Early Years Foundation Stage

 Our Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum is based on the QCA Guidance for the Foundation Stage. This is based around seven areas of learning.

 1. Communication and Language

2. Physical Development

3. Personal and social Development

4. Literacy

5. Mathematics

6. Understanding the world

7. Expressive arts and design

 These are the seven areas of learning and development that form the curriculum in our early years setting. All the areas of learning and development are important and inter-connected. The first three areas are particularly crucial for igniting children’s curiosity and enthusiasm for learning and for building their capacity to learn, form relationships and thrive.

 • Communication and language development involves giving children opportunities to experience a rich language environment; to develop their confidence and skills in expressing themselves; and to speak and listen in a range of situations.

• Physical development involves providing opportunities for young children to be active and interactive; and to develop their co-ordination, control, and movement. Children must also be helped to understand the importance of physical activity, and to make healthy choices in relation to food.

• Personal, social and emotional development involves helping children to develop a positive sense of themselves, and others; to form positive relationships and develop respect for others; to develop social skills and learn how to manage their feelings; to understand appropriate behaviour in groups; and to have confidence in their own abilities.

 The following four areas are in which the three main areas are strengthened and applied;

 • Literacy development involves encouraging children to link sounds and letters and to begin to read and write. Children must be given access to a wide range of reading materials (books, poems, and other written materials) to ignite their interest.

• Mathematics involves providing children with opportunities to develop and improve their skills in counting, understanding and using numbers, calculating simple addition and subtraction problems; and to describe shapes, spaces, and measures.

• Understanding the world involves guiding children to make sense of their physical world and their community through opportunities to explore, observe and find out about people, places, technology and the environment.

• Expressive arts and design involves enabling children to explore and play with a wide range of media and materials, as well as providing opportunities and encouragement for sharing their thoughts, ideas and feelings through a variety of activities in art, music, movement, dance, role-play, and design and technology.

Our curriculum is based around the cornerstones curriculum, following a variety of different topics to captivate children’s interests and learning. We ensure that opportunities are provided which give the children a variety of practical hands on experiences to put learning into context. Where possible, we take a child centred approach to teaching and learning which encourages the children to become actively involved in their own learning.

 We believe that well planned play, both indoors and outdoors is a key way in which children learn with enjoyment. Through play in a secure environment with effective adult support, children can:

• Explore, develop and represent learning experiences that help them make sense of the world
• Practise and build up ideas, concepts and skills
• Learn how to control impulses and understand the need for rules
• Be alone, be alongside others, co-operate as they talk and rehearse their feelings
• Take risks and make mistakes
• Think creatively and imaginatively
• Communicate with others as they investigate or solve problems
• Express fears or relive anxious experiences in controlled and safe conditions

Assessment

The guidance for the Early Years Foundation Stage identifies Early Learning goals that show the knowledge, skills, understanding and attitudes that children need to learn during the Foundation Stage. These Early Learning Goals are not age related, but it is expected that the majority of children will achieve them by the end of the Reception year.

All practitioners within the Foundation Stage are involved in the assessment of children’s learning. There will be regular observations of the children so that we can make informed assessments on their learning as we move through the year.  Children’s work, the digital and paper observation are all gathered to form each child’s learning folder.

In Reception we use software called ‘2 build a profile’ to observe and assess the children. All staff have access to ‘ipads’ to take photographs and record observations of the children during the school day. These observations are used to form a picture of how each child progresses through the year.

Reading

The main aim is to encourage children to love books and enjoy reading. Children need lots of experience of books before they start to read. We introduce the children to key words through daily shared reading activities, phonic games and guided reading sessions. The children will take home a reading book every night, which will be changed on a Tuesday and a Friday.  We encourage parents to record in their child’s reading record when they have read with them, but ask parents to ensure that children bring reading books into school with them every day. Please read the books with your child and talk about what is happening in the pictures, how the characters are feeling or might be saying. You can record any questions or comments in the reading record book.

Writing

Encourage the children to make marks on paper- they will do this naturally and gradually move on towards recognisable letters and shapes. We encourage the children to segment the words (break each word down into its separate sounds) they need to write a simple sentence. We do not expect them to be spelling accurately and we praise all attempts at writing independently. During the day we provide lots of opportunity for drawing/colouring/cutting out/handling dough/using construction to help develop fine motor skills needed for writing.

The children are involved in a daily maths lesson, as a whole class. These always begin with a short oral/mental starter and are followed by some direct teaching related to a specific topic. We use a variety of activities to support maths, for example; role-play, stories, songs, rhymes, finger games, cooking, shopping and imaginative play.