Intent

At Stechford Primary School the curriculum is designed to recognise children’s prior learning and experiences which begun at home and, for some children, in pre- school settings. Every child is recognised as a unique individual and we welcome and celebrate differences within our school community. We believe that a child’s first experience of school should be a memorable and a positive start to their learning journey.

Children in our Early Years Foundation Stage follow the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum (EYFS).  This includes statutory and non-statutory documents such as “Development Matters”. We use a topic approach to teach the EYFS curriculum which supports learning, widens vocabulary, consolidates and deepens knowledge and ensures children meet their next steps. The children receive a broad and balanced curriculum that has been carefully planned and purposefully sequenced across the seven areas of learning in the EYFS

The “Characteristics of Effective Learning” play a vital part in the Early Years   Curriculum, highlighting the importance of playing and learning, active learning and critical thinking. We conduct a clear planning cycle to reflect the interests of the children so that we can continue to build on their intrigue and curiosity with appropriate challenge in line with our high expectations for all learners.

We provide a careful balance between adult directed, adult initiated and uninterrupted child- initiated play within our provision to ensure the best outcomes for all pupils. Through a combination of high-quality teaching, targeted interventions and the continuous provision of stimulating resources in the indoor and outdoor learning environments, children will have the opportunity to learn independently and collaboratively.

It is our intent that all children develop physically, verbally, cognitively and emotionally in an environment, which values all cultures, communities and people. We aim for our children to be confidant and independent, to believe in themselves and interact positively with others. To support our children to be unique individuals we promote and celebrate our school’s core values at the heart of all that we do:

                                                                 C.A.R.E

                 Challenge, Achieve, Resilience and Encourage

The EYFS team builds positive relationships with children, families and staff. We understand that parental involvement is crucial to the development and growth of all children and we work hard at building on these home school links. We want to provide our children with every opportunity to fulfil their potential and work on reaching the Early Learning Goals at the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage. So we keep parents and carers involved in this journey so that we can ensure all children make good progress from their initial starting points.

Implementation

  At Stechford, we follow the Early Years Foundation Stage framework. This is made up of four overriding principles, which our early year’s education is based upon:

• Unique Child – Every child is 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 positive relationships.
• Enabling Environments – Children learn and develop well in enabling environments, in which their experiences respond to their individual needs and there is a strong partnership between practitioners and parents and carers.
• Learning and Development – Children develop and learn in different ways. The framework covers the education and care of all children in early year’s provision, including children with special educational needs and disabilities.

The curriculum provides a play-based and experiential learning environment, combined with focused teaching and basic skills, to ensure children make good progress before moving onto Year 1. The learning experiences within our Early Years are linked to the seven areas of learning and development within the EYFS. These areas are split into three prime areas and four specific areas. The three prime areas are those, which the children should develop first and are considered most essential for the healthy development and future learning of our children. These include:

• 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.
• Communication and Language – 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.
• 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.

As children grow and make progress in the prime areas, this will help them to naturally develop skills within the four specific areas. These are:

• Literacy – the early teaching of literacy involves encouraging children to link sounds and letters and to begin to read and write. Children are given access to a wide range of reading materials (books, poems, and other written materials) to ignite their interest.
• Mathematics – the early teaching of 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 describing shapes, spaces, and measures.
• Understanding the World – this 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 – this 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.

The role of the adult is key. Adults are organised to accommodate indoor and outdoor provision. They support learning through a mixture of direct teaching and supporting play through child- initiated activities. Through observation, direct teaching, quality interactions, questioning and modelling the adult will create an ‘enabling’ environment in which children can progress.

  Rich first hand experiences (inside, outdoors, visitors and school trips) help to   widen experiences, awe and wonderment.

Impact-

The impact of our curriculum is measured by assessment procedures, which allow us to measure outcomes against all schools nationally, (EYFS PROFILE). We strive to ensure that our children’s progress across the EYFS curriculum is at least good from their varied starting points. We also strive for children to reach the Early Learning Goals at the end of Reception and to be in line with National Expectations.

Evidence in children’s learning journals and learning folders support all areas of the EYFS curriculum. We measure the percentage of pupils achieving age related expectations at regular intervals throughout the academic year. At pupil progress meetings and through ongoing professional dialogue we discuss progress and achievement of all pupils and put targeted interventions in place if needed.

Class teachers use observations to make formative assessments, which inform future planning and ensure that all children build on their current knowledge and skills at a good pace. Summative assessment compares children attainment to age related expectations using year bands in Development Matters.

As a team, we carry out regular internal moderation sessions and also ensure that staff attend external meetings and training to ensure that we feel confident with our judgments and that these judgments are consistent with a range of other settings.

By monitoring assessment procedures regularly, we can effectively demonstrate what learning is taking place and how each child is progressing in all seven areas of the EYFS curriculum.