'Together we grow, achieve and celebrate’
'Together we grow, achieve and celebrate’
The EYFS Curriculum at Woolaston Primary
Intent
Every child deserves the best possible start in life and the support that enables them to fulfil their potential. As children begin their learning journey at Woolaston Primary, the four overarching principles that underpin the EYFS are embedded in our practice and shape each child’s experience. These are:
Through our play-based practice and provision, we deliver a curriculum that responds to our children’s needs, thoughts and ideas. It is broad and balanced with rich opportunities to learn through practical activities that are underpinned by the seven areas of learning and development.
The areas of learning are:
• communication and language
• physical development
• personal, social and emotional development
• literacy
• mathematics
• understanding the world
• expressive arts and design
Through teacher led sessions the children are taught the school values that will support the children to work together, to grow; personally and academically, to make achievements and to be able to celebrate achievements. Opportunities are presented through adult led, adult directed and child led activities and achievements are documented through the voices of parents, the child and the practitioner; photographic evidence and recorded outcomes are also used to showcase experiences. Learning opportunities are designed to be motivating and engaging and to support our children to be globally aware and to respect cultural diversity. Through planned interactions, children are able to build on their prior knowledge in order to move their learning forward and to support them to become resilient individuals.
Alongside the delivery of the EYFS curriculum, a child’s ‘Characteristics of Effective Learning’ also informs planning and provision. We aim to provide the right climate to enable our children to work and play together and in a manner that means the most to them thus expanding their learning power, self-belief and curiosity through their interests and preferred learning style. Play is an important vehicle for taking on new learning and is an essential part of the learning process for young children. It enables them to be active learners in a child centred environment and is a powerful medium for the acquisition of knowledge, skills and understanding; it naturally responds to the different developmental needs, interests and learning styles of individual children, ensuring they remain at the centre of all that we do.
Implementation
We believe that optimum learning takes place for our pupils in a safe, calm, and secure environment where there are rich opportunities for enjoyment, exploration and positive relationships. Our EYFS curriculum is coherently planned and sequenced and ambitious and ensures the seven areas of learning are delivered in an age-appropriate way. Through encouragement we support the children to master the key skills needed to attain the Early Learning Goals by the end of EYFS and to ensure the children are developmentally ready for the next stage of their learning in year 1. Our curriculum plans are child-centred and begin with learning about themselves, their family and their home then their locality and finally the world beyond Woolaston. By planning in this way the learning moves from the familiar to developing an understanding of the wider world. In the EYFS learning is planned and delivered through adult led sessions with clear objectives, the topic approach, small group work and through planned tasks in the continuous provision.
Impact
The RBA (Statutory Reception Baseline Assessment)
This assessment focuses on ‘Language, Communication and Literacy,’ and ‘Mathematics.’ The purpose of this is to show the progress children make from Reception until the end of KS2.
NELI (Nuffield Early Language Intervention)
NELI is an evidence-based oral language intervention for children who show weakness in their oral language skills and who are therefore at risk of experiencing difficulty with reading. The assessment informs us if the child is at expected for their age or requires intervention from trained NELI practitioners.
Ongoing Observation:
All ongoing observations are used to inform weekly planning and identify children’s next steps and this is evident in the annotations and comments on weekly planning sheets. This formative assessment does not involve prolonged periods of time away from the children and excessive paper work. Practitioners draw on their knowledge of the child and their own professional judgements through discussions with other practitioners, photographs and physical examples such as a child’s drawing / making. Observations are uploaded using Tapestry and shared with the supporting parents and carers and following adult led focussed tasks comments will also be made in pupil books.
Assessment:
Phonic assessments are carried out every 6 weeks the data is added to the school phonics tracker. By comparing pupil attainment against the RWI milestones we are able to quickly identify pupils that are not making expected progress. Our aim is for children to ‘keep up’ rather than ‘catch up’ where possible.
At the end of the year pupil attainment will be assessed against the Early Learning Goals.and through our robust planning and delivery across the spectrum of subjects – both core and foundation - children leave the EYFS with the skills, knowledge and confidence to continue their journey as scientists, historians, artists and geographers.