Foundation Stage

Halstead St Andrew's Early Years Foundation Stage consists of two Nursery, three Pre-School and three Reception classes. Here, we nurture and encourage all our children to develop a love of school that will form a firm foundation for their future happiness and success. Both Ofsted and the Independent Schools Inspectorate have rated our Early Years as “Outstanding”. 

A dedicated, highly qualified and caring team of specialist early years teachers, with an in depth knowledge of how young children learn, guide the children’s learning.

We are acutely aware that pupils enter the foundation stage at a variety of stages both in maturity and academic ability. Children learn in different ways and progression in their learning happens at their own pace. We cater for children’s individual needs within each area of the curriculum, building on their existing understanding and experiences.

Providing a broad and balanced curriculum across the three Prime and four Specific areas of learning as defined by the statutory Early Years Foundation Stage, we also add that little extra ingredient that is special to our school. Teaching and learning is lively and stimulating, much of it outdoors, with a mixture of self-initiated experiences and adult planned instructions.

Research has shown that children achieve at their highest level when there is a balance of child initiated and teacher directed activities and we strongly believe that we have this balance right. We place a great emphasis on Literacy and Numeracy right from the start whilst still ensuring that our children have the opportunity to be creative and imaginative thinkers and explorers.

Children benefit from bright and colourful purpose-built classrooms. The extensive resources are presented imaginatively to motivate children’s interests and learning opportunities both inside and outside.

Nursery

Our Nursery is a very happy, vibrant place where children feel secure and gain independence. Every day there are wonderful things to do and to learn. Nursery promotes enquiring minds and equips children with the skills, knowledge and positive attitudes that are all key to future success. 

We introduce children to phonics and numeracy in fun and lively ways so that they are ideally prepared for transition into their Reception class. Specialist dance and music teachers visit the nursery each week.

Reception

In this first year of compulsory education, children enjoy their learning.  They have many opportunities to experiment, discover, understand and develop as they relish learning to read, write and understand numbers. Children continue to develop good relationships and respect for others. The Reception teachers build on and extend the work already done in the Nursery. They continue to enhance their literacy and numeracy skills in fun practical ways so that they are ready to become accomplished readers, writers, mathematicians and scientists. Children’s artistic and creative abilities are further enhanced by the provision of specialist teachers in Music, French, PE and Dance. All our classes have their own class computer and interactive whiteboard and the children also use the school’s main computer suite.

Throughout the school year our children have the opportunity to take part in a range of special events including concerts, outings, theatre visits, book fairs, charity days and sports events.

The Early Years Foundation Stage is just the beginning of a child’s Learning Journey with Halstead St Andrew’s. This level of care and commitment is maintained throughout the school. The transitions between our Foundation Stage, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 are well planned for and sensitively managed so that our children always move on to their next step seamlessly and brimming with confidence.