Welcome to:

The Early Years Foundation Stage

Goldfinch Class - Mrs Jacklin and Mrs Nuthall

Firecrest Class -  Mrs Roadley and Mrs Wilson

We are very lucky to also have Miss Richards, Miss Scott, Miss Bannerman and Mrs Deakin as part of our EYFS team. They work in both classes and are the superheroes that inspire the teachers and children every second of every day! 

In the Early Years we all build relationships with all of the children. Both teachers and teaching assistants foster positive relationships with parents and carers through greeting families at drop-off and collection times. However, as the teachers in the Early Years Foundation Stage; Mrs Jacklin is the Key Person for Goldfinch Class and Mrs Roadley is the Key Person for Firecrest Class. As a key person, our role is to ensure that your children become familiar with the provision, ensure that their individual and care needs are met and are the main contact for parents and carers if you need to pass on a message, ask questions or raise any concerns. However, all of the adults in our environment do all of the above and will work with both children and parents to ensure the very best start to your child’s learning journey happens here at National, with us

Our NEW EYFS environment for 2024

The new EY Team have been busy this summer - researching and transforming a wonderful ‘home from home’ learning space.

Everything in our new environment has a purpose. We have created a space for children to become inquisitive, investigators, creative, independent and curious. We want children to immerse themselves into their natural surroundings and use their imaginations. Plastic toys have been replaced by real life items - to allow children to direct their own learning, challenge themselves and be creative in the way they use resources. Children will take risks, be able to express themselves, learn to be careful and gentle, work as part of a team, feel like they are safe, loved and trusted.
The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Framework 2021 states: Children learn and develop well in enabling environments, with teaching and support from adults who respond to their individual interests and needs. 
We hope our environment embodies this and much, much more.

What is the Early Years Foundation Stage?

The early years foundation stage (EYFS) sets standards for the learning, development and care of your child from birth to 5 years old. All schools and Ofsted-registered early years providers must follow the EYFS, including childminders, preschools, nurseries and school reception classes.

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 early experiences have a major impact on their future life chances. Our Reception Class is part of the Early Years Foundation Stage. 

Overarching Principles

Four guiding principles should shape practice in early years settings. These are:

• Every child is a unique child, who is constantly learning and can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured;

• Children learn to be strong and independent through positive relationships;

• Children learn and develop well in enabling environments, in which their experiences respond to their individual needs and there is a strong partnership between practitioners and parents and/or carers; and
• Children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates.

Areas of Learning

Your child will mostly be taught through play, alongside focussed adult-led tasks. 

The 3 Prime Areas are:

• Communication and Language - giving children opportunities to speak and listen in a range of situations and to develop their confidence and skills in expressing themselves.
• Physical Development - providing opportunities for young children to be active and to develop their co-ordination, control, and movement. Children are be helped to understand the importance of physical activity, and to make healthy food choices.
• Personal, Social and Emotional Development - helping children to develop a positive sense of themselves, and others; to form positive relationships and develop respect for others; to develop social skills and learn how to manage their feelings; to understand appropriate behaviour in groups; and to have confidence in their own abilities.

The 4 Specific Areas are:

• Literacy Development – encouraging children to read and write, both through listening to others reading and beginning to read and write themselves. Children are given access to a wide range of reading materials – books, poems, and other written materials, to ignite their interest.
• Mathematics – providing children with opportunities to practise and improve their skills in counting, calculating simple additions and subtractions, and to describe shapes, spaces, and measures.
• Understanding the World – guiding children to make sense of their physical world and their community through opportunities to explore, observe and find out about people, places and the environment.
• Expressive Arts and Design involves supporting children to explore and play with a wide range of media and materials, as well as providing opportunities and encouragement for sharing their thoughts, ideas and feelings through a variety of activities in art, music, movement, dance, role-play, and design and technology.

