed exploring the big open field looking for different sized and coloured Pumpkins.
Reception have been exploring seasonal changes this week, they have discussed about the season of autumn and what changes. Outside Reception loved looking for autumn leaves that have fallen from the trees. To further explore this we created faces out of autumn natural resources and used cotton buds to create autumn pictures.
This week Reception have been exploring old and new toys in history , the class discussed what they think are old and new toys and what toys they play with now and what they’re families might have played with when they were younger. Reception then used their knowledge of old and new toys to cut and stick which toys were from the past or present.
In English Reception have been reading and exploring the story ‘Juniper Jupiter’. Reception have drew pictures of what happened within the story on to a storyboard. Reception worked so hard to remember what parts of the story and what to draw.
This week we have been reading Oliver’s Vegetables, we discussed what vegetables we already know and some new. To find out wether the children liked or disliked the vegetables we did a taste test.
This term Reception are learning about the story ‘Juniper Jupiter’ in English. The children have explored lots of superheroes and we have been very crafty this week, creating our very own superhero lolly sticks and superhero masks.
During diversity day Reception enjoyed a story called “You Are Brilliant”, we discussed what makes us brilliant and then we drew a self portrait of us and described why we are brilliant.
Today reception had an exciting morning exploring different ways that technology can move, the children explored different paths for beebots and used the iPads to move animals using arrows to get to different places.
Thank you to all the families that came to our fantastic stay and play, the children had so much fun being creative and decorating biscuits.
Reception had a fantastic day at LJMU celebrating their sports day event. The children enjoyed playing egg and spoon race, sprints, obstacles courses and so much more.
Reception enjoyed their end of year trip at Croxteth park, the children enjoyed some parachute games in the park before exploring and having fun on the playground. Reception have been exploring our topic of our special world in RE and the children appreciated the wonderful nature around them.
This week in Maths Reception have been exploring double numbers and the link between the numbers that are even. In this activity the children are sharing equally the items between them ensuring that they can see the doubles.
Reception have enjoyed our topic of our special world in RE, this week the children were exploring our beautiful gardens looking at the natural world around them, the children used viewfinders and magnifying glasses to really look into detail about the natural world around them and the colours that they could see.
This term in Art reception have been looking at the artist Gustav Klimt, the children explored the artists brilliant masterpieces, the children were fascinated by the different colours, designs and textures of the artwork. The children were inspired to create their own artworks using Gustav Klimt’s work to guide them. Reception did a fantastic job.
The children had lots of fun playing in the water whilst the sun was shining.
This week in club we used the early years outdoors to collect natural objects, then we used our resources to create some natural art.
The children were very proud of their creations.
This term reception is learning about “what makes our world special?” in RE, the children in reception have explored natural resources and describing them with this classmates. The children, explained what they liked and did not like about the natural resources, some of the children explained that they liked the stones because they felt smooth or the mushroom because it felt furry.
The children had so much fun exploring the natural objects from around our garden, we collected some of the objects and brought them inside to create beautiful sun catchers, we used recycled plates, sticky back plastic and our natural objects. Then the children loved decorating them to make them sparkly and beautiful.
KS1 pupils are enjoying their new after school club, forest school. This week we made toast on the fire and enjoyed eating it with our friends.
In History the children worked really hard looking at old and new images. We looked at bikes, boats, cars, prams and buses. We spoke about the features of the old items and how they may be similar or different to modern day.
In English this term we are exploring the book “Little Red”. In our choose time the children have loved to dress up as all the characters in the story.
This week the children have been working so hard to write all about the story. Today for our sentence snake we wrote “Red went into the woods” the children worked independently to write their sentence, they did a fantastic job.
Reception took a visit to our lovely computer room this week, the children were so sensible at finding a laptop, opening the screen and turning on the power button. The children had a go at moving the mouse on the keyboard. Reception then had a practice of using the mouse to make some art on the app ‘paint’, the children practiced clicking the button and using the trackpad to draw, it was a bit tricky but they had fun learning how to use the computer.
