Our Early Years Intent

In Early Years at St Luke’s, we want the children to be confident communicators and develop their social skills to enable them to play and work co-operatively together. We focus on developing their vocabulary across the 7 areas of learning (see framework below for more information on these) through play and supported activities. We want all children to be independent and resilient learners who are proud of all their achievements.

We aim for all children to be secure with sound and letter correspondence and confidently be able to segment and blend to read words and simple sentences. We instil a love of reading through daily stories that capture the children’s interest and imagination.

We want all children to have a strong sense of number and to understand the relationship between numbers and their value. We aim for all children to confidently compare and order numbers within 10.

In Early Years we develop positive relationships with parents and there is strong communication and support offered with helping the children continue their learning at home.

Every child is unique and we match the learning to support their individual needs and interests no matter what their ability, ethnicity or background.

Early Years Framework

The Early Years Foundation Stage Framework has three Prime areas of learning and development:

  • Personal, Social & Emotional development
  • Physical development
  • Communication & language

There are four Specific areas of learning:

  • Literacy
  • Mathematics
  • Understanding the World
  • Expressive Arts & Design

Characteristics of Effective Learning move through all areas of learning. These are split into three areas:

• playing and exploring
• active learning
• creating and thinking critically

For more information on the Early Years Framework please click on the links below.

  1. Early Years Framework

Development Matters

We also use the non-statutory document Development Matters to support our planning and assessment. 

    September 2026:

    We have a brand new Early Years outdoor classroom, which our children are enjoying exploring!