EYFS
EYFS curriculum
The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is the period of education for children from birth to the end of the Reception year. The Foundation Stage Curriculum is based on the recognition that children learn through play and active learning. There are seven areas of learning and development that shape the Early Years Foundation Stage.
Three areas of learning are:
• Communication and Language
• Physical Development
• Personal, Social and Emotional Development
These areas of learning, called the prime areas are particularly crucial in enabling children’s learning, as they reflect the key skills and capabilities all children need to develop and learn effectively.
We also support children in four specific areas, through which the three prime areas are strengthened and applied. These areas are:
• Literacy
• Mathematics
• Understanding the World
• Expressive Arts and Design
Characteristics of Effective Learning
We support children to develop their Characteristics of Effective Learning as we believe they play a central role in a child's learning and are essential in building an effective learner. We follow children's interests to ensure they are engaged and motivated to enable them to develop their creative and critical thinking. The Characteristics of Effective Learning run through and underpin all seven areas of learning and development. They represent processes rather than outcomes. The characteristics of learning – Playing and Exploring, Active Learning and Creating and Thinking Critically support children to become motivated and effective learners.
Learning through play is a very important part of your child’s development. We plan our environment to ensure that children have the opportunity to experience a wide range of learning. We ensure that we provide resources which allow children to initiate their own learning, whilst adults play and teach alongside them. All children are encouraged to use our outdoor and indoor learning environment.
Intent
Teaching and learning follows the structure of the statutory Framework for EYFS. We follow the four overarching principles of the unique child, positive relationships, enabling environments and the importance of learning and development. We recognise that children develop and learn in different ways. In our Foundation Stage we plan for progression to ensure that children know more, remember more and can do more as they move through the school and within the school year.
Through our carefully planned and sequenced curriculum we intend for all children to achieve our long-term goals for each area of learning at the end of Foundation Stage as well as a good level of development.
Long term goals for Foundation Stage
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
Children become a community of learners who support and communicate well with each other, ready for the transition into KS1. Children have developed strategies to manage emotions and resolves conflicts and keep healthy.
Physical Development
Children enjoy physical activity and have active lives. Children embrace physical activity and move energetically. Children are well prepared physically to draw, write and take part in future physical exercise.
Communication and Language
All children are able to have conversations with their friends, adults in school and visitors. Children have a love of books and can retell key stories. Children use a broad and varied vocabulary.
Literacy
Children read for pleasure and can retell key stories. Children talk about what they have read and enjoy poetry, rhymes and songs. Children write for pleasure and purpose.
Mathematics
Children explain their reasoning and approach problem solving with confidence, drawing on appropriate tools for learning. Children have a positive attitude and interest in mathematics.
Understanding the World
Children remain curious, ask questions and can talk about what they know. Children are confident talking about their locality and its key features. Children can talk about the past and key events.
Expressive Arts and Design
Children can talk and about and confidently engage in creative experiences including using different media, exploring music. Children have awareness and appreciations of the arts.
Implementation
At St Mary’s we provide a curriculum which is designed to inspire enthusiasm for learning, ensure achievement and to support pupil well- being and development. We provide a well- planned, carefully- structured and resourced curriculum which puts personal development and Characteristics of Effective Learning at the heart of everything we do. We build upon what children know and celebrate achievement. We value children’s interests, providing a balance of direct teaching and child-initiated activities. We provide a welcoming environment for all children and parents, which establishes a clear sense of belonging for all children. We establish positive relationships with parents and keep parents well informed about the curriculum and their child’s progress. Adults make careful observations in order to support and extend children’s learning appropriately. We facilitate learning at every opportunity, using a range of teaching strategies. We carefully consider how we move children’s learning forward in each area of learning:
Our environment will support independence and foster relationships.
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
Our environment will support independence and foster relationships.
Adults model and encourage independence and confidence. Adults will model good relationships and support these. Adults help children build friendships and learn to co-operate with each other. Adults will support children in naming and managing emotions through visuals and stories. Our environment will support independence and foster relationships. We encourage children to welcome diversity and encourage all children to respect others.
Physical Development
Adults will encourage children to have happy, healthy lives through providing opportunities for active play. Our environment fosters a love of active play, through a range of small tools and chances for physical play. Regular P.E sessions encourage engagement in movement and active participation in these develops gross and fine motor skills.
Communication and Language
Adults will engage in quality conversation and play every day. Adults will model a broad and rich vocabulary and encourage children to do the same. Our environment will foster language development. Our dedicated ‘storyland’ means adults are always on hand to support language development through non-fiction and fiction books and puppets.
