​​"Large streams from little fountains flow, Tall oaks from little acorns grow."
D. Everett
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​Our Foundation Stage Unit provides a caring and nurturing learning environment, for children from the age of 3 to the end of the Reception Year, to thrive and learn.

All our teachers within the unit are Early Years Specialists. They are supported by a team of Level 3 Nursery Practitioners and dedicated Teaching Assistants. The unit is led overall by a member of the Senior Leadership Team, ensuring the unit and the needs of our youngest children remain at the heart of whole school professional dialogues and school development.

Teaching staff follow the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum, supported by the Development Matters in the EYFS, to provide high quality play-based provision, matched to the developmental needs of each individual child.

Provision is focused in the 3 prime areas:
  • Personal, Social and Emotional Development: This area develops children’s positive sense of themselves.
  • Communication and Language: This area provides children with opportunities for speaking and listening and ignites children’s interest in reading and writing.
  • Physical Development: This area provides opportunities for children to be active and develop their coordination, manipulation and movement.
Our well-resourced unit, with ample space to explore both indoors and out, provides an exciting environment that ignites curiosity, sparks imagination, challenges children’s thinking, develops children’s sense of awe and wonder in the natural world and embeds a life-long love of learning. Teaching staff seek to develop children’s skills in the prime areas through personalised planned provision and a mixture of adult lead and child-initiated activities.
As children move into Big Acorns (their Reception Year) provision changes slightly over time to support their developmental needs. All Reception children are supported to achieve their Early Learning Goals. These are:
  • Personal, Social and Emotional Development
  • Communication, Language and Literacy
  • Problem Solving, Reasoning and Numeracy
  • Knowledge and Understanding of the World
  • Physical Development
  • Creative Development
We know that reading is key if children are going to continue to be successful in their learning. We follow the Letters and Sounds phonics programme, right from Nursery, to ensure that children develop and make progress in their skills in this area.
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 30 Hours Free Childcare and Extended Wrap Around Care
30 hours free childcare is available at The Topsham School for eligible 3 and 4 year olds. Parents can check if they meet the criteria for childcare by looking at the website below and completing the online survey. Places book up fast, so please email or pop into the school office to make a booking. You can check the affordability of childcare if you are considering returning to work with the online checker below.
www.childcarechoices.gov.uk


Extended Wrap Around Care
Wrap around care is available for Nursery age children. Breakfast club opens at 7:45am and after school provision runs until 5:30pm each day.

Opening Hours For Little Acorns

Sessions
  Times
 Morning
9am-12noon
 Afternoon
12noon-3pm
Full day
9am-3pm
For children attending in the afternoon or for a full day, there is the option to purchase an additional
half hour session at end of day
(popular with families with older siblings at the school
​or those who use Twiglets after school provision)
3pm-3.30pm