Early Years Foundation Stage

Introduction

At St John the Evangelist CE (VA) Primary School our curriculum is underpinned by our vision and  values and is designed to meet the needs of our pupils. Our curriculum is planned to promote a love of learning; the ability to enquire and ask questions; a place where each child can achieve their individual potential academically, socially and emotionally through working in partnership with their teachers, peers and parents/carers.

Curriculum Intent for EYFS

• We aim to provide a broad and rich curriculum that:
• Nurtures the needs of each individual child
• Allows children to actively explore the world around them
• Promotes independence
• Encourages a love for learning
• Allows children to explore learning in a variety of ways
• Supports learners to show courage and take risks in their learning in a safe and supportive environment
• Allows children to learn in a way that suits their individual needs
• Encourages resilience and perseverance
• Creates strong learning links between school and home

At St John the Evangelist CE (VA) Primary School we follow the new Early Years Foundation Stage Framework (2021). Within this framework there are four guiding principles which shape our practice.

These are:

1. Every child is a unique child, who is constantly learning and can be resilient, capable, confident, and self-assured.
2. Children learn to be strong and independent through positive relationships.
3. 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. Children benefit from a strong partnership between practitioners and parents and/or carers.
4. Children develop and learn at different rates. The framework covers the education and care of all children in early years provision, including children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

The Framework sets out seven areas of learning and development which are all important for building a foundation for igniting children’s curiosity and enthusiasm for learning, forming relationships, and thriving in their learning.

Prime areas:

• Communication and Language
• Physical Development
• Personal, Social, and Emotional Development.

Specific areas:

• Literacy
• Mathematics
• Understanding the World  
• Expressive Arts and Design

Click on the links above to find out more about each of the areas of learning

Click to view: The Early Years Foundation Stage Statutory Framework

We also encourage the children to become effective learners through skilfully planning and implementation of the Characteristics of Effective Teaching and Learning:

• Playing and exploring - children investigate and experience things, and ‘have a go’
• Active learning - children concentrate and keep on trying if they encounter difficulty and enjoy achievements.
• Creating and thinking critically - children have and develop their own ideas, make links between ideas, and develop strategies for doing things

Early Years Foundation Stage at St John the Evangelist CE (VA) Primary School consists of Nursery and two Reception classes.

Click on the link: Learning in Cherry Nursery Class

Click on the link: Learning in Oak and Beech Reception Classes

'The early years curriculum enthuses children. This is because staff carefully design activities that spark children’s natural curiosity and creativity.' OFSTED 2020

Planning
The EYFS team plan learning with overarching themes, which ensure continuity and progression of learning. We plan adult led sessions which focus on learning skills and then carefully planned enhanced provision activities which allow the children to apply the learning skills.

Phonics and Reading
In Nursery we focus on listening for sounds and rhymes and patterns through a variety of activities, songs and rhymes.
In Reception we follow Read Write Inc Phonics, where new sounds are introduced through whole class and small group teaching and then applied and practised throughout the day through excellent planned provision and activities. We also use RWI Assessments every 6-7 weeks to track the children's progress in Phonics and use it as a teaching resource to practice phonic skills and learn high frequency words. From the autumn term phonic matched reading books are sent home with the Reception children. 

Assessment
In both Nursery and Reception we continually assess the children’s learning through observation and interaction which allows us to plan each child’s next step of learning for progression and ensuring they are on track to meet the Early learning Goals at the end of the reception year.

During the first six weeks the children are in school, we get to know each individual child through a range of activities to assess their level of development on entry to the school in each of the areas of learning. Children will be assessed through observations, short tasks and through the collection of evidence to support judgements. This information will then help set next steps of learning for each child and future targets. Children in Reception will also complete the statutory DFE Baseline Assessment which consists of short activities one to one with their teacher to assess them on entry to school. This is then used by the DFE to track their Progress through to Year 2 and then Year 6.

Outdoor Learning
We aim to give children a rich learning environment including the outdoors as much as possible. Exploring the environment is a vital part of the learning process, outdoor learning gives children the freedom to explore and communicate in different ways to the classroom environment. Outdoor learning allows children to express themselves and their ideas freely on a larger scale. We aim for our outside areas to enrich the children’s time at school through the different areas of the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework and enable them to explore a range of natural objects and resources. All children are able to access the outdoor environment whatever the weather to encourage them to explore and take safe risks in imaginative play and experiential learning.

Parent Partnership
Parents/carers as the primary carers, play the most important part in their education. We develop our relationship with parents/carers and involve them in everything that happens at school, so that we can support each other in helping each child reach their full potential. We are aware that children continue to learn at home as well as at school, so we encourage parents/carers to also upload photographs of children's learning and experiences onto Tapestry. This will help us to build a broad picture of individual children's successes as there are many things, they may do at home but not at school. We offer many opportunities for parents/carers to be involved with the school including stay and play sessions, parents’ evenings, and after school events.

Transition
We ensure that all children have a transition from YN to YR and YR to Y1. If children are moving to a different school, we ensure we have an in-depth conversation about the child transferring to detail their current achievements and progress and what their next steps of learning are.