Early Years Foundation Stage
Early Years Foundation Stage
Intent:
At Southwold Primary and Early Years Centre we focus on the development of children as individuals and provide them with the skills, knowledge and understanding to prepare them for Key Stage 1 and beyond. Through our curriculum we ensure children are provided with opportunities to develop academically and socially. We embed the habits for learning through the Characteristics of Effective Teaching and Learning: Playing and Exploring, Active Learning and Creative and Critical Thinking.
Our ambitious EYFS curriculum places an emphasis on Communication and Language to ensure children develop into confident speakers. We provide high quality interactions using the ShREC approach where children are encouraged to learn and use new vocabulary. We further develop this by providing a word rich environment both indoors and out. We promote a love of reading by sharing regular stories and following a book-based curriculum. At Southwold we want our children to be independent learners and through periods of extended play and sustained shared thinking children are provided with opportunities for doing this.
In our EYFS unit we create an atmosphere that is calm but where there are high expectations for behaviour and learning, with all adults using consistent positive recognition strategies following the school rules of Be ready, Be Respectful and Be safe.
Implementation
Throughout the EYFS, we follow the Early Years Statutory Framework. This framework specifies the requirement for learning and development and provides prime and specific areas of learning we must cover in our curriculum. The seven areas are:
Prime areas
- Communication and Language
- Personal, Social and Emotional Development
- Physical Development
Specific Areas
- Literacy
- Mathematics
- Understanding the World
- Expressive Arts and Design
These 7 areas are used to plan children’s learning and activities. Planning for the curriculum is designed to be flexible so that a child’s unique needs and interests are supported. The teaching of the areas of learning are taught in a practical and playful way with support from adults during continuous provision. Children are taught in class groups, small group sessions and receive a mixture of adult led and child led learning. Daily activities are planned that covers all areas of our curriculum and allows children to develop their next steps in their learning. We recognise the importance of adapting our teaching styles depending on the children we are working with.
We ensure our curriculum and daily activities support the Characteristics of Effective Learning. These are:
- Playing and Exploring
- Active learning
- Creating and thinking critically
We value the importance of EYFS children learning by exploring and being active. We therefore provide opportunities for children to access outside during all continuous provision times. The outside environment provides a range of learning opportunities that children are able to access on a much larger scale. Outdoors is planned for and is accessible all year round.
In EYFS staff make informal observations of the children’s learning and progress. Children are assessed regularly using Development Matters. This information is then used to inform our planning and provide activities that children need to achieve their next steps. Parents are kept informed of their child’s progress through regular parent meetings and communication via Class Dojo.
Impact
At Southwold the children in our EYFS will demonstrate high levels of engagement in both child-led and adult-led activities. Through developing their communication skills, we are providing them with the opportunity to access more areas of learning and to communicate with adults and peers. They will develop concentration, cooperation, perseverance and more importantly develop their confidence.
Our children have varied and diverse starting points. We have high expectations for all children to make ‘good progress’ across all areas of the EYFS curriculum. We strive for our children to reach the Early Learning Goals at the end of Reception. The impact of our curriculum is measured by assessment procedures which then allows us to measure against schools nationally. The impact can also be measured by the knowledge and skills that the children have when leaving EYFS and as they transition into Year 1.
We pride ourselves on understanding our diverse community and generate a culture of respect for each other.
EYFS Curriculum Overview Cycle A
Rainbows Progression Map Cycle A
Trekkers Progression Map Cycle A
EYFS Curriculum Overview Cycle B
Rainbows Progression Map Cycle B