EYFS

At St Anthony’s we aim for all children in EYFS to reach their full potential. We are committed to developing children’s confidence, independence and resilience and giving them a life-long love of learning. In the Early Years Foundation Stage children are taught using the EYFS framework with an emphasis on developing key skills, knowledge and understanding through direct teaching and structured continuous provision. Our curriculum is tailored to meet the needs of the children and the community and we strive to make learning purposeful. Real life opportunities are carefully planned in order to bring learning to life and provide children with experiences that broaden their understanding.

Language and communication is placed at the heart of our curriculum as we know that children typically enter our Nursery with speech and language skills significantly below national expectations. We introduce children to a range of carefully selected, quality texts which enhances their understanding and extends their vocabulary. Through a bespoke approach to the teaching of language and communication we foster a love of story telling and early reading. These are skills that prepare children both for future learning and beyond. At St Anthony’s we believe that by placing language and communication at the centre of our approach we have unlocked the key to learning and this is a major contributor to the accelerated progress that children make during their time in EYFS.

Please find our EYFS Policy here

Communication & Language

At St Anthony’s, we see communication and language as a very important aspect of child development; we know that speech and language skills are a key indicator in children’s lifelong outcomes. In EYFS we pride ourselves on providing playful, language-rich environments with opportunities to learn new words and hands-on experiences to encourage learning and provide a context for new words to be explored.

Wellcomm

Every term in Early Years we assess children’s Communication and Language skills using a screening tool called WellComm. This helps us to see where children may be in need of some extra support with their listening and understanding or speaking and wider communication. Sometimes children will have more specific things to work on or we look at developing an area of Communication and Language as a whole class. Individual and group interventions are delivered by our EYFS team throughout the week.

We promote children’s speech, language and communication as a top priority when communicating with parents and carers. This begins at our ‘Welcome to Nursery’ and ‘Welcome to Reception’ meetings at the beginning of the year. We frequently provide advice, support and resources to help parents and carers support their children’s speech, language and communication skills.

In EYFS, we work closely with a specialist speech and language professional to seek advice, support and guidance on practice, provision and any individual concerns arising, especially as identified via WellComm screening.

Stories for Talking and 5 a day

Reading stories aloud and sharing books is an important part of every day in EYFS. This supports children to develop language and understand new concepts. It strengthens their language skills and widens their vocabulary. Children at St Anthony’s are exposed to the same story 5 times a day to introduce them to new vocabulary, enable pupils to internalise language structure and and build a bank of stories that children know well.

Visual Support Strategies

Visual support makes life predictable, understandable and positive. For children with Speech, Language or Communication Needs (SLCN) predictability and clarity is essential. Knowing what is going to happen next can reduce stress and lead to calmer and more co-operative behaviour, as well as help children understand how to do something.

Many children will find that having visual support available makes it easier for them to process what is happening. Having visual support available is much better than words alone – once you’ve said them, they have gone, but with a visual support the message is there much more permanently. In our EYFS, we have large visual timetables, snack mats, clear class rules – looking, sitting & listening, we use widgit pictures to label each area of provision. Communication mats linked to resources and skills in each area and communication strips to support independence e.g. morning routine, toileting and painting. We use personalised visual support for individual children, where they may have SEND or additional vulnerabilities.

Useful Links & Websites

Please find below links to some websites you might find useful for ideas and tips on how to support your child’s communication and language at home:

Ages and stages (guide to speech and language development)

Tiny happy people (lots of activity suggestions for supporting language development)

Speech and Language UK (lots of helpful advice sheets with strategies for developing speech, language and communication)