Foundation Stage at Brookfield Primary Academy
Foundation Stage Session Times
Nursery (FS1)
15-Hour Funded Places
Morning Session
🕣 8:30am – 11:30am
Afternoon Session
🕛 12:00pm – 3:00pm
Children attending the afternoon session are welcome to arrive from 11:30am to enjoy lunch before their funded session begins. This provides a smooth transition into the afternoon and gives children the opportunity to eat alongside their friends.
30-Hour Funded Places
Full-Day Session
🕣 8:30am – 3:00pm
Reception (FS2)
School Day
🕣 8:30am – 3:00pm
School Lunches
All children in FS1 (Nursery) and FS2 (Reception) can order a healthy school lunch each day.
- Reception (FS2): School lunches are free for all children.
- Nursery (FS1): School lunches cost £2.50 per day, or children may bring a healthy packed lunch from home.
Please let us know of any dietary requirements or food allergies before your child starts school.
Foundation Stage at Brookfield provides a safe, secure and stimulating learning environment for all children. Our aim is to ensure every child has the best possible start in life and the support that enables them to reach their full potential. The Foundation Stage is an important period of children’s education as it develops an early love of learning. At Brookfield, we ensure all children are prepared for future challenges and successes. We ensure a smooth transition from home to school and then prepare the children to begin the National Curriculum in Key Stage 1.
Our Curriculum
Our creative and bespoke curriculum reflects our children and their community and provides our pupils with the knowledge and skills they need at each stage of the Early Years. It is an ambitious plan of everything they need to learn to be prepared for the next step of their school journey. The curriculum encourages children to: love reading, aim High and communicate effectively.
We acknowledge that children learn at different rates and that each child is unique. Our curriculum supports this ethos and is flexible. We follow the children’s interests, alongside introducing them to new and engaging experiences.
Our curriculum supports pupils’ development in all 7 areas of learning (see below) and each area includes ‘Curriculum Goals’ for the children to achieve each term. You can view the Curriculum goals below in files under EYFS Brookfield Curriculum goals.
3 Prime areas of learning:
- Personal, Social and Emotional Development
- Physical Development
- Communication and Language
4 specific areas of learning:
- Literacy
- Mathematics
- Understanding the World
- Expressive Arts and Design
Throughout these areas, the children will also be developing the Characteristics of Effective Learning:
- Playing and Exploring
- Active Learning
- Creating and Thinking Critically
Communication and language is at the heart of our curriculum and underpins all areas of learning. High quality conversations and vocabulary development occur daily through play based learning, continuous provision, snack and chat and story time.
Books shared at story time have been carefully selected to ensure our pupils; learn new vocabulary, speak in clear sentences, develop their conversational skills, deepen their understanding and ask and answer questions.
Speech Link is a programme that our team use to identify children who may need support in pronunciation. If needed, children are provided with support within the provision by a teaching assistant on a 1:1 basis.
🌟 We Are a Maths Champions School! 🌟
At Brookfield, we believe that every child can be a mathematician. We are proud to be a Maths Champions School, committed to developing children’s confidence, understanding and enjoyment of mathematics from the very beginning of their school journey.
Our aim is to help children develop a strong foundation in mathematical thinking, giving them the skills and confidence they need to become successful mathematicians throughout their education and beyond.
🔢 Maths is Everywhere!
We believe that maths is not just something that happens during a maths lesson. It is part of our everyday lives and is woven throughout our curriculum and learning environment.
Our children are encouraged to notice, explore and use maths through:
- 🔢 Counting and recognising numbers
- 🧩 Problem solving and reasoning
- 📏 Comparing size, length, weight and capacity
- 🔷 Exploring shape and space
- 🕐 Understanding time
- 💷 Exploring money
- 📊 Sorting, matching and noticing patterns
- 🧠 Developing mathematical vocabulary
- 🏗️ Building, creating and exploring through play
- 🌳 Using maths in our outdoor environment
- 📚 Exploring mathematical ideas through stories and books
🌱 Building Strong Foundations
In our Early Years, children develop their mathematical understanding through play, exploration, practical experiences and high-quality adult interactions.
Our staff use children's interests and ideas to create meaningful opportunities to develop mathematical thinking. We encourage children to talk about their mathematical ideas, explain their thinking and develop the vocabulary they need to communicate their understanding.
We want children to develop the confidence to have a go, make mistakes and try different ways of solving a problem.
🧠 Developing Mathematical Thinkers
Being a Maths Champion School is about much more than learning number facts. We want our children to become curious, resilient and confident mathematical thinkers.
We encourage children to:
Explore – What can you notice?
Think – How could you work it out?
Talk – Can you explain your thinking?
Reason – How do you know?
Problem solve – Can you find another way?
Challenge – Can you make it harder?
🏆 Celebrating Our Maths Champions
We celebrate mathematical achievement in all its forms. Whether a child has confidently counted objects, spotted a pattern, solved a tricky problem or explained their mathematical thinking, we recognise and celebrate their progress.
We want every child to leave Brookfield thinking:
“I am a mathematician. I can do maths. I can solve problems. I can explain my thinking.”
🏠 Maths at Home
Parents and families play an important role in developing children's mathematical understanding. There are lots of simple ways to explore maths together at home, from counting steps and comparing quantities to looking for shapes, talking about the time and playing board games.
Maths really is everywhere – and every moment is an opportunity to learn!
As a Maths Champions School, we are committed to creating a positive, enjoyable and ambitious maths culture, where every child is encouraged to develop their mathematical knowledge, confidence and curiosity.
Together, we are building a love of maths that will last a lifetime. 🌟
WOW Moments
We are dedicated to providing children with experiences and opportunities to help them progress and achieve success. Each half-term we plan engaging activities for our pupils to take part in that support them to be prepared for the next step of their learning and development. These include baking, planting, picnics, local walks, educational visits and caring for animals.
Assessment
Assessment is based primarily on practitioners’ knowledge of the children. This knowledge is gained predominantly from observation and interaction in a range of daily activities and events. Embedded learning is identified by assessing what a child can do consistently and independently in a range of everyday situations. We understand effective assessment presents a holistic view of a child’s learning and development and, therefore, staff take account of contributions from a range of perspectives, including the child, their parents and other relevant adults, when completing these.
Parents/Carer partnership
We pride ourselves on having strong relationships with our parents and carers. You are your child's first educator, and we like to ensure that we work together to ensure that our children get the best possible start to school life.
We invite parents in on a monthly basis for our Reading workshops. We welcome parents to share stories in class (Mystery Reader).We ensure that we have celebrations and performances which you are invited into throughout the year to share how wonderful your children are. These include, Harvest festival, Nativity, Easter Bonnet parade, FS1 end of celebration and FS2 Graduation.
We also offer parents workshops whereby you can join your child for a session to make something wonderful and creative.
Throughout the year parents workshops in Phonics, Reading and Writing are offered to parents which give you the opportunity to see and hear how we teach these subjects in school and offer support and practical ideas to support your child at home.
Displays/Learning Environment
In Foundation at Brookfield we take great pride in ensuring that the learning environment is bright and stimulating for our children. We feel that displaying the work which is produced in the classroom is extremely important in improving our children's confidence and self-esteem!
If you have any questions regarding Foundation Stage or how to further support your children at home please do not hesitate to contact Miss Crook at lisa.crook@brookfieldjunioracademy.org (EYFS Lead/KS1, Phonics & Deputy Safeguarding Lead)
