EARLY YEARS

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is based around four themes, each of which is linked to an important principle that we embrace throughout our school and which is reflected within our creative curriculum and its delivery. They are:-

A Unique Child

Every child is a unique child who is constantly learning and can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured.

Positive Relationships

Children learn to be strong and independent through the development of caring, secure and positive relationships with parents/carers and the teacher or teaching assistant who are supporting them within their class.

Enabling Environments

The internal and external environment plays a key role in supporting and extending children’s development and learning with adults being responsive to their differing and individual needs.

Learning and Development

Children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates and all areas of learning and development are equally important and inter-connected. The framework covers the education and care of all children in the early years, provision, including children with special needs and disabilities.

The children follow the Early Years Foundation Stage framework (EYFS).  Your child will be engaged in a variety of activities, providing a balanced and stimulating curriculum which will develop each child's potential. We develop children’s interests through observation whilst they are using the continuous provision this in turn informs our planning.

There are three prime areas and four specific areas of learning in the Foundation Stage Framework curriculum.

The Prime areas are:

• Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PSE)
• Communication and Language
• Physical Development

In the Prime Areas, the children learn to:

• Share, take turns and develop respect for each other.
• Make friends and become confident independent learners.
• Behave appropriately when playing with others.
• Listen to others and understand spoken language to enable children to follow instructions correctly.
• Learn new words rapidly, use them in conversations and develop their own narratives and explanations.
• Join in conversations with adults and children.
• Develop control of their bodies using both large scale movements such as running and jumping and small scale movements such as holding pencils and using scissors.

The specific areas are:

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

In the Specific Areas, the children learn to:-

• Enjoy sharing books and stories with adults and friends.
• Begin to read simple sentences using phonic knowledge to decode regular words.
• Draw, make marks, write letters, words and simple sentences.
• Count accurately groups of objects and recognise numerals.
• Add, subtract and problem solve during practical activities.
• Use everyday language to talk about size, weight, capacity, distance, time, money and shape.
• Look closely at how things work, why things happen, living things and the natural world.
• Use ICT equipment, e.g. Programmable toys and computers.
• Be imaginative, sing songs, dance and create fantastic models, drawings, paintings and stories.