EYFS

EYFS

At Little Parndon Primary Academy we offer a broad and balanced curriculum, which promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils at the school and of society, whilst ensuring that the EYFS curriculum is followed and adapted to the specific needs of our school community.

We offer a curriculum that prepares pupils for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of life in the 21st century. We use a balance of teaching techniques and value both the need for children to find out for themselves and planning those activities that will best help them to achieve their early learning goals. School is a mixture of class, group and individual work planned to suit the needs of each child and help them develop their abilities across all areas of learning.

Foundation Stage Curriculum

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is the statutory framework that all early years settings must meet to ensure that children learn and develop well.  It gives children the broad range of knowledge and skills that provide the right foundation for good future progress through school and life.

We teach this framework through topics that excite the children; we gather their ideas and plan according to their needs and interests. 

The overarching principles of the EYFS

There are four guiding principles that shape practice in early years.  

These are:

·         Every child is a unique child, who is constantly learning and can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured;

·         Children learn to be strong and independent through positive relationships

·         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/or carers;

·         Children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates.

 

THE EARLY YEARS FOUNDATION STAGE CURRICULUM

Areas of Learning

There are seven areas of learning and development in the Early Years Curriculum; these are all inter-connected. Three Prime Areas of learning are particularly crucial for igniting children's curiosity and enthusiasm for learning, and for building their capacity to learn, form relationships and thrive.

These three areas are:

Communication and language; Children are given the 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.

Physical development; Children are encouraged to be active and interactive; to develop their fine and gross motor 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.

Personal, social and emotional development. Children are supported 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.

We also support the children in four Specific Areas which are:

Literacy; Daily activities using the Letters and Sounds programme will develop phonic knowledge enabling children to become confident readers and writers.

Mathematics ; children will be provided with opportunities to develop and improve their skills in counting, understanding and using numbers, calculating simple addition and subtraction problems; and to describe shapes, spaces, and measures.

Understanding the World; Children will be encouraged to make sense of their physical world and their community through opportunities to explore, observe, investigate and find out about people, places, technology and the environment

Expressive Arts and Design; children are enabled 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.

Assessment

Assessment plays an important part in helping staff to recognise children’s progress, understand their needs, and to plan activities and support. Ongoing assessment is an integral part of the learning and development process. It involves staff observing children to understand their level of achievement, interests and learning styles, and to then shape learning experiences for each child reflecting those observations. To this end we make systematic observations and assessments of each child’s achievements, interests and learning styles.  We then use these observations and assessments to identify learning priorities and plan relevant and motivating learning experiences.

Throughout the year, we will be compiling a book of children’s experiences and achievements, showing your child’s comments, photos and work. We encourage parents and carers to contribute and reflect on their child’s interests and achievements at home in a ‘making memories book’.

At the end of the summer term the teachers and EYFS co-educators judge whether a pupil is meeting the level of development expected at the end of the Reception year (expected), exceeding this level (exceeding), or not yet reaching this level (emerging). To reach a Good Level of Development (GLD), pupils must achieve at least expected levels in the all of the prime areas and in literacy and mathematics by the end of the EYFS year.

All of the areas of learning and development are interconnected to the characteristics of effective learning, Children are also assessed against the characteristics of effective learning.  

·         Playing and exploring – how they approach new activities and their engagement with learning.

·         Active learning – persevering and staying focussed and on task.

·         Creating and thinking critically – perusing their own ideas and linking learning.

 

Parents as Partners

Parents are a key part of their children's learning and are expected to be a part of their child's education throughout their time at Little Parndon Primary Academy.  An effective partnership between home and school is crucial so that our children feel secure and develop a sense of well-being and achievement. When parents and Early Years’ staff work together children make better progress. By sharing information about interests and needs we can ensure that children make good progress in their learning.

We recognise that parents are children’s first and most enduring educators and we value being partners with them in their child’s education through:

•    talking to parents at a home visit, at the beginning of the academic year, about their child as their child starts in our school.

•    offering both parents and children the opportunity to spend time in the Early Years Foundation Stage before starting school in July.

•    sharing the children’s experiences and achievements, home making memory’s books, aswell as work books.

•    offering two parent/teacher consultation evenings per year;

•    writing two reports on their child’s attainment and progress

•    offering parent workshops where parents have a chance to see how we teach and for the children and share their achievements

•    class assembly, Christmas performances and open afternoons

 INCLUSION

At Little Parndon Primary Academy we set high expectations for every pupil. We plan challenging work for pupils whose attainment is significantly above the expected standard. We carefully plan lessons for pupils who have low levels of prior attainment or come from disadvantaged backgrounds. We use a range of assessments to set targets which are deliberately ambitious.

All pupils are valued and are entitled to equality of educational opportunity.  Please see the Inclusion Policy for further information.

We work with families and specialists to identify pupils who may have special educational needs, some of whom also have disabilities. Lessons are planned to ensure that there are no barriers to every pupil achieving. The SEND Code of Practice includes advice on approaches to identification of need and outlines what needs to be done for them.

With the right teaching that recognises their individual needs, many disabled pupils may have little need for additional resources beyond the aids which they use as part of their daily life. We plan lessons so that these pupils can study every national curriculum subject.

We take account of the needs of pupils whose first language is not English. Monitoring of progress takes account of the pupil’s age, length of time in this country, previous educational experience and ability in other languages.

We believe the Early Years Foundation Stage year should be full of excitement, fun, engagement and achievement.