Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum
"Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children, play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood”. - Fred Rodgers

Intent

At Mexborough St John the Baptist, we value all of God’s children, creating an inclusive environment that helps all to flourish. From the beginning, our intent is to deliver a quality early education which we believe is a key element in children being successful in later life. We believe by focusing the interests of pupils, alongside carefully planned inquiry questions, we will ensure that our curriculum is ambitious, motivating, and stimulating. We ensure coverage of all 7 areas of the statutory framework and work towards achieving the three characteristics of effective teaching and learning. The foundation stage provides children with their initial school experiences. We want these experiences to be memorable and pleasurable for all.

Implementation

We follow Julian Grenier’s Development Matters 2021 publication to support our teaching and learning. Communication and Language is at the heart of both our EYFS curriculum and the Development Matters 2021 publication.

Planning to help every child to develop their language is vital. We strive to support all our pupils in becoming competent speakers and learners from the moment they walk through our doors.

Alongside this document, our in-depth progression and skills maps have been developed to ensure we cover all aspects of the seven areas of learning at an appropriate rate. These documents ensure learning is sequential, builds on prior knowledge and provides children with the skills and knowledge needed to reach the seventeen Early Learning Goals (described in the Early Years Foundation Stage).

Curriculum Organisation focuses on a variety of high-quality learning experiences are provided. We believe this will lead to purposeful learning and high levels of engagement. Children are also provided with inquiry questions at the start of each half term. The children then explore what they already know and what they would like to find out. “Children don’t know what they don’t know”, In other words, we must still provide a certain amount of guided learning whilst considering interests. We believe that using the inquiry questions allows us to influence learning to an extent, whilst still providing flexibility to be interest led.

Resources are planned for and provided the following week based around the enquiry questions and children’s interests. enquiry questions are explored using a good quality storybook or age-appropriate non-fiction text. It is difficult to overstate the benefits of instilling a love of reading in a child. According to research by the OECD, reading for pleasure is more important than a family’s socio-economic status in determining a child’s success at school. Therefore, we value our daily story time sessions and the use of texts during direct teacher-led activities.

Using books in this way allows children to see that books and reading are of high importance. The books we use then create our individual class book spines; these books are always accessible to our pupils. Stories have so much to offer: they develop listening and communication skills, improve concentration and memory, bring experiences alive, create a sense of wonder and help sequence events. They can also provide information, widen vocabulary and make important links between the spoken and written word, as well as stimulating an interest and enjoyment of books.

A range of teaching methods are used within our EYFS including child-initiated learning, whole class teaching and group teaching. As many activities as possible are play-based. Play is widely recognised as a leading context for the child’s acquisition of communication and collaboration skills. This includes, play which is child – led, play which is sensitively supported and extended by adults; and play which is guided towards specific educational outcomes. Within our FS1 setting, we use an objective-led planning approach which allows practitioners to support all children to primarily learn through play. However, there is also a need for direct teacher-led activities to ensure children gain essential knowledge and skills from their teacher. All activities are expertly modelled, and children are given sufficient time, support, and resources to repeat and practise them.

Impact

The impact of our curriculum will be seen not only in measurable attainment and progress (see our school data) but, that St John the Baptist Primary School creates polite, well-mannered caring members of our school community who understand and respect everybody’s differences and needs.

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)

Children in Nursery (F1) and Reception (F2) follow the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum. This curriculum is the forerunner to the National Curriculum and involves young children experimenting, investigating, and making sense of the world around them through play.

The EYFS curriculum has 7 aspects. The first three are the Prime Areas as skills in these aspects underpin all other learning:

Personal, Social and Emotional Development (Self-care, Self-regulation, Building Relationships)
Communication and Language (Listening, Attention and Understanding; Speaking)
Physical Development (Gross Motor Skills, Fine Motor Skills)
Literacy (Comprehension, Word Reading, Writing)
Mathematics (Numbers, Numerical Patterns)
Understanding the World (People, Culture and Communities, The Natural World, Past and Present)
Expressive Arts and Design (Creating with Materials; Being Imaginative and Expressive).

Exciting first-hand experiences, both child-initiated and adult-led, enable the children to develop knowledge, understanding and key skills in all areas of learning which provide a sound basis for later education.

The Foundation Stage Profile is the nationally employed assessment tool that enables teachers to record their observations at the end of the Foundation Stage, and to summarise their pupils’ progress towards the Early Learning Goals. It covers each of the seven areas of learning contained in the curriculum guidance for the Foundation Stage.

EYFS Policy

For more information about the EYFS please follow the link below:

Statutory framework for the early years foundation stage

EYFS Curriculum Goals

Our curricular goals are experiences we would like our children to encounter during their time in our Foundation Stage. We have considered the gaps our children have within their experiences and plan to fill these. We have built these goals into our curriculum by observing our pupils’ interests and considering when we can appropriately meet these goals. By achieving these goals, it will support children in meeting the Early Learning Goals at the end of FS2.

To grow a plant from seed to harvest in our allotment.
To care for another living creature.
To cook and eat something from scratch.
To watch a firework display.
To raise money for a charity.
To visit the farm and be able to discuss the names of farm animals.

To use real tools to make something they can keep.
To plan, rehearse and perform something to an audience.
To use public transport to visit amenities in the local area.
To walk to the park and feed the ducks.
To write a shopping list and purchase the products.
To plan and sew a finished product.
To visit the seaside and explore the beach.

We want to involve our families as much as possible whilst achieving our curricular goals. During the academic year, we will communicate with parents and carers when we are working towards a goal. We will suggest home learning activities which could take place to support their child on their learning journeys!

Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum "Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children, play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood”. - Fred Rodgers

Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum
"Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children, play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood”. - Fred Rodgers