Claire has been the Early Years and Foundation Stage (EYFS) Leader here for 16 years. Several children list her as their favourite ever teacher. She is a strong, caring, inspirational team player and is a key part of the family feel here. She creates a magical place to learn, whether in her classroom forest, flying on the spaceship to the Moon, or on an adventure in the classroom bear cave, all brought to life with her stories.
She is also a big advocate for outdoor learning in the playgrounds and the Forest School, where children can hunt for or pretend to be characters from the Julia Donaldson novels they have been reading in class.
Claire is an expert at early identification, referring children who might need extra support in speech and language or further investigation into behaviour needs. This rapid referral means that children join assessment waiting lists much earlier.
She also recently introduced a new phonics scheme, ‘essential letters and sounds’, leading to dramatic and remarkable progress.
