Our EYFS Curriculum:

“All children deserve the care and support they need to have the best start in life. Children learn and develop at a faster rate from birth to five years old than at any other time in their lives, so their experiences in early years have a major impact on their future life chances. A secure, safe, and happy childhood is important in its own right. Good parenting and high-quality early learning provide the foundation children need to fulfil their potential.”

(Early years foundation stage statutory framework for group and school-based providers DfE Dec 2023)

Intent

At St Paul and St Timothy’s Infant School, we are committed to providing a nurturing and stimulating environment that fosters the holistic development of every child in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). Our intent is to deliver a curriculum that not only meets the statutory requirements but also reflects the unique needs, interests, and backgrounds of the children in our care.

• Personal Development: We aim to cultivate confident, independent learners who have a strong sense of self-worth and resilience. We strive to develop their social skills, encouraging them to build positive relationships with peers and adults alike. We want our children to feel happy, safe and secure.
• Curriculum Design: Our EYFS curriculum is designed to support the seven areas of learning, ensuring that it is broad, balanced, and engaging. We provide rich and varied experiences that promote curiosity and a love for learning, aligning with children’s interests to make learning relevant.
• A Unique Child: We are committed to inclusivity, ensuring that all children, regardless of their background or abilities, have access to meaningful learning opportunities that reflect and celebrate diversity in our community.
• Partnership with Families: We recognise parents and caregivers as integral partners in the learning process. We intend to encourage regular communication and engagement that starts with our transition into school programme. We support parents through workshops, home learning activities, and open-door policies, ensuring families are actively involved in their child’s education.

Implementation

To realise our intent, we implement a variety of strategies that support the delivery of a quality EYFS education.

• Engaging Learning Environments: We incorporate a range of both indoor and outdoor learning areas equipped with open-ended resources, which promote imaginative play and support the children’s interests and physical development. These areas encourage exploration, discovery and independence.
• Approach to Learning: We adopt a balance of play-based activities alongside adult- directed teaching and learning opportunities. Staff skilfully observe and assess children to identify their next steps, adapting activities to ensure that all children are challenged and engaged.
• High-Quality Interactions: Our staff engage in high-quality interactions with children, modelling language and supporting their communication skills. We encourage dialogue, asking open-ended questions that foster critical thinking and problem-solving.
• Assessment Practices: We employ ongoing formative assessment strategies to track each child’s progress through observation and documentation. This information informs our planning and enables us to tailor learning experiences to meet the diverse needs of all learners.
• Focus on Well-Being: We prioritise the emotional well-being of our children through a strong focus on developing emotional literacy. Our staff recognise and respond to emotional needs, consistently offering support and guidance. The introduction of the ROAR programme this year supports this and enables a consistent approach across the school.

Impact

The impact of our EYFS provision is evident in the progress and achievements of our children.

• Good Outcomes: Children make good progress from their starting points. We set realistic and challenging expectations that meet the needs of our children so that our children have the best opportunity to meet the Early Learning Goals by the end of Reception.
• Engaged Learners: We see children who are enthusiastic and engaged in their learning, demonstrating a love for learning through their exploration of the curriculum. Observations show that children are able to articulate their thoughts and experiences confidently.
• Social and Emotional Skills: Children develop strong social skills and display the ability to work collaboratively with peers. They are confident in expressing their emotions and can navigate social interactions effectively, demonstrating resilience and independence.
• Positive Relationships: Our strong partnerships with families contribute to the positive impact on children’s learning and development.
• A Culture of Inclusivity: We foster a culture of respect and understanding, where all children feel valued and included. We empower our children to become confident, independent learners, ready to embrace future challenges and contribute positively to society.