Autumn Term 1 Topic: 

Welcome to the family Madrigal

Here are some of the learning opportunities that happened naturally during play over the first few weeks due to our enabling environment:

- Fantastic full sentences including manners “please can you bake me 25 million cupcakes?”
- Lots of discussions about weather
- Mixing paints and pouring our own paint 
- Recognising numbers to 20!
- Ordering numbers to 10

- Fine motor skills - threading, shoelaces, tweezers, playdough 
- Being creative; making craft pictures
- Using equipment carefully … 2 cups accidentally smashed!!!
- Capacity pouring and tipping
- Turn taking to play snakes and ladders and other Orchard games such as; pigs in pants, rocket game and crazy chefs!
- Imaginative role play throughout
- Engineering; using materials to build very detailed constructions! Lots of future architects in this cohort! 
- Cutting skills
- Ambitious language and vocabulary 
-Amazing knowledge and descriptions 
-Lots of descriptive language (soft, smooth, soaking wet, highest, higher, amazing)
-Intonation in voices when in role as a character 
-Collaborative play (Soaking the adults with pipettes spray, a football match, making cakes in the mud kitchen, building a forest, making a road)
-Trying new things (new fruits, play a guitar, new games)
-Becoming explorers (mini beast hunting, sound hunting)
- To be respectful of our environment and tidy up effectively
- Listening skills and understanding rules and routines.
- Lots of discussions about colour
- Blue water + yellow water = green water
- Risk taking; riding a bike without stabilisers, climbing up trees, balancing on a beam
- Working collaboratively as a team

Here are some comments made by children during child led and initiated play in the first few weeks:

Ace: 9 plus 1 is 10. 99 plus 1 is 100.

Holly: This looks like a grappling hook - maybe we can catch something! 
Max: I can write my numbers to 49! (He did) 

Reuben: 7 blue and 3 purple makes 10.

Arwyn recited word for word the story of ‘the very hungry caterpillar’ without the book as a prompt! 
Joshua/ Jacob: The boat is stuck on the pipe it won’t move - let’s put water down so it moves.

Elle: This is hard. I can’t do it YET. (Elle persevered and got the bead threaded onto the string!)

Ivy: I am a bit scared (walking on the balance beam). Without prompt Reeva took Ivy’s hand and said “you can do it!” and helped her across! 
 

We have WOWed our teachers with how grown up and sensible we have been, the fact that we are amazing learners is a bonus!

Autumn Term 2 - Welcome to the family Madrigal! 
 

Topic: This half term we are focussing on people who help us, jobs, Remembrance Day, bonfire night, Christmas, being individual and independent. We will also be staring in our very exciting Christmas Carol bonanza!  

Maths: This half term we will be focussing on securing our knowledge of numbers to 3 and exploring numbers to 6 as well. We look at 1-2-1 correspondence, counting, what makes up a number, counting songs, comparing numbers, different representations and subitising.

Phonics: In our RWInc groups we learn a new sound each day, practise oral blending, use the sounds we know to read CVC words and read an ability appropriate text to our group leader DAILY. We get to bring these home to read and show parents how incredible we are! Children also practise writing their sounds; forming their letters correctly as well as using their ‘Fred fingers’ to spell words.

Heartsmart: We are learning about LOVE! How we are all unique and special and discussing different emotions and how things make us feel. We learn how to ‘let the love in’ and be kind to others.

RE: Incarnation Unit. This half term we learn all about Tom and Tessa and all the Bible stories they love about Jesus. We learn about the birth of Jesus at Christmas, as well as why Christmas is important to Christians. We learn all about the nativity and will be acting this out in class as well as part of our nativity performance. 

Spring Term 1 - To infinity and beyond!

During this half term we will be learning all about SPACE!

Come and join us on our intergalactic learning journey.

Spring 2 - A sailor went to sea, sea, sea

This half term we will be learning all about transport and the oceans! We will have opportunities to extend our learning in science (forces and animals), geography (places we travel to and learning about land and sea), music (sounds of the sea), expressing ourselves (through role play and the arts).

