Sandling Primary School

Early Years Foundation Stage at Sandling Primary School

In EYFS at Sandling Primary School, we strive to provide our children with ‘Thrill, Will & Skill’.


We aim to provide our children with a thrill to capture and harness their attention; which in turn gives them the will to want to engage; resulting in their skill development and learning.

How we provide our children with ‘Thrill, Will & Skill’ is guided by the four principles of the EYFS framework, whilst also being influenced by educational philosophies such as aspects of the Reggio Emilia approach.

The four principles of the EYFS:

Unique Child - Each child is a unique child, who is constantly learning and who can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured.
Positive Relationships - Children learning to be strong and independent through positive relationships.
Enabling Environments - Children learn and develop well in enabling environments with teaching and support from adults, who respond to their individual interests and needs and help them to build their learning over time.
Learning and Development - We recognise the importance of learning and development and that children develop and learn at different rates.

Reggio Emilia:

The Child - There are ‘100 languages of children’: children have multiple ways of thinking, playing, exploring, speaking and doing. Children are central to their own learning and they should pursue their own interests and revisit and build upon ideas at their own pace.
The Environment - The environment is described as ‘the third teacher’, and is one that is open and free-flowing. Children have free access to stimulating resources, to enable them to be the owner of their learning journey. Teachers are instrumental in creating this enabling environment.
The Teacher - Teachers observe and facilitate children’s learning rather than direct them. Teachers enable children to experiment and research in their own way, make mistakes and find new solutions.

Thrill, Will & Skill’ runs throughout all aspects of our school day, both child-initiated and adult-directed learning. Below is an example of a routine day in EYFS at Sandling and how the daily routines typically progress throughout the school year.

Click here to see our learning milestones throughout the year.