Literacy
Adults will read stories, recite poems, and sing nursery rhymes and songs daily. Adults will use puppets and engage daily in active story play. Adults will model writing and listen to and scribe stories for the children. Our environment will support mark making and purposeful writing. Our guided writing sessions promote enjoyment of writing and drawing.
Mathematics
Adults will teach key principles of mathematics through playful adult led sessions and through children’s play. Our environment will foster maths through play, with planned opportunities to practise current learning as well as consolidate prior learning and make new discoveries. We regularly take maths learning outside, looking for maths in our natural environment and applying concepts to the real world.
Understanding the World
Adults will provide opportunities for children to explore their world. Adults will plan frequent local trips and meetings with the local community. Adults will enrich children’s vocabulary. Our environment will foster exploration of the natural world and include a broad selection of books. We foster a love of the natural world through regular trips out into our local environment and weekly Forest School sessions. The children get to know their local area through trips and walks, knowing key places in the community. The children visit the local Art Gallery, the Church and regularly visit the library.
Expressive Arts and Design
Adults will provide on-going opportunities to engage with the Arts and introduce children to Artists. Adults will encourage and support children’s ability to communicate through the Arts and model confidence, imagination and creativity. Our environment fosters this through the range and quality of materials on offer.
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Impact
All children thrive in our EYFS. They leave EYFS well prepared for KS1 with positive relationships and a good level of development. Children are confident learners with high levels of well-being and involvement and a positive attitude to learning. In 2022, 77% of children achieved a Good Level of Development (GLD) compared to 65% nationally. The EYFS curriculum also provides the foundations for children's learning in KS1 and beyond.
How does EYFS prepare children for learning in KS1 and beyond?
Design Technology
In EYFS we build the foundations of Design Technology through Expressive Arts and Design, Physical Development and Mathematics. We help children to develop their small motor skills so they can use a range of tools competently. This includes scissors and knives. We offer activities to develop and refine skills such as threading, making models with junk modelling and using playdough and clay.
We talk about and explore 2D and 3D shapes and encourage the children to use these to build for a purpose. Providing real opportunities for engagement lays the groundwork for future Design Technology with den-making, brick play and open-ended construction. Children are expected to work collaboratively to develop and realise creative ideas and discuss how problems might be solved. Adults provide children with a wide range of materials and teach children different joining techniques for them.
Art
In EYFS we build the foundations of Art through Expressive Art and Design and Physical Development. We help children to develop their small motor skills so they can use a range of tools competently. This includes pencils for drawing and paintbrushes. We offer activities to develop and refine skills such as threading, making models with junk modelling and using playdough and clay. The children have regular opportunities to engage with the Arts, enabling them to explore and play with a wide range of media and materials. Adults encourage children to consider what they see, hear and participate in, developing their vocabulary and ability to communicate through the Arts.
We introduce children to an Artist every month and link this to the children’s learning. The children visit our local Art Gallery, the Burton. Through play, children have daily opportunities to draw, create and make. We provide a range of media including junk materials and malleable materials, a wide range of drawing material including pencils, pens, charcoal, pastels and painting materials including watercolours, poster paint. Adults will provide a wide range of paintbrushes and tools for painting and plan opportunities for observational and imaginative art on a large and small scale. Adults will model the rich language of Art.
Science
In EYFS we build the Foundations of Science through Understanding the World which encompasses the Natural World. We aim to encourage curiosity about and foster a love of the natural world. Weekly Forest School sessions enable to children to observe and describe the seasons and weather. Through photos and discussion, children reflect on changes in the environment over the year. Each class chooses a tree to record its journey through the year. Through Forest School and in their outdoor and sensory play, children are encouraged to explore with all their senses, describing their experiences with a rich vocabulary.
Children develop early scientific skills such as observing and identifying, asking and answering questions, performing tests and gathering data. Children are encouraged to draw what they see in the natural world. Adults plan and encourage children to interact with natural processes through small group and opened ended play. Our EYFS curriculum ensures we cover the foundations of each of the strands of the NC in KS1. For example, Foundation Stage have their own area for planting which they maintain over the year, growing their own vegetables and plants in the summer term. We provide rich learning opportunities and hands on experiences, for example watching caterpillars turn into butterflies and visit our local ponds, Quince Honey farm and the zoo.
Geography
In EYFS we build the Foundations of Geography though Understanding the World. This encompasses Past and Present and People and Communities. Through engaging and interesting learning opportunities, children learn about where they live and their local environment. The children take regular trips out of the classroom, beginning with learning about their school environment and then the surrounding area as an introduction to fieldwork in KS1. They take walks around Bideford to look at the key features of the town. They learn about the river, the bridges and the town itself, with regular visits to key places in the community, including the park, the Burton Art Gallery, the Church and the Library. On each walk, they look at maps to help plan the route and talk about what they might see on their journey. They reflect on this on their return to school. Adults enrich their vocabulary, using key geographical vocabulary.
