Children

We aim to provide children with experiences which make our children excited, curious and highly engaged in what they are learning.  We value the characteristics of effective learning and seek to promote these skills at every given opportunity.

We want children to develop high levels of independence and good learning behaviours which children will carry forward throughout their time in school.  We aim to foster a love of learning and for children to demonstrate this through their levels of engagement.

We also value the importance of preparing children well in early reading, writing and maths skills which we ensure are taught well. We aim for each and every child to achieve highly- making good or better progress from their starting points. 

We also aim to offer a nurturing environment where children feel happy and secure; staff build positive, warm relationships with children and promote these relationships though peers.

Staff

We aim for staff to gain knowledge and skills working at St Thomas Mores.  Staff consider that they also continue to be learners and are keen to develop their knowledge further.  Staff are reflective and take responsibility for their own learning through seeking out further training, reading or

learning through peers.   Staff are experienced in EYFS and skilled in helping young children to learn using a range of interaction strategies.

Environment

We place lots of value on the importance of our learning environment.  We have set up a range of learning opportunities both indoor and outdoor using 2 open plan classrooms.  The children are able fully explore this environment and to take the lead in their learning.  We adopt a flexible approach to the provision in the learning area and continually evaluate and make changes according to children’s current interests, topics and their learning needs.  We seek to use the environment as a tool to engage the children in learning and to offer a means of developing a wide range of learning skills.  We aim for the environment to act as a stimulus for talk and communication which helps children to make connections in their learning and to collaborate with their peers.