Journeying Together with Love and Trust

IMPLEMENTATION

Our curriculum follows the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage. This outlines the requirements for learning and development in the EYFS and provides the Prime and Specific areas of learning we must cover in our curriculum. In line with our whole school curriculum journey and through our knowledge of each child and formative assessments, we plan exciting and engaging activities that move the children’s learning forward and ensure provision that leads to depth of learning across all areas of the curriculum. Many of our curriculum themes stem from high quality stories and texts. Each year creates its own unique blend of whole class, guided, adult directed and child-initiated learning dependant on the nature and needs of the cohort.  Development is guided through warm, nurturing and positive interactions coupled with secure routines. 

 We recognise the wealth of knowledge and skills children already have when they arrive. We visit all pre-school settings, taking on board information professionals share with us and we develop strong relationships and partnerships with our parents and carers throughout the year to build upon this prior learning.

 We provide a setting that is welcoming, safe and stimulating, where children are able to enjoy learning and grow in confidence. Children in EYFS learn by playing and exploring, being active and thinking critically and creatively and our indoor and outdoor environments have been carefully designed accordingly. During regular ‘Independent Learning’ time, the children initiate their own learning and adults support and scaffold as appropriate to move their learning on. We provide free flow between inside and outside; all resources are available and accessible to the children and our outdoor area is open every day, all year round and in all weather conditions! The tables and carpet are free of equipment but resources are easily accessible and available; this allows the children to be in control of their learning and to choose from varied, high quality, open-ended resources that they can combine to follow their own interests. Adults in Reception class then teach through observing and interacting with the children. They know the children very well and have a good understanding of child development; knowing how to spot the teachable moments. We teach through modelling, suggesting, providing vocabulary or resources, explaining or encouraging. Each time an adult interacts with a child they are observing, assessing, planning for and responding to that individual child. We review and reflect on the learning environment and resources regularly to ensure deep learning is able to take place and that we are meeting the changing needs of our children. If an area or resource is not engaging the children in purposeful play then we enhance the area or adapt the classroom.

The weekly timetable is carefully structured to allow time for children to follow their own ideas and interests but also to ensure that children have rigorous direct teaching in Phonics, Literacy and Mathematics every day. Both focused adult-led whole class and group work and opportunities to engage with children in their play, enables teachers to systematically check for understanding, identify and respond to misconceptions quickly and provide real-time verbal feedback which results in a strong impact on the acquisition of new learning.

Literacy:

Reading is at the heart of our curriculum. We follow a Systematic Synthetic Phonics programme called ‘Essential Letters and Sounds - ELS’ daily to support the children in meeting good outcomes for reading.  At all stages throughout the delivery of the programme, children’s reading attainment is assessed and gaps are addressed quickly and effectively through carefully tailored and regularly monitored intervention opportunities. We also use phonics sessions to develop children’s expertise in handwriting. We adopt a ‘high quality text, vocabulary rich’ approach to the teaching of Literacy. We use The Write Stuff by Jane Considine alongside Storytelling and Greg Bottrill’s Drawing club approach to nurture deep talk, develop listening skills and to inspire and provide a rich repertoire of real and imagined experiences to ignite writing. Many of our topic themes in the EYFS, including ‘Let’s Celebrate’ and ‘Polar Explorers’, are driven by high-quality texts which create an integrated approach to learning from which pupils can experience the full curriculum. Children also enjoy taking part in daily story time sessions and reading books that are carefully aligned with our Phonics programme in school and at home. Our rigorous and systematic approach to the teaching of reading develops pupils’ fluency, confidence and enjoyment in reading.

Throughout their first year, we encourage writing for a purpose. By having mark making resources easily accessible and transferable to all areas, writing opportunities becomes part of the children’s play – shopping lists and prescriptions are often written during role play and food orders taken in the mud kitchen. In order to stimulate enthusiasm for writing and to ensure good progression, this is coupled with teacher led shared and modelled writing tasks in response to our weekly texts or that are directly linked to first hand experiences.

Maths:

We follow the ‘Can Do Early Years’ Maths scheme in Reception. All children are provided with rich learning experiences that enhance their mathematical knowledge, language and skills. Our curriculum is inclusive through the careful delivery of low threshold, high ceiling teaching, nurturing the abilities of all children within the class alongside a ‘Can Do’ attitude. Children are encouraged to use a ‘Growth Mindset’ to see mistakes as opportunities to learn and cherish each other by offering support. Through our classroom ethos all children’s successes and misconceptions are celebrated.  Carefully selected, small, achievable learning steps allow all children to achieve and flourish. Maths teaching in the EYFS is a practical, hands-on approach where more formal recording is not introduced until the Summer term in preparation for Y1 transition. Pupils learn through regular opportunities to play with and explore maths resources in independent learning, through games and through teacher led whole class and small group activities using concrete manipulatives. These collaborative and practical mathematical experiences are carefully designed to help pupils remember the content they have been taught and to support them with integrating their new knowledge. Teaching mathematics in such a practical way supports our children to become logical problem solvers that can demonstrate resilience and justification when learning.

Ongoing formative assessment is an integral part of our curriculum and helps us to shape teaching and learning experiences that engage children’s interests, inform potential next steps and support their development. We place significant value on time spent interacting and engaging with the children in our class and draw on our knowledge of each individual child alongside our professional expertise to help shape our judgements. Formal assessments are recorded using ‘Phonics Tracker’ and our whole school tracking system ‘Insight’ which includes suggested steps in Development Matters and the Early Learning Goals. Summative assessments are completed 3 times a year to judge each child’s progress in the 7 areas of learning, allowing us to assess the impact of our teaching and decide if intervention measures are needed to help specific children. This is reported to the Head of School during pupil progress meetings. Ongoing dialogue between the EYFS and Year 1 teacher regarding each child’s learning and development supports a smooth and successful transition to Key Stage 1.

As a school, we regularly monitor teaching and learning through lesson observations, learning walks, book looks, pupil conferencing, constructive feedback and peer support. The Early Years lead receives and shares relevant training and keeps up to date with important Government/Ofsted focuses and initiatives and takes ideas from outstanding Early Years leaders and practitioners, such as Alistair Bryce-Clegg and Greg Bottrill. The EYFS lead also engages with both the NCSF MAT EYFS teachers and also external cluster support networks, where EYFS teachers work closely together regularly to support and moderate. This focus on frequently moderating outcomes enables the EYFS teacher to feel confident in making accurate judgements about where individual pupils are and what their next steps should be.

Photos and regular communications are shared with parents using the online platform ‘Tapestry’ and also via our school website. This allows parents to engage with children regularly about their learning and to further support and enhance this at home.

Reception teachers work with great passion to ensure that children are immersed in a kind, caring and happy environment which helps them develop the skills and knowledge needed in their journey through school and later life. It is a positive place to be where resilience, perseverance and successes are celebrated and every child feels valued and respected.