Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)

‘Education begins the moment we see children as innately wise and capable beings. Only then can we play along in their world’

Vince Gowman    

We believe that every child should be able to thrive and fulfil their full potential by providing an environment that is safe, supportive and inspiring. We see the children as individuals who have the right, as spelled out in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, to provision which enables them to develop their personalities, talents and abilities irrespective of ethnicity, culture or religion, home language, family background, learning difficulties, disabilities or gender. 

We recognise the challenges of the community we serve and have developed a curriculum that aims to rapidly redress shortfalls in communication and language and personal, social and emotional skills. We expect children to be able to develop effective communication skills and develop strength of character including;

• Engagement concentration

• Resilience

• Awareness of self and others 

• Can do attitude 

• Development of a sense of pride

• Intrinsic motivation

• Inquisitive minds

• Healthy level of confidence and  independence 

Working with families is a core part of our practice, with regular informal and formal interactions to support the best interest of the child. We recognise that strong partnerships with families strengthen pathways of communication and provide an additional layer of purposeful intervention to address gaps in learning and promote further progress. 

Children learn and develop well in enabling environments, in which their experiences are responsive to their individual needs and there is a strong partnership between practitioners and families. Enabling Environments offer stimulating resources, relevant to all the children’s cultures and communities, rich learning opportunities through play and support for children to take risks and explore. When planning for Continuous Provision or Adult Learning, we consider the question; Will this promote effective learning? 

Continuous and Enhanced Provision

What to expect:

• Safe to explore, as well as challenging and engaging 

• A place where children can consolidate their learning

• A place where children can return to their explorations

• Where children can make choices and initiate play without need of adult interaction

• High quality resources that will act as a good starting point for children to explore

• Resources that encourage children to play and explore in a variety of ways

‘Across all parts of the provision, practitioners’ interactions with children are of high quality and contribute well to delivering the curriculum intent’ 

Ref EYFS Ofsted Handbook

Planning the Provision 

Adult led targeted learning opportunities are linked to current whole class teaching and learning, and are informed by ongoing formative assessment. It is important that adults identify each child's developmental pathway and in response, plan appropriately. 

What to expect:

• Well informed learning opportunities 

• Planned opportunities to challenge and extend child’s learning 

• Effective questioning to promote thinking and learning 

• Application of a child's knowledge and understanding  

• Intentional links to age related expected outcome

Role of the adults:  

• Have clear learning objectives

• Use of varied questioning to support learning 

• Promote appropriate discussion about subject matter being taught

• Be prepared for personalised intervention

• Communicating well to check children’s understanding

• Identify misconceptions and provide clear explanations to improve learning

• Respond and adapt teaching as necessary

Speaking and Listening

In the autumn term, Speech and Language Therapists carry out a language screen with all children in Reception classes. The screening is done in the classroom environment, through speaking activities with the therapists. This is to ensure the early identification of children who may have difficulties.

Special Educational Needs

As in all areas of the curriculum, teachers deliver ‘quality-first’ teaching and differentiate to support children with barriers to learning. 

Identifying SEND in Early Years is essential to removing educational barriers. Teachers, in collaboration with parents and SENDCo should aim to refer children who are making limited progress to the relevant agencies (such as the paediatric community services, the educational psychologist and the speech and Language Therapist) in the view of accurately identifying special needs to implement individualised support as early as possible. 

Assessment

Assessment plays an important part in helping parents, carers and practitioners to recognise children's progress, understand their needs, and to plan learning activities and support. The Development Matters document provides detail of the different stages of a child's development throughout the early years. 

Once children complete their time in Early Years they will be able to communicate and express their feelings, thoughts and ideas. They will be able to ask questions and have a passion for learning. They will have phonetic awareness and be confident with applying this knowledge across a wide variety of activities. Their vocabulary choice will be broad and rich as a result of a wide range of exposure to new experiences both on and off school site, and an awareness of best times to speak and listen will be embedded. In addition, children will have a strong sense of belonging, and will have a good understanding of their place in the world.  They will have built healthy relationships with their peers and teachers. Children will also know how to demonstrate basic care and understand the importance of hygiene, healthy eating and physical activity. Children will also have a strong foundational knowledge of mathematics and be able to apply this knowledge to different concepts.