Early Years

Curriculum

Early Years at Castlefort Academy is 'outstanding' (OFSTED 2025).

Children in the Foundation Stage follow the ‘Early Years Foundation Stage’ curriculum which covers all 7 areas of a child’s development.

There are 3 Prime Areas of Learning:

Personal, Social and Emotional Development
Communication and Language
Physical Development

There are 4 Specific Areas of Learning:

Literacy
Mathematics
Expressive Arts and Design
Understanding of the World

We observe our children, to understand and consider their interests, development and learning- planning for and facilitating the 3 ‘Characteristics of Effective Learning’.

Playing and exploring - children investigate and experience things, and ‘have a go’;

Active Learning - children concentrate and keep on trying if they encounter difficulties, and enjoy achievements.

Creating and thinking critically - children have and develop their own ideas, make links between ideas, and develop strategies for doing things

Our Early Years Setting provides the children with a stimulating, exciting and challenging curriculum in a caring and supportive environment. We want the very best for your children and hope that by working in partnership with you as parents, we can help your child achieve their full potential.

Nursery

We have a 52 place Nursery at Castlefort Academy and children can start the term after their 3rd birthday. In our Nursery, there are 3 full time adults – our Nursery teacher and two early years qualified teaching assistants.

We offer our children 15 hours of provision which is broken down into 5x3hr session (morning or afternoon). Every 3 or 4 year old gets 15 hours provision, regardless of parental income (universal).

The morning session starts at 8.45am until 11.45am.
The afternoon session starts from 12.30pm until 3.30pm

We also offer 30 hour provision at Castlefort Academy. The 30-hour nursery provision in England is a government-funded childcare scheme for working parents, offering up to 30 hours of free Nursery education per week for 38 weeks of the year. Please see the link below to find out if you are eligible for our 30 hour provision.

https://beststartinlife.gov.uk/eligibility-checker/

Parents and carers need to provide:

suitable coat to wear daily
hat, gloves, scarf in winter and a sun hat in summer

If your child is not toilet trained you will also need to provide:

nappies or pull ups, nappy bags and wipes daily
a spare pair of clothes in a bag in case the child has an accident and needs changing

Please see the document below on what is free, needs to be provided by parents/ carers or are optional charges.

Chargeable Extras

Chargeable extras at Castlefort Academy - we offer 15 hours for Nursery children (3-4 year olds) which is either 5 x AM sessions (8.45am-11.45am) or 5 x PM sessions (12.30pm-3.30pm).

Description	Unit	Unit Price	Line Total
Free entitlement hours – 15 hours per week	Weekly	Free	Free

Additional hours purchased – 30 hours provision Session time runs from 8.45-2.45pm If you would like your child to stay for the remaining 45 minutes (until the end of the school day 3.30pm) the cost is £4 per day.	Daily	£4 per day	£20 per week

Snacks - the government provides free fruit and vegetables for 3-7 year olds.	Daily	Free	Free
Milk - 'The Cool Milk Scheme' provides free milk for children under 5 years old.	Daily	Free	Free
Meals - parents/carers need to provide their child with a healthy packed lunch (if they are entitled to the 30 hour session) or parents can book and pay for a hot dinner from our school catering company, via Arbor.	Daily	Parents/carers provide £2.25 per day	Parents/carers provide £11.25 per week. This is to paid and booked on Arbor, please.
Consumables - if your child is not toilet trained, parents/carers need to provide their child with:  Nappies/pull ups  Wipes  Nappy sacks	Daily	Parents/carers provide	Parents/carers provide
Additional voluntary services - trips/visits to the academy. Parents/carers will receive a letter with cost for trips throughout the academy year.	Ad hoc		£tbc
Additional voluntary services - Early Years Fund	Weekly	£1.25	£1.25
Optional extras throughout the academic year Tuck Shop (Friday)	Weekly	£1	£1

Reception

We have a 30-place Reception.

In Reception, there is one teacher and two Early Years qualified teaching assistants.

The Reception day starts at 8.40am and finishes at 3.10pm.

Please see the document below on what is free, needs to be provided by parents/ carers or are optional charges.

Description	Unit	Unit Price	Line Total
Free entitlement hours –32 ½ hours per week	Weekly	Free	Free
Snacks - The government provides free fruit and vegetables for 3-7 year olds.	Daily	Free	Free
Milk - 'The Cool Milk Scheme' provides free milk for children under 5 years old.	Daily	Free
Meals - 'Universal Free School Meals' are provided for all children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2.	Daily	Free	Free
Consumables - If your child is not toilet trained parents / carers need to provide their child with:  Nappies  Wipes  Nappy bags	Daily	Parents/carers provide	Parents/carers provide
Additional voluntary services - trips/visits to the academy parents/carers will receive a letter with cost for trips throughout the academy year	Ad hoc		£tbc
Additional voluntary services - Early Years Fund	Weekly	£1.25	£1.25
Optional extras throughout the academic year - Tuck Shop (Friday)	Weekly	£1-2	£1-2

Our Learning Environment

In Early Years, our children follow an active curriculum both indoors and outdoors. Our indoor classrooms are calming, nurturing and allow our children to become inquisitive learners. Our outdoor learning spaces are well-designed and thoughtfully planned to offer a wide range of learning opportunities - mud kitchens, sandpits, fairy gardens, stage (role play), story circles, climbing frames, trim trails, bike tracks, 'cosy' sheds (writing, mathematics), 'home' sheds (role play) and much more! The children have access throughout the day – no matter what the weather.

Castlefort Academy