Reception have celebrated Diversity Day this term by reading the story ‘All are Welcome’, this book explores welcoming everybody into the class no matter what, they have a space in our school. The children were read the story and they had a discussion of how we can welcome new children into our school, the children explained that they can be friendly and treat everyone the same. The children wrote messages of how they can be welcoming to others.
Today Reception explored the school gardens looking for signs of seasonal change, they first planned which route they would walk around the gardens following directions. Then Reception examined the different plants and even saw some animals in the gardens. They loved seeing how much they have grown. After Reception had looked at the plants, vegetables and bugs they drew a picture to show what seasonal change they had found, some children drew trees that now had beautiful green leaves on and some children drew bugs and flowers.
Recently Reception have been learning all about constant and vowels using them to spell words in phonics, they have been using phonic knowledge to write different CCVC and CVCC words.
Reception have also been finishing Miss Oh No’s zigzag books for her as she keeps forgetting to draw the pictures so Reception have been reading the sentences and drawing pictures to match the sentence to help Miss Oh No finish her books.
Reception have PE on Fridays with our PE teacher Mr Lancaster, this term Reception are developing their catching and throwing skills.
Reception started their PE lesson with a warm up game of chase the dogs, using their running, listening and problem solving skills.
Reception have been practicing their catching and throwing skills this week they used big balls for bigger controlled catches, small tennis balls for more technical catches and bean bags to help with under arm throwing. The children can’t wait for their next PE lesson.
Reception have really enjoyed their weekly music/Spanish class with Mrs Grindley, last week Reception learnt lots of new songs and they had so much fun learning the lyrics and the actions. They can’t wait for their next lessons to keep practicing their new songs.
In Maths Reception have been learning all about 5 and a bit more, they have explored using a die frame to help see where the 5 is in the number sequence and where the bit it’s by subitising how many they have altogether. Reception used counters to show their partners what 5 and bit numbers they could make. Then they used different things from around the classroom to show their partner what 5 and a bit they could make then using a die frame to support their learning.
In science Reception have loved exploring different lifecycles of animals, they started by exploring lifecycles of frogs, Reception enjoyed exploring an indoor ‘pond with frogs’. Reception cut and stuck the correct order of the frogs lifecycles after learning all about their lifecycle.
This week Reception have been learning all about butterfly lifecycles, exploring the way a caterpillar transforms into a butterfly, they have decorated their very own beautiful butterflies. In art Reception have been exploring mixing water colours and using pipets to make a painting, Reception have used cotton pads to create a lovely caterpillar.
Nursery had a wonderful visit to Acorn Farm, building upon our Understanding of animals and the natural world
Reception had a fantastic time at Farmer Teds Farm on Friday!
Reception learnt about lots of animals that live on Farmer Teds like the shetland ponies, guinea pigs, sheep and reptiles. Reception enjoyed a tractor ride around the farm which took them around the dinosaur trail, then Reception explored the animal barn, enjoyed watching the sheep show and ended the lovely trip with some fun on the climb and slide. What a fantastic trip!
Great to see our nursery children exploring seasonal change, and enjoying themselves in our wonderful outdoor environment
Reception have been learning all about plant lifecycles in Science, we planted our own sunflower seeds by following ‘Joe’s’ instructions from our Literacy story ‘The Extraordinary Gardener’, we are so excited to watch our seeds grow.
This term Reception are exploring special places to people who have different religions. Last week Reception discussed special places to them and special places they might find around our school. As a class Reception had a treasure hunt to find Miss Broadhurst’s favourite place in school which was the fish tank.
This week Reception’s Christian friend Grace came to visit, Grace brought a picture of her special place where she goes to pray and celebrate different events. Reception were shown the picture a bit at a time and tried to guess with their partners where Graces special place could be. After the full picture was shown Reception discussed what a church is and what events might happen at a church. Reception then explored more familiar churches and inside what a church looks like, Reception loved looking at all the stained glass windows.
