Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)

At Horbury St Peter’s and Clifton Primary School, we intend to instil the “St Peter’s and Clifton School Spirit”  in all our children. Our Foundation Stage curriculum does this by:   

• Service – All children in the early years are provided with important learning opportunities where they are able to build a sense of belonging and learn from those in their community.  We form outside links with our local community by inviting people who help us to talk with our children.  We have regular visits from members of the St Peters church team. 
• Perseverance – Staff nurture and build respectful relationships with all children.  We teach and model self-regulation techniques, problem solving skills and resilience.  We challenge our learners and encourage them to always do their very best.  
• Inquisitive –Staff enhance environments to ensure children are actively engaged and are encouraged to seek their interests.  We guide children’s curiosity by engaging in their conversations by asking open-ended questions to develop inquisitive thinkers.  
• Respectful - Children are taught and given opportunities to learn to respect and understand other cultures, beliefs and values.  We learn to listen, share, use our manners and to be kind to each other.  We respect our environment and are taught the importance of looking after our world.
• Inspirational –We plan and provide all learners with an exciting and engaging curriculum.  We encourage children to have their own ideas and support them in following their own interests.
• Trust – We provide children with a safe and secure environment and they are supported to build positive and trustworthy relationships around them.  

Intent

At Horbury St Peters and Clifton CE Primary School we believe that all children deserve to be valued as an individual and we are passionate in allowing all children to achieve their full, unique potential. By working in partnership with parents, we wish to encourage independent, happy learners who thrive in school.  Our learning environments, both inside and outside are adapted regularly to meet the different and developing needs of the children in our care. We aim to ensure that these areas are always stimulating and exciting and that, importantly, they are accessible to all children, regardless of where they are on their learning journey. The environments are developed to promote independence within our children and allow them to access the curriculum independently and confidently with the necessary level of support and challenge. 

Implementation

We offer the children an early years education based upon the following principles:

A unique child:

• Every child is a unique, competent learner.
• Children develop in individual ways and at varying rates.
• Children’s attitudes are fluid and can be influenced by others.

Positive relationships:

• Children learn to be strong, independent individuals by developing secure relationships with teachers and peers alike.
• Relationships with parents and carers are also important and will be nurtured and developed.
• Any relationship will be respectful, caring and professional.

Enabling environments:

• The learning and play environments are vital for supporting and extending a child’s development.
• In the classroom and outdoor environment, we observe and assess the children’s development and interests.
• Based on these observations, suitably challenging activities and experiences are planned to extend their learning and achievement.

The EYFS Curriculum

Our curriculum for the Foundation Stage reflects the learning aims and objectives set out in the EYFS Statutory Framework.  There are seven areas of learning and development that must shape educational provision in all Early Years settings. All areas of learning and development are important and inter-connected and none can be delivered in isolation from the others. Our children’s learning experiences enable them to develop competency and skill across these areas of learning.  Three areas are particularly crucial for igniting children’s curiosity and enthusiasm for learning, and for building their capacity to learn, form relationships and thrive. 

These are:

• Personal Social and Emotional Development
• Physical Development
• Communication and Language Development

Staff also support children in four specific areas, through which the three prime areas are strengthened and applied.  These are:

• Literacy Development
• Mathematical Development
• Understanding of the World
• Expressive Arts and Design

Children learn an astonishing amount in their early years, using their inborn drives and learning power as they encounter people and the world around them.  The revised EYFS requires us to put a clear focus on how children learn, alongside what they learn.  The 3 Characteristics of Effective Learning are an integral part of our daily work with the children.

The Early Years Foundation Stage team consists of high quality, experienced practitioners, including teachers, nursery nurses and teaching assistants, and we ensure a good ratio of adults to children.  We understand to maintain high standards of quality first teaching we have to invest in our staff by providing high quality CPD to match the current needs of the staff and also to match the needs of our children.

We are proud of our learning environment, but always strive to improve and are not afraid to make changes, to respond to new research and guidance and to reflect upon our practice. We work to give children a secure framework to build upon, both personally and in terms of education.  We continually engage in high quality communication and interaction with the children to promote high quality learning in all areas.

We provide a balance of adult led and child-initiated activities in order for children to develop effectively and to give them the best chance of obtaining a good level of development at the end of Upper Foundation.  Daily Phonics and Mathematic sessions are planned into the timetable. These sessions include a good balance between whole-class work, group teaching and individual practice. In the summer term in Upper Foundation these sessions are extended in preparation for Year 1.  The children take part in guided reading sessions and we ensure the children’s reading books match their phonic ability (see Mathematics, Phonics and Reading Policy).

Play is an integral part of the foundation stage it is through play our children explore and develop learning experiences, which help them make sense of the world. They practice and build up ideas, and learn how to control themselves and understand the need for rules. They have the opportunity to think creatively alongside other children as well as on their own. They communicate with others as they investigate and solve problems.

Impact

We have high expectations to ensure that all our children’s progress across the EYFS curriculum is good, base on their various starting points.  We strive for children to reach the Early Learning Goals at the end of Reception and to be at least in line with National expectations. 

All children are assessed by observation and discussion on a regular basis and we use this information to ensure that future planning reflects individual needs. The assessment mostly takes the form of observation both planned and spontaneous and involves the teacher and other adults as appropriate.  Each child has a learning journal which is used to record their ongoing observations and assessments. We use 2Build a Profile to create each child’s learning journal.  It is a formative assessment app that enables early year’s staff to track children’s progress in a fast and effective way.  We share this regularly with parents by sending them reports.  Parents can send comments and pictures back to add to their child’s learning journal.  The information gathered from observations is used to inform OTrack (our whole school assessment tracker) at various points throughout the year and to make a final judgement against the end of Reception Early Years Foundation Stage Profile for each child. 

We believe our high standards are due to our carefully planned environment, enriched play-based curriculum, quality first teaching and the rigour of assessment.  We endeavour to ensure that our children leave EYFS ready to move with confidence into KS1 and their lifelong learning journey.