Early Years Staffing Structure
EYFS Lead:
Mrs Sara Deakin
Teachers:
Mrs Stephanie Wagstaff (Nursery)
Mrs Sara Deakin (Reception)
Teaching Assistants:
Mrs Mandy Clark
Miss Emma French
Mrs Ann Smith
Nursery Sessions
Our Nursery class welcomes children from their third birthday. We aim to provide a warm, nurturing environment that will allow your child to flourish and grow as they learn.
Nursery sessions run each morning from 9.00-12.00 and children attend every day to give them 15 hours of nursery provision. For families entitled to 30 hours of nursery provision, there is an afternoon session running from 12.20-3.20. To ensure that your child benefits from their time at nursery, we do advise daily attendance except for illness or extenuating circumstances.
Nursery Admissions
In addition to the 15 hour free provision, Victoria Lane Academy do also offer free 30 hour Nursery education to those families who are eligible. See https://www.childcarechoices.gov.uk/ for more information on eligibility criteria.
The 30 hour places are subject to availability but currently some places are still available.
To apply for a place for your child to join Victoria Lane Academy Nursery, please visit our school office where you will be asked to fill in a basic form to register your interest. Your child’s name and date of birth will then be registered on our school system and you can expect a call from the Nursery Teacher, Mrs Wagstaff in the month before your child turns three – This will be to arrange a visit to Nursery and to complete the necessary paperwork.
In Nursery, we believe that play is the foundation of development and learning for young children. We plan our topics throughout the year to ensure that children are provided with a wide range of high quality learning experiences. In the EYFS, we follow children’s interests where possible and planned topics are regularly adapted to take these into account. Your child will take part in many adult-led and child initiated indoor and outdoor play activities that will help them to learn and have fun as they grow and develop.
Curriculum
Teaching and learning in the EYFS is informed by the ‘Early Years Framework’ published by the government. This framework is in the process of being revised to bring it up to date with recent changes in education. The new version of the framework will become statutory in September 2021 but schools are able to trial the new framework from September 2020. We are pleased to inform you that we are an ‘Early Adopter School’ and will be teaching from the revised framework this year.
A parent’s guide to the EYFS curriculum can be found by clicking the link below. Please note that this guide refers to the current Early Years framework as there is not yet a parent’s guide for the new framework. The overriding principals however, remain the same.
Nursery Curriculum Overview
You can view or download our long term plan and EYFS curriculum overview by clicking the link below:
Victoria Lane Academy Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum Overview
Our areas of learning will change frequently to reflect our children’s developing interests and needs. Children are introduced to a new story each week, through which we make relevant links to learning experiences.
Every day, in Nursery, children are given the opportunity to develop their understanding of number. We use a scheme called Tentown, through which children learn to count and to recognise numbers.
Our children also enjoy a daily phonics session, which enables them to learn to listen to sounds and to discriminate sounds within words. We use the Letters and Sounds phonics scheme to introduce the children to the skills required to differentiate sounds. If / when they are ready we begin to introduce children to the letters of the alphabet so that they can link the sounds they hear to a specific letter. They then build on these skills when blending sounds to read words in Reception.
The children are then encouraged to use their numbers and sounds are throughout their play, for example writing shopping lists, counting and sorting.
Our planning systems ensure that the particular interests and enthusiasms of all children are invested in and celebrated.
