Intent

• We aim to foster a love of learning and develop enquiring minds through promoting play
• To create a warm, positive and engaging environment in which to learn
• To offer a rich and varied curriculum resulting in excellent outcomes for all
• Develop children's understanding of their own world and the wider world
• Enable children to be inquisitive and develop their language skills
• Create children who are confident to question, explain their thinking and share their knowledge
• We promote emotional well-being
• We build positive relationships and work in partnership with families (recognising that parents are their child’s first and foremost educator), carers and professionals to support every child to develop and learn.

Implementation:

We believe that all children deserve to be valued as an individual and we are passionate in allowing all children to achieve their full, unique potential. With all of this in mind, we begin each new year by looking at the individual needs of our children, taking into account their different starting points.

Our curriculum provides children with a careful balance of both adult led and child initiated learning experiences, which stimulate interest and curiosity in all 7 areas of learning.

Through a combination of teacher input and continuous provision opportunities, learning is planned to encourage children to develop their learning independently through exploration and challenge. 

The “Characteristics of Effective Learning” are at the heart of our Curriculum and explore the different ways in which children learn.

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

All the learning experiences we plan for the children allow them to utilise and develop these skills. Our learning environments, both inside and outside, are stimulating and exciting, and relevant to the needs and age/stage of our children. Our environments are literacy rich enabling children to develop their understanding of language and build their vocabulary. Environments are easily accessible to develop children’s independence. 

The curriculum celebrates diversity and supports the pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Those children with particular needs, including SEND, are supported appropriately allowing them to be successful. Our curriculum ensures children are well prepared for the next step in their learning journey. On entry into Year 1, our children have the knowledge and skills needed for the Year 1 curriculum.

Within the curriculum there are seven key areas of learning:

• Personal, social and emotional development 
• Communication and language 
• Physical development 
• Literacy 
• Maths 
• Understanding the world
• Expressive arts and design 

• We use the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Programme which is taught daily- see phonics policy
• Maths is taught daily and we follow the White Rose Maths Scheme- see maths scheme
• EYFS  features on all subject overviews to ensure clear progression of knowledge and skills
• Provision is carefully planned using the common play behaviours progression of skills document
• We follow the Curriculum overview for EYFS and use this to create medium term plans which are based around a theme. Environmental plans then detail the weekly provision and activities
• Enrichment opportunities are carefully planned into the curriculum to give children a variety of opportunities and experiences
• Daily story time, chatter books and chatter bags are used to develop reading for pleasure as well as their communication and language skills
• Baseline is carried out within the first 3-4 weeks.
• Phonics is started in week 2 of the autumn 2 and the children follow the Little Wandle progression of sounds
• Home visits are offered for all children
• Children attend open afternoons to meet the staff and familiarise themselves with the environment
• Reception SALT screen on entry.

Impact:

The impact of the EYFS curriculum is reflected in having well rounded, happy and confident children transitioning into Year 1. We measure progress and children’s learning across the year through formative and summative assessment which are based on the teacher’s knowledge of the child. Weekly meetings take place with the teachers and teaching assistants where planning and provision is reviewed as well as identifying next steps for the children.

The Early Years provision features in areas of the School Development Plan and has a rigorous plan for development each year. This is monitored and evaluated by the teacher, SLT and the EYFS governor.

We track children’s progress and attainment through an online tracking system called Insight. Data is entered every term and is then analysed. Gaps are identified and next step targets are set.