Weekly Forest School sessions enable to children to observe and describe the seasons and the weather. Each session involves the children as ‘weather watchers’ and the children record changes in the weather. Through photos and discussion, children reflect on changes in the environment over the year. Each class chooses a tree to record its journey through the year. In Forest School and in their outdoor and sensory play, children are encouraged to explore with all their senses, developing a love of the natural world.
Children explore key celebrations in different countries and through the children’s interests, adults engage in discussions about different environments, countries and cultures. Books in our environment are diverse and celebrate different countries and cultures.
History
In EYFS we build the Foundations of History through Understanding the World. This encompasses Past and Present and People and Communities. Through engaging and interesting learning opportunities, children learn the concepts of past/ present, similarities and differences, continuity, chronology/ sources, significance and perspective, empathy and causation and change. In EYFS children spend time talking about their own families and their community. During key and special events, we ask children to look at how these have changed over time in the context of their own families, through photos and discussions, developing a basic chronology. We talk about what has happened in the past and in a time before the children were born. Through photos, fiction and non-fiction stories and artefacts we encourage children to think about how lives have changed. We introduce the children to rich vocabulary through historical learning. We offer a wide variety of trips into our local area, looking at Bideford and how it has changed over time. We use maps, observations, paintings and visitors to enhance this learning. The Burton is a fantastic resource for this information with key paintings showing the changes in town. These hands-on experiences deepen children’s understanding.
RE
In EYFS, we build the foundations of RE through Understanding the world which involves guiding children to make sense of their physical world and their community. The frequency and range of children’s personal experiences increases their knowledge and sense of the world around them – from visiting the local parks, libraries, art gallery and museum to meeting important members of society including police officers, nurses, firefighters and clergy from St Mary's Church. In addition, listening to a broad selection of stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems will foster their understanding of our culturally, socially, technologically and ecologically diverse world. As well as building important knowledge, this extends their familiarity with words that support understanding across domains. Enriching and widening children’s vocabulary will support later reading comprehension in KS1 and beyond.
PSHE
In EYFS, we build the foundations of PSHE through children’s personal, social and emotional development (PSED). This is crucial for children to lead healthy and happy lives, and is fundamental to their cognitive development. Underpinning their personal development are the important attachments that shape their social world. Strong, warm and supportive relationships with adults enable children to learn how to understand their own feelings and those of others. Children are supported to manage emotions, develop a positive sense of self, set themselves simple goals, have confidence in their own abilities, to persist and wait for what they want and direct attention as necessary. Through adult modelling and guidance, they will learn how to look after their bodies, including healthy eating, and manage personal needs independently. Through supported interaction with other children they learn how to make good friendships, co-operate and resolve conflicts peaceably. These attributes will provide a secure platform from which children can achieve at school and in later life.
Physical Education
In EYFS, we build the foundations of PE through the area of Physical Development. Physical activity is vital in children’s all-round development, enabling them to pursue happy, healthy and active lives. Gross and fine motor experiences develop incrementally throughout early childhood, starting with sensory explorations and the development of a child’s strength, co-ordination and positional awareness through tummy time, crawling and play movement with both objects and adults. By creating games and providing opportunities for play both indoors and outdoors, adults at St Mary's support children to develop their core strength, stability, balance, spatial awareness, co-ordination and agility. Gross motor skills provide the foundation for developing healthy bodies and social and emotional well-being. Fine motor control and precision helps with hand-eye co-ordination which is later linked to early literacy. Repeated and varied opportunities to explore and play with small world activities, puzzles, arts and crafts and the practice of using small tools, with feedback and support from adults, allow children to develop proficiency, control and confidence.
Music
In EYFS, we build the foundations of Music through the area of Expressive Arts and Design. The development of children’s artistic and cultural awareness supports their imagination and creativity. At St Mary's, it is important that children have regular opportunities to engage with the arts, enabling them to explore and play with a wide range of media and materials. The quality and variety of what children see, hear and participate in is crucial for developing their understanding, self-expression, vocabulary and ability to communicate through the arts. The frequency, repetition and depth of their experiences are fundamental to their progress in interpreting and appreciating what they hear, respond to and observe.
The following document outlines in more detail the inter-play between the curriculum in EYFS and KS1 and how Early Learning Goals correspond to National Curriculum objectives. It outlines the key knowledge and skills children need to acquire in Early Years to be able to succeed later on in subjects such as Geography, Science and Design and Technology.