Our Nursery Class is called Caterpillars and our Reception Class is Butterflies.

Intent: Our Vision & Ambition

At Ramsden Infant and Nursery School, our core purpose is to work in partnership with parents and carers to nurture independent, happy, and resilient learners who thrive from their unique starting points.

We provide an ambitious, language-rich curriculum designed to ignite curiosity and ensure every child reaches their full potential. We build on what the children enjoy, to help them learn more and reach their full potential, providing purposeful opportunities to consolidate and deepen knowledge, ensuring all children make strong progress toward the Early Learning Goals (ELGs). Our intent is to build a strong foundation that empowers children to transition into Key Stage 1 with confidence, agency, and a lifelong love of learning.

Implementation: How We Teach

We maintain a "two-way" dialogue with families via Class Dojo, parent sessions, and termly parents evenings. This ensures every move is based on everything we know about your child's journey so far.

We deliver a progressive curriculum across all seven areas of learning. We balance objective-led guided activities with high-quality continuous provision, allowing children to acquire new skills and then independently apply them.

Our practitioners use "In-the-moment" interactions to scaffold learning and model high-level vocabulary. We prioritise the Characteristics of Effective Learning, ensuring children develop the critical thinking skills needed for future success.

We broaden horizons by integrating our local community. Regular visits to Conishead Priory, Barrow Library, the beach, and Greenhart Den provide real-world contexts that build the background knowledge and vocabulary of all learners.

Our indoor and outdoor spaces are accessed year-round. They are purposefully curated to mirror our child-centred ethos, inviting exploration and risk-taking in all weather conditions.

All areas of the EYFS curriculum are followed and planned for to ensure there is a broad, balanced and progressive learning environment and curriculum. The children will learn new skills, acquire new knowledge and demonstrate understanding through the seven areas in the EYFS curriculum:

Personal, Social and Emotional Development

Physical Development

Communication and Language

Literacy

Mathematics

Understanding the World

Expressive Arts and Design

These 7 areas are used to plan children’s learning and activities. Planning for this curriculum is designed to be flexible so that the child’s unique needs and interests are supported.
 
Daily Guided activities are set up and planned that cover different areas of the EYFS curriculum and allow children to develop their next steps in learning. Areas of need and next steps are identified for all children to ensure good progress is made. There are also a range of stimulating and engaging activities which the children can access independently and a variety of opportunities for child-initiated play. In planning and guiding children’s activities we reflect on the different ways that children learn and reflect these in our practice.
 
Activities support the Characteristics of Effective Learning to ensure learning takes place. These are:

• Playing and Exploring – children investigate and experience things, and ‘have a go’
• Active Learning – children concentrate and keep on trying if they encounter difficulties, and enjoy achievements
• Creating and Thinking Critically – children have their own ideas and develop these to, make links between ideas and develop strategies for doing things.

Children in the EYFS learn by playing and exploring, being active and through creative and critical thinking which takes place both indoors and outside. Our outdoor areas are used all year round and in most weather conditions.

Staff in EYFS make observations of the children’s learning to ensure their next steps are met. These are collected in a variety of ways including objective led planning, short observations and photos.

We regularly assess where the children are and then ensure our planning, adult interaction and learning environment support children to reach their next steps.

Staff support transition into KS1, preparing children for Year 1 with visits to their new class, meeting their teachers and ensuring the environments have similarities to the end of Reception and the start of Year 1.

Impact: The Difference We Make

Our curriculum ensures children make rapid and sustained progress from their individual starting points. While we strive for all children to reach the Early Learning Goals, we measure our primary success by the exceptional value-added journey each child takes at Ramsden, often closing significant gaps in knowledge and communication.

We ensure every child is "Year 1 Ready" by focusing on the Prime Areas and emotional resilience. Our children enter Key Stage 1 as motivated, confident learners who have the foundational communication and social skills required to access the National Curriculum at their own level.

We use a mix of formative observations and summative tracking to ensure teaching is precisely matched to need. Assessment judgements are internally and externally moderated to ensure high expectations and accurate tracking of vulnerable groups, including those with SEND.

   Examples of our Weekly Timetable

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