EYFS

At Epping Upland CofE Primary School, our Early Years provision is built on the belief that every child deserves the best possible start in life. We aim to provide a safe, stimulating and nurturing environment where children feel valued, confident, and ready to learn.

Assessment in the Early Years is purposeful and continuous. Our approach ensures we capture each child’s progress and identify next steps to support their learning journey from the moment they start school. All children complete the statutory Government Baseline Assessment within the first six weeks of starting Reception. This provides a national benchmark for each child’s starting point in language, communication, literacy, and mathematics.

Government Information for Parents - Baseline Guidance

Assessment is embedded within daily practice through informal observations, which are recorded using Tapestry. These observations capture significant moments of learning across the curriculum and provide valuable evidence of children’s progress over time. Staff use skilful questioning to deepen understanding, clarify thinking, and address misconceptions as they arise.

To teach early reading skills, we use the ‘Super Sonic Phonic Friends' phonics scheme. This starts in EYFS and is continued into Key Stage 1. We use this programme to deliver high quality phonic lessons daily, which are progressive throughout KS1. The scheme is designed as an accessible and inclusive programme which promotes whole class teaching. This scheme ensures that children are able to access a selection of fully decodable books matched to their phonics level.