EYFS

Intent

In Early Years at St Dunstan’s primary school we aim to provide a caring, nurturing, positive and happy learning environment which allows all children to develop to their full potential. We teach each child to love one another and we foster a sense of belonging to our school community through our Catholic ethos and values. All children in our school community are nurtured to grow socially and emotionally, secure in the knowledge that they are loved by God and that they are all unique and special. Throughout EYFS we work closely with families to develop respectful and caring relationships as we are aware that parents are the valued first educators in a child’s life.

Implementation

Our early years environment is designed to encourage children to use the Characteristics of Effective Learning (Playing and Exploring, Active Learning, Creating and Thinking Critically) to help them develop and reach their full potential. Our curriculum has been designed to give children a breadth of experience as well as broad and balanced learning opportunities as outlined by the Early Years Foundation Stage Statutory Framework 2023. We achieve this through a balance of child-initiated and adult-directed activities and challenges. The weekly timetables are carefully structured so that children have rigorous directed teaching in Literacy, Mathematics and Phonics every day. Throughout the week we also ensure that children have regular PSHE lessons to help develop their C&L and PSHE skills. Topic lessons are also planned to ensure that children are developing skills and knowledge in other areas of the curriculum i.e understanding the world and expressive art and design.

Topic themes in the EYFS are based on foundational ideas coming from the EYFS curriculum: from ‘All about me’ as part of PSED, to ‘Growth’ related to UtW. From this, we have chosen multiple high-quality texts to create an integrated approach to learning from which pupils can experience the full curriculum.

Children are provided with a plethora of opportunities to engage in ‘exploration’ throughout a variety of experiences, which are carefully planned to engage and challenge them in the provision. The curriculum is planned for the inside and outside classrooms and is planned in a cross-curricular way to enable all aspects of the children’s development including UW and EAD as well as to promote sustained thinking and active learning.

Language development for children is at the forefront of our curriculum and underpins our learning in the EYFS. Key language is planned across the year through our termly topics. Each week focus language is planned throughout our continuous provision creating a language rich environment. All children in EYFS have a language screening assessment through WELLCOMM, any children who require extra assistance will then receive language intervention.

Reading is at the heart of our curriculum.  Children follow a new highly engaging synthetic systematic phonics programme called ‘Little Wandle’. Children enjoy reading a variety of books inside and outside of school through quality guided reading sessions and independent reading with adults. Children in reception are sent home with a fully decodable phonics reading book that is tailored and suited to their individual phonics level. A rigorous and sequential approach to the reading curriculum such develops pupils’ fluency, confidence and enjoyment in reading. At all stages throughout the delivery of the programme, children’s reading attainment is assessed and gaps are addressed quickly and effectively through daily keep up sessions. Reading for pleasure is promoted in EYFS, all children are sent home with a book to enjoy with parents/carers, these books are changed weekly.

We follow White Rose Maths in EYFS with an emphasis on studying key skills of number, calculation and shape so that pupils develop deep understanding and the acquisition of mathematical language.  Pupils learn through games and tasks using concrete manipulatives which are then rehearsed and applied to their own learning during exploration and in adult directed activities. These collaborative and practical mathematical experiences are carefully designed to help pupils remember the content they have been taught and to support them with integrating their new knowledge across the breadth of their experiences and into larger concepts. In addition to white rose, children in reception also follow the Mastery Number approach which aims to give children firm foundations for mathematics and good number sense, focusing on a new number concept each week.

We understand and acknowledge that all learners are unique and have their own starting points when they arrive at our school. We ensure that all children have equal access to educational opportunities and participate in learning regardless of their differing needs and abilities. We use various teaching methods and strategies to meet the needs of all children including hands on and experiential learning opportunities. We also aim to ensure that all children feel included, valued and respected. Our environment fosters a sense of belonging and all children are welcomed into our classroom. We believe that all children can reach their full potential.

Impact

At St Dunstan’s primary school  the children in our Early Years Foundation Stage will demonstrate high levels of engagement in both Child-Led and Adult-Led activities. By developing their speaking and listening skills, we are enabling them to access more areas of learning and communicate with adults and other children. They will develop concentration, persistence, co-operation and most importantly become willing and confident to ‘have a go’.

Our children will grow spiritually and academically while they experience and live out our catholic mission and ethos. This will be interweaved in our everyday experiences at St Dunstan’s through relationships, learning and experiences.

Our children will become curious and independent learners while accessing a broad and rich curriculum. They will acquire knowledge, skills and language development to articulate their needs, opinions, preferences and learning experiences that will prepare them for year 1 and all future learning.

From their own unique starting points, we expect all children, even those at risk of disadvantage, to achieve age-related expectations and/or make excellent progress academically and socially. All children will be given the best foundations to prepare them for a life-long learning journey.

Useful links:

Ways to help your child learn - https://www.nhs.uk/start-for-life/toddler/learning-to-talk/learning-to-talk-3-to-5-years/

How to care for your child’s teeth - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SocsziPnk-E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyJo7vUpbT8