EYFS at St Elphin's
Our Vision
In the EYFS, we lay the foundations for life-long learning through purposeful play, rich conversations, and meaningful relationships. Rooted in our Christian ethos, we nurture the whole child, supporting them to become kind, caring, and thoughtful learners who live out our vision: Together in faith we learn, we care, we serve, we share. In our language-rich environment, skilled adults play alongside children, modelling language and curiosity. Every interaction is a chance to explore, question, and grow. We celebrate each child as a unique individual, fostering independence, resilience, and a love of learning that equips them to flourish, both now and in the future.
Meet the Reception Team
Miss Williams Mrs Rigby Mrs Tunley-Smith
Reception Teacher/EYFS Manager Teaching Assistant Teaching Assistant
Autumn 1
As we begin our learning journey in Reception, this half term is all about settling in and feeling secure. Through our topic Me and My Community, children will explore who they are, share their likes and dislikes, talk about their families, and begin to understand the important role they play in their classroom and wider community. We will help them learn names, routines, and expectations, while also developing early skills in communication, emotional awareness, and cooperation. Stories, circle times, songs, and play will support children as they find their voice, express their feelings, and build friendships, laying the foundation for a happy and confident start to school life.
Floppy's Phonics
Learning to read is one of the most important skills that your child will develop over the next few years. The more support and encouragement that you can offer your child, the more likely it is that he or she will make good progress. At school we are using the Oxford Reading Tree series to take your child through the early stages of learning to read. We are using the Floppy’s Phonics teaching programme, which is a step-by-step phonics reading scheme. It introduces the children to the letters and sounds (the alphabetic code) that are at the foundation of all reading and writing. To reinforce the teaching in school, your child may bring home some books to share with you.
These may be:
● Floppy’s Phonics Decoding Practice books, to practise each set of new sounds and letters taught at school and consolidate learning.
● Floppy’s Phonics decodable readers to practise reading stories and different text types.
All the books have notes on the inside cover to guide you on how to share them with your child. 
Drawing Club
Drawing Club is an imaginative Literacy approach that we use in Reception, created by educator Greg Bottrill. This joyful, creative method immerses children in stories while supporting early reading, writing, vocabulary, fine motor and maths skills. Each week in Reception, we explore a book, tale or short animation, discovering new words and discussing characters and settings. The children then draw together and individually, infusing their pictures with "magic codes", which could be sounds, words, early sentences or even maths facts, to make their drawings come alive!
Maths - No Problem!
In Reception, we use the Foundations programme from Maths — No Problem! to give children the best possible start in their mathematical learning. This carefully designed early years resource supports the EYFS Framework and promotes a deep, long-lasting understanding of early maths through a play-based, practical approach. Children explore mathematical ideas through hands-on activities, storytelling, and rich conversations that build confidence and curiosity. The Foundations scheme is informed by the latest research on how young children learn, helping our youngest learners to develop strong early number sense and a love of maths from the very beginning.
Useful Information
PE will take place on a Tuesday. Please ensure that your child comes to school in their PE Kit on that day. Reading Books will usually be changed on a Monday. Please read with your child every night and sign their reading record.
Tapestry
We use an online application, Tapestry, to record events, 'WOW moments' and to communicate with our parents and carers in Reception and Nursery. This also helps practitioners to gain a ‘whole view’ of your children’s achievements and therefore make accurate assessments, we ask that parents and carers sign up to Tapestry and add observations from home.
These might include anything from your children reading or writing at home, riding their bikes or simply role playing washing the dishes. Find the app in the app store:
Meet the Nursery Team
Miss Wilcock Mrs Morris Mrs Jackson
Nursery Teacher Nursery Teacher Nursery Teaching Assistant
Autumn 1
In the Autumn Term, our nursery children explore the theme “Me and My Family” through stories, songs, celebrations, and lots of play-based learning. This term focuses on building strong relationships, settling into routines, and developing communication and confidence.
We are exploring the key texts: 
Information for Parents
Please have a look at our Nursery and Reception guides to the EYFS framework below:
Together in faith, we learn, we care, we serve, we share
Serve one another in love (Galatians 5:13)