Summer 1 - Roarsome Reptiles!

This half term we will be learning all about DINOSAURS!

Summer 2 - A mouse took a stroll in a deep, dark wood.

Parent view

What our 2024-2025 parents think ...

"My little boy absolutely loves school, he is always talking about what he has been up to and likes to share his day with me at pick up. He is thriving in early years and has blossomed beyond my expectations. I am super proud of him and thankful to the teachers in EYFS for giving him the best start in school."

Victoria Hallam

"The EYFS team at National Primary are a credit to the school! The support my son has had since his very first settling in session has been incredible. I don't know how the teachers do it, but they are so committed to treating every child as an individual and helping to bring out the best in them. All the school staff I have had contact with have been so helpful and friendly. I'm so happy that we chose National Primary!"

"We’ve got three children at National Primary. One in Year 3, one in Year 1, and one in EYFS—and honestly, we’ve been completely amazed by the school. From the brilliant teaching staff to the senior leadership team, it’s everything we could have hoped for and more.
The teachers are approachable and genuinely care about every child. You can tell they really go the extra mile to make sure the kids feel happy and supported. Our kids adore their teachers  so much they’ve actually asked to invite them to their birthday parties and even asked to for a sleepover at their house! The school has such a lovely family feel to it. The values they teach the kids are fantastic- kindness, respect, and just being good little humans. You can see how much the children care  about the staff and each other, which is so heartwarming as parents. What’s also great is how much effort they put into making learning fun and exciting. They  really focus on what the kids are into at the moment and give them such a varied education.  Whether it’s creative projects or hands on experiences, the school is always finding ways to go above and beyond.
We honestly couldn’t ask for more. National Primary feels like a place where not just our kids  that are safe, valued and supported, but also the families too."

Kate and Matt

“As parents sending your children to school for the first time is daunting and scary as you only want the best for them. I'm lucky enough to have had both my children being back to back in  EYFS. The teachers have all been patient and caring towards both my children. Both my children’s  confidence levels have rocketed above what I thought possible. They excel in all subjects and  willingly want to learn more each day. The teachers make learning fun and the knowledge that  my children come home with amazes me. There is no hesitation going into school in a mornings and I only have the teachers to thank for this as they welcome children in with open arms and a smile on their face. I couldn’t have made a better decision to send my children here.”

What our previous cohorts of parents think ...

“I currently have two children at Hucknall National Primary school and I couldn't praise the school enough. 

As a Primary school teacher myself, I found it quite tricky when going to view different schools but National Primary just felt different. I had a walk around with Miss Barratt and I felt completely at ease. All of the staff are so approachable and friendly and  cannot do enough with every query I've approached them with. 

My son is in year one and my daughter is in Foundation stage and I recommend that everyone comes to view the learning environment. It's so inviting, welcoming and truly inspires little minds. I love the continuous provision that is still available to the children as they move into Year one and it's really eased my sons transition from Foundation stage to Year one. Likewise, the curiosity approach in Foundation Stage is just amazing. The classroom is like a home from home and my daughter is excited to tell me all about what she has been exploring during the day. 

My daughter can be quite timid and tearful but her lovely Foundation stage teachers/team have just made her settle into school life so quickly. She would often still get a little tearful when at nursery and I was concerned she wouldn't get the same love and care when she got into school but I couldn't have been more wrong. The staff are so nurturing and I feel like she's really cared for on an emotional level when she's at school. I also feel the staggered transition when starting school in September helped too. I know some parents found it a little tricky to negotiate childcare for the first two weeks but I feel it really helped my daughter settle quicker into school life. It meant she was able to build really strong connections with the adults and children in her class in small groups before the hustle and bustle of full time education. 

Class dojo has also been a real comfort to me because my daughters teachers share so many videos and pictures of their learning throughout the week and it's lovely to see her happy, smiling self playing with her friends. The communication and reminders sent from Mrs Jacklin is ideal for a busy parent like me who can often be a little forgetful! 