The Early Years Foundation Stage

During their time with us, the children will be gaining an understanding of the Early Learning Goals across the seven areas of learning. These seven areas are as follows:

 Prime Areas:

• Communication and Language (listening, attention and understanding and speaking)
• Personal, social, emotional development (self regulation, managing self, building relationships)
• Physical development (gross motor skills and fine motor skills)

Specific Areas:

• Literacy (comprehension, word reading and writing)
• Mathematics (number and numerical patterns)
• Understanding the World (past and present, people, culture and communities, and the natural world)
• Expressive Arts and Design (creating with materials, being imaginative and expressive)

In addition, the revised EYFS refers to the different ways that children learn as Characteristics of Effective Learning:

• Playing and Exploring – children investigate and experience things and ‘have a go’
• Active Learning – children concentrate and keep on trying if they encounter difficulties, and enjoy achievement
• Creating and Thinking Critically – children have and develop their own ideas, make links between ideas, and develop strategies for doing things

Together with the Prime and Specific Areas, these compromise the knowledge, skills and experiences that are developmentally appropriate for children from birth to 5 years.

Expectations

Expectations as a learner

Self-managers

• Dress and undress independently. Manage own personal hygiene, including hand washing and blowing nose. Select and use resources independently. Stay on task when working in a small group. Describe what you have been doing. Tell someone how you are feeling. Know what to do if feeling worried or angry

Effective participators

• Work as part of a group, taking turns and sharing fairly. Know when they are being fair. Ask questions of known adult. Show consideration for others’ feelings when working together.

Resourceful thinkers

• Show confidence to initiate ideas, try new activities and speak in a familiar group. Persevere and stay involved (especially when solving a problem). Test out own ideas through provision, though not always able to explain their thinking. Willing to have a go at new experiences. Use imagination to make things. Show tenacity when working on a task; either independently or with others.

Reflective learners

• Respond to significant experience, showing a range of suitable feelings. Express range of emotions fluently and appropriately. Show developing awareness of own needs, views and feelings and are sensitive to those of others. Consider the consequences of words and actions for self and others. Take feedback on board and suitably moderate actions and behaviours. Explain something they have enjoyed.

Independent enquirers

• Work alone in an area of provision or on adult directed tasks for appropriate lengths of time. Maintain attention and concentrate. Sit quietly and listen attentively when appropriate, e.g. during story session, intro to tasks, talk by visitor etc. Ask questions using ‘what’, ‘when’ and ‘where’. Plan where they will work and what they will do. Give a simple reason for an action.

Team workers

• Form good relationships with adults and peers. Understand that people have different needs, views, cultures and beliefs that need to be treated with respect. Understand that others can be expected to respect their needs, views, cultures and beliefs. Take into account the ideas of others. Take turns in speaking.

End-of-Year Expectations

Expectations as a reader

Comprehension

• Demonstrate understanding of what has been read to them by retelling stories and narratives using their own words and recently introduced vocabulary.
• Anticipate (where appropriate) key events in stories.
• Use and understand recently introduced vocabulary during discussions about stories, nonfiction, rhymes and poems and during role play.

Word reading

• Say a sound for each letter in the alphabet and at least 10 digraphs.
• Read words consistent with their phonic knowledge by sound-blending.
• Read aloud simple sentences and books that are consistent with their phonic knowledge, including some common exception words.

Expectations as a writer

• Write recognisable letters, most of which are correctly formed.
• Spell words by identifying sounds in them and representing the sounds with a letter or letters.
• Write simple phrases and sentences that can be read by others.

Expectations as a mathematician

Number

• Have a deep understanding of numbers to 10, including the composition of each number.
• Subitise (recognise quantities without counting) up to 5.
• Automatically recall (without reference to rhymes, counting or other aids) number bonds up to 5 (including subtraction facts) and some number bonds to 10, including double facts.

Numerical patterns

• Verbally count beyond 20, recognising the pattern of the counting system.
• Compare quantities up to 10 in different contexts, recognising when one quantity is greater than, less than or the same as the other quantity.
• Explore and represent patterns within numbers up to 10, including evens and odds, double facts and how quantities can be distributed equally.

Parents As Partners

We believe in having a good partnership with parents and carers. Together we can help your child to become a happy and successful learner!

You can help your child by:

• Sharing and enjoying books and stories with your child
• Encouraging your child to write for different purposes, for example shopping lists and birthday cards
• Provide opportunities for counting and look out for numbers within the environment
• Regularly talking to them about starting Reception and what to expect
• Encouraging independence in eating lunch, getting dressed and looking after their own belongings