Open Days 23 -24 - Starting school September 2024

Our Open Days for 23-24 have now been set.  If you would like to book to come and meet us then please contact us either via our email or telephone the school office. We look forward to meeting you and your child. 

Its' been lovely to see so many families during our Saturday open mornings. If you haven't had the opportunity to come and view the school or would like to come again please contact the school office and we will arrange a time for you. 

We have arranged two further days for families to come and see the school in action.

Thursday 23rd November  10 -11am or 2pm - 3pm 

Thursday 14th December   10 - 11am 

If you cannot make the dates set out please contact us and we can make other arrangements for you.

We encourage you to bring your child/ren with you but understand if you would rather look around on your own first and then bring them along at a later date. 

New Starters

Starting School in September 2024

Hello and welcome to our Flitwick Lower ! We are looking forward to meeting you all! If your child is due to start school in September 2024 this page is for you!  Throughout the school year we will be uploading information and resources to help support your child's starting school journey. 

If you are starting school you need to register your child online at Central Bedfordshire Admissions. Please follow the link to find out more information. Central Bedfordshire Admissions

Early Years Foundation Stage 

Intent

Quite simply we want children to love school and learning! At Flitwick Lower School we offer a curriculum that is full of wonder and excitement. We want children to be curious about the world in which they live, learning more about different cultures, communities, people and beliefs. We intend to make learning memorable and instil a passion for acquiring new skills and knowledge. We want our children to be confident and independent learners who believe in themselves and interact positively with peers and adults. We aim for our children to develop a love of reading and ensure that this runs throughout our setting, curriculum and weekly timetable. Our intent is that all children develop physically, emotionally, verbally and cognitively in an environment that promotes exploration. 

 Implementation

We follow the statutory Framework for the EYFS and actively safeguard to promote the welfare of our children. We follow the recently published Development Matters to help support our curriculum and ensure children experience a depth of activities and experiences.

We understand that play is a crucial and integral part of learning and is at the heart of our curriculum. We seek to develop positive relationships between children, peers and staff through adult directed, child initiated uninterrupted play. We help children develop their emotions and understand the feelings of others through high quality interactions and time to talk. We prioritise a language rich environment through the use of daily books, songs, rhymes and poems. This follows alongside our teaching of systematic phonics and enables children to become enthusiastic early readers.

Mathematics is also a key to our curriculum, and we use our daily teaching to then help develop skills in children’s everyday play. We want children to see the wonder of maths in everything they do and develop a positive attitude to maths early on.

Our environment has been carefully set up to ensure children have space to explore and can develop their physical skills in a safe setting. Our outdoor space includes a designated Forest School area, large scale play with sand, water, mud kitchen, bikes, balance planks, crates, stage, balls, skipping ropes and space to run, dance and skip! This alongside the daily use of the school’s adventure playground helps to develop children’s core muscles so they are ready to develop those finer motor skills involved in sitting, writing and manipulating small objects

Our Curriculum is taught through a global theme which is then broken down into our own topics based on the children’s needs and interests. These are enhanced with trips, visitors, cooking opportunities and interesting objects. All topics are supported by quality texts which help to develop children’s vocabulary, language and communication skills.

We understand the importance of parental engagement and know that they are key to children’s education and enjoyment of school. We work hard to create a strong partnership between home and school. Parents receive termly letters about our topics and how they can support this learning. They use WOW moments to record learning at home and send in weekly learning at home. We post photos on our class webpage and parents are invited to attend assemblies or shows  Staff are readily available for quick chats at the beginning and end of the day and time is also made available for longer discussions or meetings when requested.

Impact

Children are assessed in relation to their progress towards the Early learning Goals. These judgements are based on the knowledge of the child, informal observations and assessments of the child throughout the year. There is no requirement to gather lots of evidence, but we record what we feel is needed to help inform planning and next steps in our teaching.  We then make a judgement at the end of the year to state whether the child is working at the expected level of development or not. This is shared with parents and Year 1 Teacher so discussions about next steps and readiness for Year 1 can be formulated.