The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is a critical framework that sets the standards for learning, development, and care for children from birth to five years old in the UK. It ensures that children are provided with a solid foundation for future learning and development through a cohesive approach.

The primary aim of the EYFS is to ensure that all children have a happy, active, and secure start to their education. By the end of the EYFS, children should be equipped with a broad range of knowledge and skills that provide the right foundation for good future progress through school and life.

As a Catholic Primary School, the EYFS is delivered with a unique focus on spiritual development, instilling values of respect, kindness, and community. The curriculum is enriched with teachings that align with Catholic values, providing a holistic approach to education.

“Reading is fundamental to education. Proficiency in reading, writing and spoken language is vital for pupils’ success. Through these, they develop communication skills for education and for working with others: in school, in training and at work. Pupils who find it difficult to learn to read are likely to struggle across the curriculum, since English is both a subject in its own right and the medium for teaching”

                                                                                    DFE The reading framework

We aim to ensure that every child - 

• has a positive relationship with the written word, removing barriers to reading

• enjoys a rich and varied selection of texts.

• reads for pleasure as well as for information.

• uses reading as a way of developing their vocabulary  and use of standard English.

• develops a wide vocabulary.

• makes a clear link between reading, vocabulary and writing.

We believe every child can be a successful reader. Our early reading approach incorporates the two elements of reading as set out in the Reading Framework, of language comprehension and word reading, using a combination of a validated systematic synthetic phonics programme and quality shared texts.

At Our Lady and St George’s, we follow the Read Write Inc SSP programme.  This ensures that teaching of word reading for our youngest pupils is fast paced, rigorous, systematic and structured to allow them to make accelerated progress.  The programme is designed for children to read the text they encounter for meaning, with fluency and expression.  Vocabulary is taught in the context of the engaging stories and teachers use words and phrases which the children are then encouraged to use in their talk and writing. 

Our expectation is that all children will be able to read fluently by the end of KS1 and we support the needs of the individual to achieve this.