Early Years

The New EYFS framework (2021) states that “Every child deserves the best possible start in life and the support that enables them to fulfil their potential.” This is at the heart of everything that we do at Athelstan Primary School. 

We provide high quality Early Years education and childcare, for children from 2 years old to 5 years old giving children the best possible start in life.  Our knowledge of how children learn is exceptional. We passionately believe in and deliver a creative curriculum which builds children’s social and emotional resilience and recognises the importance of strong relationships with parents and families. At the heart of everything we do is the care and nurturing of our young children, helping children to grow and learn.

We aim to make learning, fun, meaningful and exciting. We do this in a number of ways, from whole class carpet times, group sessions and an enviable learning environment both indoors and outdoors, as well as the additional experiences we provide for your children such as visitors coming into school. We want to spark interest, enthusiasm and curiosity in our children. 

We treat every child as an individual and are committed to the development of the ‘whole child’. We understand that every child has their own cultural capital which they bring to school but we want to recognise, represent and value everyone’s culture. We want our children to be happy, healthy and develop a love of learning. Our three early years areas are interlinked helping children to make a seamless transition from one room to another, preparing them for the move to the main school. By the end of Sunshines we hope that our children are self-assured, independent learners with a thirst to learn and the confidence to know that they can do anything they want to do and that we will support this journey moving forwards. 

Our curriculum is driven by giving children opportunities, ensuring engagement and developing a sense of responsibility. We have given careful consideration to the knowledge and skills that we want the children to learn during their time from Raindrops through to Sunshines and these all feed into our curriculum. We are committed to the whole child and to the characteristics of effective learning, we want to make sure that our children have the learning behaviours that they need to succeed not only in school but in life. We chose our curriculum by thinking about the children in our school and their needs. We used the Development Matters (2021) and Birth to 5 Matters (2021) non-statutory guidance and our professional knowledge about the children to devise our curriculum. 

At Athelstan our Early years unit is made up of;

Raindrops for 2 Year olds
Puddles for 3-4 Year olds
Sunshines for 4 and 5 Year olds

Athelstan School also provides term time wraparound provision for Early Years Pupils. The provision is managed and lead by school based staff within the Puddles room and follows the EYFS curriculum. Children can attend before and after school from 7.40am until 6pm .They may use their funded hours or pay the additional charge as required.. A separate registration form must be completed at the point of admission. 

If you are interested in joining our School or Nursery please complete the enquiry form below or contact the school Early Years Office on 01977 684037 option 2 or by email  eyadmin@athelstan.n-yorks.sch.uk . If you would like to make an appointment and we will be happy to show you around.

The school application round for new starters into Reception (Sunshines) for September 2023 closed on January 15th 2023. Applicants will be notified of school places on April 17th 2023.