Early Years at St John’s

Welcome to the Early Years at St John's! We believe every child deserves the best possible start to their educational journey. Our Early Years curriculum is designed to inspire curiosity, build confidence, and nurture a lifelong love of learning. We encourage our children to grow together in wisdom, compassion, and strength, while developing a sense of hope that enables everyone to flourish.

Children begin their learning journey in Nursery and continue through to the end of Reception. The curriculum is carefully designed to build progressively across these two years, supporting children’s development in all areas of learning. We start with a gentle introduction in Nursery, where play and exploration inspire curiosity and confidence. As children move into Reception, learning becomes gradually more structured, while still keeping play-based, hands-on, and child-initiated experiences at the heart of everything we do. Through this approach, children develop independence, a love of learning, and the essential foundations for their future education.

Through sharing and learning alongside one another, our children discover how to support and care for others, gaining wisdom and resilience as they do so. Our classrooms and outdoor spaces are full of wonder, offering memorable experiences that spark imagination, exploration, and adventure.

We aim for all children to develop physically, verbally, cognitively, and emotionally in an environment that values every culture, community, and individual. We want our pupils to become confident, independent learners who believe in themselves and interact positively with others. Play sits at the heart of this vision—it’s how our children learn best. We ensure a balance between adult-guided activities and child-initiated play so that all children thrive. Strong, trusting relationships between staff, children, and families form the foundation of our Early Years provision.

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How We Bring It to Life

We follow the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage and place children’s welfare and safety at the centre of everything we do. Our curriculum is built around the 17 areas of learning and guided by Development Matters, preparing children smoothly for Key Stage 1.

A “language-rich” environment underpins our daily routines—full of songs, nursery rhymes, storytelling, and plentiful opportunities for meaningful talk. Staff use the ShREC approach to support high-quality interactions, helping children build vocabulary quickly and develop into confident communicators.

A love of reading begins early through engaging with books, stories, and systematic phonics teaching. Mathematics is brought to life through hands-on exploration and real-world problem solving, helping children think like mathematicians.

Our spaces—indoors and outdoors—are carefully designed to promote physical development and creativity. Whether building strength and coordination through active play, exploring the mud kitchen or sandpit, or enjoying Forest School adventures, children experience learning through all their senses and in all weathers.

Learning themes are enriched by trips, visitors, and high-quality key texts chosen to develop language and ignite curiosity. Planning remains flexible and evolves with children’s interests, ensuring that every experience feels relevant and meaningful.

We value parents as partners in this journey. Families are invited to take part in workshops, follow weekly updates on Class Dojo and Google Classroom, and share their child’s learning through Tapestry. Regular assessment ensures that teaching responds to each child’s progress, guiding their next steps throughout the year.

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The Difference It Makes

Our Early Years curriculum ensures that all children make strong progress from their unique starting points. By the end of Reception, most reach a Good Level of Development and are well prepared for Year One—academically, socially, and emotionally.

Children leave the Early Years as confident, enthusiastic learners who are curious about the world around them. They can explain their thinking, make connections between ideas, take risks, and learn from both success and challenge.

We are proud that our carefully planned environment, skilled teaching, and rich play-based curriculum enable children to flourish and build firm foundations for the years ahead.