I've also had to use wrap around care for my son and National Primary has a lovely breakfast club and as he has entered Year one there are lots of opportunities for the children to go to lovely clubs like athletics or dance. My son is also currently a member of 'National Parliament' and loves getting involved with 'organising' special events in school. 

Overall, I'm really pleased with my decision to send my children to Hucknall National CofE Primary because I feel my children would not have settled so easily and happily if it wasn't for such a lovely teaching team around them and such a nurturing and stimulating environment!”

“ We've been massively impressed with the school, teachers, support and communication since day 1. It's not an easy choice deciding where to send your child for the next however many years, entrusting someone else to nurture and grow your child. I honestly believe every teacher, TA and even the head truly care for every child. My daughter comes home every day telling me the fun things she's done, I can visible see how much she's learning and that just blows my mind. I feel happy and comfortable to ask anything I need too. I only have the one child and have never been through this process. A LOT has changed since I went to school and seeing my child go through this journey at National Primary makes me happy we chose this school.What sold it to us was the visit in advance to making our choices. Yes the building is older than others in the area, but when we walked around the school the head teacher knew the name and interacted on a personal level with every child that passed us on our tour. I knew my daughter would love it here. And I was right!”

“I couldn’t be happier with Hucknall National, Mrs Jacklin and her incredible team have done an amazing job settling the children in to their new school journey. They are caring, loving everything you expect and more from your children’s teachers. They have provided a wonderful learning environment for the children. My daughter walks into school smiling and leaves smiling too. Thank you for everything!!”

“I made the best decision on choosing this school, it’s a very positive environment. The school curriculum is great, the teachers are understanding, kind, empathetic and very patient. CHILD loves going to school, so thank you for giving us the best experience”

“The school, all you teachers, Miss Barratt and Jane brown (who was a great support to me when my daughter struggled last year) even down to the office staff who get forgot, they are superb. People couldn’t select a better school.”

“I am absolutely thrilled with our experience of your school. I am so happy it’s you guys that are the ones guiding my little boy into his first years of education and would thoroughly recommend the school. Thank you so much xx”

“I am truly amazed at the effort the staff members in EYFS put in. The environment and resources are brilliant, there is so many ways for the children to learn. I love that the children are encouraged to enjoy their time at school, to get outside and get stuck into different activities. I find the updates and pictures on the app of what the children are doing a lovely way to keep in touch with the school and my child’s learning”

“It really does come through how much effort is put in; CHILD is loving it. I’ve been so impressed :)”

“Our son started reception in September 2022, and it’s fair to say our expectations have all been exceeded so far. We were delighted with the various activities that took place during the summer holidays before school started. From picnics in the park, to spending a day at soft play with teachers and classmates, to settling in sessions. All of it was fantastic and much more than other school in the area offers. We found the staggered start dates hard to manage due to both parents working full time, however we fully understood it was for the comfort of the children and as a parent you do anything to see your child happy and comfortable. We believe this really impacted how happy our son was when it came to starting full time because he was already settled in the environment, he had made some little friends, and he knew all of the teachers he’d be placed with. The teachers and staff are outstanding and we have been shocked at the amount of time and dedication they have shown, including working through their own lunch breaks and after school, to ensure parents have updates on the kids.

The setting is beautiful and there are countless activities so there is something for every child’s interests and they never get bored. We are so thrilled with our choice of school and we have recommended it to all our friends with young children. Our son skips into school so happy and comes out absolutely exhausted and filthy and that’s a sign he’s had the best day ever, painting, mud kitchens, climbing in the trees… what an adventure!"

From Louise and David Wright

“We have been very happy with our daughter starting at National Primary this year. Lots of fun, varied and outdoor play-led learning as well as time spent with parents to talk through phonics and ways of teaching which means a lot when it is all so new. Such a lovely, thoughtful team in EYFS putting our children first and ensuring they are excited to go back every day!”

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