Reception have celebrated diversity day this term by reading the story “The same but different too”. Reception discussed with their partners what is the same but different about the characters on the front cover of the story, together we then read the story and discussed with our partners what is the same but different about us in class. Reception then drew and wrote sentences about what is the same about us and somebody else and what is different too.
As we are learning all about spring and the lifecycles of plants we visited Calderstones Park to explore. Reception enjoyed pointing out the different signs of spring such as the blossoms on the trees and the new green leaves. Reception also discussed the lifecycles of plants how they start as a seed and sprout into a seedling and then into an adult plant.
As we walked through the park we visited the pond and fed the ducks some lovely peas.
This week Reception has been celebrating Science week! Reception worked on lots of different activity challenges.
the activities include: exploring an experiment with milk and food colouring to see a reaction.
Reception then created boats to see if their boats float or sink on the water.
Reception were challenged to use anything other than their hands to get the dinosaur to float, so they used stones to get the dinosaur to float to the top.
Reception were asked to build a bridge out of pasta and playdoh to see if it was strong enough to hold the trains.
Reception were challenged to make a rainbow out of blocks and to draw the rainbow.
Reception celebrated world book day by reading the story Little Red Riding Hood this year, we had a fun day with lots of different activities such as role playing the story and sequencing the story in to order, we also made our own little red riding hoods.
Reception was invited to an outdoor learning session at Liverpool John Moores to participate in activities with students training to be teachers, Reception really enjoyed their time thank you LJMU for a fabulous learning session.
In RE Reception have been discussing special people in their lives outside of school, some of the children brought in pictures of people who are special to them, the children gave some lovely reasons to why some of the people were special to them such as ‘because they look after me’ ‘because they show me love’ ‘because they share their money with me’ ‘because they make me laugh’.
Thank you for sharing all your special people with us.
For diversity day this term Reception read the story ‘It’s okay to be different’ which had a positive messages of acceptance and promotes confidence for all. Reception then had a circle time where they all discussed that’s it’s okay to be themselves. Reception then drew and wrote a sentence as to why it’s okay to be something which was then shared in assembly.
Reception enjoyed their school trip to the museum this morning as we investigated the aquarium, we loved looking at all the different sea creatures. Our trip links to our Literacy story ‘The Storm Whale’ and our topic of under the sea that we have learnt about this term.
This week Reception are celebrating mental well-being of children in school, we have enjoyed a lovely assembly from Class 3 on the importance of mental well-being, we then discussed what makes us proud and we drew some pictures of what makes us proud to be in school, what makes us proud at home and what makes us proud to be apart of our family.
In Reception we were read a lovely story ‘Archie’s grand plan’ online by the author Ray Lowthian. Reception then drew a hat for Archie and pretended to be ants and anteaters. Thank you Ray for our lovely story.
In our PE lessons with Mr Lancaster this term Reception have been moving their bodies in different ways such as forward rolls and jumping side to side.
Recently Reception have been using the apparatus and benches to move their bodies and balance using their gross motor skills.
Reception can’t wait for our next PE lesson on Friday!
Before the half term Reception enjoyed exploring maps on the computer and guessing where we lived in the world, Reception then drew their houses on a map to show where they lived.
This term for Spring we explored again different places around the world using the computer, Reception let me know where they wanted to go on google earth and we discovered lots of different countries and places some children have been on holiday to and some places they have never been before. Reception also investigated some atlases.
This term in RE we are exploring special people, last week Reception discussed what is special about themselves through looking at a mirror and expressing why they are special.
This week in Reception we discussed who is special in our class and why they are special? We then created postcards to give to our special friends in class.
Our EYFS garden looked like a Winter Wonderland this morning so we couldn’t resist the opportunity to explore seasonal changes to our environment………… and to have some fun ? ❄️ ⛄️
For diversity day this term we have read a lovely story called ‘When sadness comes to call’, we discussed what makes us sad some times and that it’s okay to be sad and be accepting of it. The children drew pictures of what makes them sad.
Thank you to all of the parents who joined us for a Stay and Play session this week. It was great to see so many of you there and we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!
