At St. Patrick’s, we aim to give each child a positive, happy and exciting start to their school life. We aim for them to establish solid foundations on which to develop into enquiring, independent, confident learners who through the implementation of the school mission and Catholic ethos develop a lifelong relationship with Christ.
We will encourage children to develop independence within a secure and motivating atmosphere; to support children in building relationships through the development of social skills such as cooperation and sharing; to help each child to recognise their own strengths and achievements through experiencing success and by developing the confidence and resilience to work towards personal goals whilst exploring risk taking in a safe and age appropriate way.
Our high expectations will enable each child to develop spiritually, socially, physically, intellectually and emotionally and to achieve their full potential. We will offer a structure for learning that has a range of starting points and exciting opportunities for development. We do this through a wide range of new and exciting first-hand learning experiences indoors and outdoors that will give children the chance to build, consolidate, explore and test their skills, knowledge and understanding building on their existing knowledge. We will ensure that children are kept healthy and safe and that they achieve the knowledge and skills they need to create a firm foundation for the rest of their continuing education
We follow the EYFS Framework embracing the key areas of learning:
Prime areas
- Communication and language
- Physical development
- Personal, social and emotional development
The prime areas are strengthened and applied through 4 specific areas:
- Literacy
- Mathematics
- Understanding the world
- Expressive arts and design
Characteristics of Effective Learning
- Playing and Exploring – Engagement
- Finding out and Exploring
- Playing with what they know
- Being willing to ‘have a go’
- Active Learning – Motivation
- Being involved and concentrating
- Keeping trying
- Enjoying achieving what they set out to do
- Creative and Thinking Critically
- Having their own ideas
- Making links
- Choosing ways to do things
