Welcome to Early Years at Woodgate 

Our Early Years teams:

Our Early Years includes our nursery class: Ladybirds and our Reception: Hedgehogs. 

Please see our class pages for more information.

Nursery class - Helena McGill, Charlotte Cooper, Jessica O'Flaherty and Paula Marcinek

Reception class - Steph Sanders, Sue Malik and Stacey Martin. 

At Woodgate, we know and understand that children learn best when they are absorbed, interested and active. We understand that active learning involves other children, adults, objects, ideas, stimuli and events that will engage and involve children for sustained periods of time.

Our curriculum is designed to enable our children to become lifelong learners from experiences they have at school and home who strive to develop knowledge, understanding and skills. We work in a partnership with parents and carers to provide the best possible start at Woodgate Primary. We support our children to be well rounded individuals and ensure they reach their potential from various starting points.

We believe that Early Years education should be as practical as possible and therefore we have an underlying ethos of learning through play. Through play, children develop language skills, their emotional and creativity, social and intellectual skills. For most children their play is natural and spontaneous although some children may need extra help from adults. Play takes place indoors and outdoors and it is in these different environments that children explore and discover their immediate world. It is here they practise new ideas and skills, they take risks, show imagination and solve problems on their own or with others.

The role that adults have is crucial. Adults provide time and space and appropriate resources. These might include clothes, boxes, buckets, old blankets that will inspire play and fire children’s imaginations. They observe play and join in when invited, watching and listening before intervening. They value play and provide safe but challenging environments that support and extend learning and development.

At Woodgate we encourage hands on learning and first hand experiences where possible, including following the children's interests and learning in the moment.

The EYFS is made up of seven different areas:

• Personal, Emotional and Social development 
• Communication and Language 
• Physical education 
• Literacy 
• Mathematics 
• Understanding the World 
• Expressive arts and design

The first three are known as the Prime areas of learning and these are vital and very important to support the development and learning of all other areas of the EYFS.  

We have a strong emphasis on the Prime Areas of learning; Personal, Social and Emotional Development, Communication and Language and Physical Development throughout our planning and learning, which supports all of the children at Woodgate. We see all children in our school as individuals and unique and should be treated as so. We know that children learn best when they are in a safe and secure environment.

Please see some photos below showing you a small insight to our Early Years here at Woodgate!