EYFS

In the EYFS we aim to give the children an exciting and meaningful start to their school life, so that they view learning as fun. We believe that children deserve an education rich in wonder and memorable experiences, which will develop happy individuals ready for success in an ever-changing world. By considering the children’s individual needs, we will support them to progress from their individual starting points as they begin their learning journey. From these various starting points we intend for the children to develop a secure foundation on which to build their skills, interests and knowledge upon as they enter key stage 1 and beyond. We consider what is important for our children to know, what is relevant to their lives and how we can broaden their horizons beyond their current lived experiences, such as realising the value inviting visitors into school at an early stage in their life can have for their aspirations. We intend to develop resourceful, resilient children who are ready to learn. Our aim is that the children leave the EYFS with a love of learning and a growing independence to take forward into the rest of their education and life.

The whole curriculum is planned for and delivered throughout both Nursery and Reception, where we recognise that the prime and specific areas of the curriculum fully support each other. We use the statutory EYFS framework and the non-statutory Development Matters as the basis for their curriculum. We adopt a hybrid model and have spent time breaking down the steps of learning to progress to our intended goals. However, we recognise that not all learning happens in a prescribed situation and ‘in the moment’ learning throughout the whole of early years is extremely valuable in play based situations. We deliver some of the curriculum through themes which allow us to build upon the children’s interests and knowledge, to broaden their knowledge and to develop their imagination.

The indoor learning environment ensures challenge and is planned to encourage the children to develop and consolidate the skills they have been specifically taught during whole class and small group teaching. In the outdoor learning environment the children are able to follow their own interests to a greater extent and a great emphasis is placed upon the characteristics of effective teaching and learning when the continuous provision is planned. Challenge is added through enhanced provision which builds upon the children’s interests and prior knowledge. We plan to ensure the learning environment is accessible to all of the children. There are many opportunities in which to collaborate, practise negotiation and to develop their language skills. Within the full learning environment the children have opportunities to live out their own experiences as well as those they have seen in story books and learnt about from visitors or discussions across the curriculum.

At St. Andrew’s Benn how the children learn is rewarded as much as what the children learn. The adults model effective learning behaviours and reward those children who try different strategies, persevere and explore their own ways of solving problems.

From their own starting points, most of the children will make excellent progress. The impact of the EYFS curriculum is reflected in having happy, confident children transitioning into year 1. Their eyes have been opened to learning, their speaking and listening skills have developed further allowing them greater access to the curriculum and to be able to interact with others more successfully.

They show that they are beginning to live out our values and support one another socially, emotionally and academically. Our children are happy to try new activities and understand that they will not always succeed. Our children are beginning to develop a wider sense of the world around them.

The practitioners make a judgement about the children’s stage of development upon entry to both Nursery and Reception. This is through a variety of independent, small group and individual tasks as well as through conversations with the child and their parents/carers. From this point the children’s progress is continually discussed within the team. All practitioners feedback both formally and informally about the children they have worked with. We track the children holistically as ‘on track’ or not ‘on track’ however, we look very closely at those not ‘on track’ to see where we can add further support. Although this is recorded each half term we do not wait to add support or intervention to individuals who we have noticed require further support.

Progress towards the ELGs is closely tracked through conversations with the children and observations made while the children are working both independently and with an adult. Judgements are made in partnership with all practitioners who work with the children and parents are updated termly.