Welcome to the Early Years Foundation Stage! At St Finbar’s Catholic Primary School, we believe that a child’s first experience of school should be filled with wonder, warmth, and a sense of belonging. As a Catholic community, we cherish the unique identity of every child, celebrating the rich tapestry of cultures and backgrounds that make our setting so special.
Our philosophy is simple: Happy children learn. We prioritise building deep, positive relationships so that every child feels safe, seen, and confident enough to take risks. When a child feels secure, they don’t just participate—they thrive.
While our ambitions for our children are high, we know that a sturdy house requires a solid foundation. Our curriculum is designed with a “Prime-First” approach, ensuring that our youngest learners develop the essential skills they need to unlock the rest of the world.
By mastering these core pillars, our children gain the confidence to dive into our ambitious specific areas of learning—from Literacy and Mathematics to Understanding the World and Expressive Arts.
“In God’s love we learn and grow together.”
Below, you will find our curriculum and skills links which detail the exciting journey our children take through Nursery and Reception.
Sunflower class have been growing our own beans. We used a clear bag to create a warm environment for the bean to grow. We looked at the different parts of the sprouting bean. Now that our beans are flourishing we have moved them to pots and compost.
Sunflower Class have been counting on from a given number, using different strategies and strengthening our understanding of number bonds to 10.
Sunflower class have been learning about how to plant and grow seeds. We worked together as a team, followed instructions and chose our resources to plant some peas and beans.
Today, Sunflower Class listened to instructions on how to make our own cress pots. The children had to follow the verbal and visual instructions to make their own individual pots.
The children loved their visit to St George’s Hall, to hear the story of St George and the Dragon.
we enjoyed a show and listened to a short performance on the organ.
The children have been counting on from 10 in maths. We used cubes to do our working out, adding 1,2,3 and 4 to 10. We then wrote out number sentences to represent our work.
Sunflower Class have enjoyed Holy Week at school. As well as learning the importance of Holy Week, the children have enjoyed different activities around this.
We have loved drawing club this week, the book has inspired lots of lovely role play and retelling of the story. We have ordered size and built our own houses.
We have been comparing height this week. The children have measured themselves to compare and order by their height, using words shorter and taller. We then went into play and made different height towers and compared what was the tallest.
Sunflower class decided to create their own houses, just like the Three Little Pigs. Were their homes sturdy enough to withstand the Big Bad Wolf’s huff?
During world book day, Year 6 buddied up with their little friends in Nursery, Reception and Year 1 for some reading for pleasure. Year six were really thinking about how they could confidently read and share their love of reading with the littlest learners of St Finbar’s.
EYFS loved World Book Day! They really have a love for stories and books, so a day full of celebration for some of our favourites and introducing new stories was so much fun.
After reading the story The Three Little Pigs, Sunflower class used different resources to create our own houses. The children had to work collaboratively to create the shared pieces. They decided what was the best way to add the materials and how to apply them.
Sunflower class have been looking for signs of spring. We spotted that the daffodils had started to bloom. We took some inside and painted a picture of them, looking closely at the different parts, shapes an colours.
Sunflower class have been on a Spring hunt! We looked for any signs of Spring in our garden. The children found lots of early flowers, buds on trees and spotted a nest being made.
Today, the whole school had a fabulous opportunity to listen to a special concert by the local ukulele group called the Dingle Ukes. They played folk songs, older pop songs and locally written songs. The children had a fantastic time listening, clapping and singing along with the music. Thank you to Wheel Meet Again group and Dingle Ukes for coming along.
EYFS had fun on number day, taking part in number activities and wearing numbers to school. We spoke about who keeps us safe and shared the NSPCC help number.
This week, EYFS have enjoyed having Year 6 children come read to us. We chose some of our favourite stories and had new readers everyday.
This week, Sunflower class have been exploring heavy and light and learning about how to balance a scale through explorative play.
Sunflower class are looking at composition if numbers. This week we began to use our tens frames to explore the composition of six.
In Sunflower Class we practise our letter formation in lots of different ways. Today we used paint to practise the ‘ee’ digraph.
The children like to explore their maths in different ways, we played a game to match number and quantity.
This week our focus book has been Supertato. The Evil Pea has escaped in Sunflower class, he stole our number 3! The children have made traps, investigated and tried to capture the Evil Pea.
The children heard the story of the Magi. We used different images to think about what they may have looked like and to retell the story. The children then took a journey, we discovered baby Jesus had been born!
The children were excited to see ice in our outdoor area. We put water in a tray and some items over night to see if it would freeze. It did! The children loved exploring the ice.
This afternoon we had a visit from Coverdale puppets and they performed their Christmas show called ‘Angel delight’. We found it funny and enjoyed seeing all the different puppets. We even had a little boogie to some fun music and songs throughout.
The children in Reception are always working on their fine motor skills. This helps them to develop their writing skills by making their hands stronger.
Early Years had a special visitor today. Christopher the Crocodile came to talk to us about brushing our teeth. We heard a story all about going to the dentist and had a practise of our own toothbrushing technique .
Today, we got to care for our school chicks. We all had a turn of holding the chicks.
Sunflower class have been learning about growing and changes. We have talked about how God shows his love all around us, giving us new life.
Sunflower class have enjoyed their Mindful Movement times. We have been learning to do calming breaths and stretches to help us focus and feel relaxed.
Today, Sunflower class found some interesting items in our classroom. Inside there was a new book, Little Red. We looked at the first page illustrations and discussed it, asking questions and making predictions. We then acted out how Little Red would have felt walking through the woods alone.
Look out in your local Tesco when you are shopping. Please use the little blue tokens to vote for St Finbar’s EYFS at the following Tescos, tell your family and friends!
This afternoon we had a PE session with coach Sam @Liverpool_SSP where we learnt how to move in lots of different ways. It was brilliant!
We enjoyed listening to and talking about the poem take a deep breath by Joseph Coelho for
Nursery are enjoying exploring emotions, our likes and dislikes, similarities and differences. We are celebrating all that makes us unique! ?
Reception enjoyed a lovely picnic lunch today as a special treat from our lovely cook Jo. ?
The phone hasn’t stopped ringing all day! We have been SO busy taking messages and sending orders.
What a great first week! We have enjoyed played with old friends and making new.
What a beautiful morning to spend outdoors with our friends old and new ?
