EYFS at St Botolph’s CofE Primary School
EYFS Lead: Miss Stewart
EYFS Governor: Reverend Rock
Our Early Years
The Intent
The intent for our children is to enter the next stage of their education ready to tackle new challenges with confidence and a positive mindset.
As part of our practice we aim to:
- Engage our pupils in a stimulating environment led by the children yet carefully organised and managed by adults.
- Provide an ambitious and exciting curriculum that is responsive to individual starting points and needs so that irrelevant of their background or start point, all of the children can achieve and succeed.
- Empower our children to take the lead in their own learning, encouraging confidence to explore new ideas, think about problems, take risks, make links and seek challenge.
- Develop high levels of engagement, curiosity, collaboration and cooperation so that the children become highly adept at managing their own behaviour in the classroom and in social situations.
- Encourage the children to express themselves with confidence in a meaningful way.
- Through our commitment to our Christian values, our children learn to respect the opinions and values of themselves and others.
It is our intention that all of our children will have success today and be prepared for tomorrow.
Implementation
Our approach is influenced by the work of educationalists, researchers, psychologists and practitioners who have guided our knowledge of how young children learn and how adults can support their learning.
“Knowledgeable practitioners appreciate that adult-led learning offers a child something different from, but complementary to, child led learning and it is one without the other that leads to an impoverished educational experience.” Fisher, 2016.
At St Botolph’s, provision is underpinned by a complementary relationship between adult led, adult-initiated and child led learning.
We are ambitious in our approach using a continuous cycle of observation and assessment, planning/teaching, alongside structured and systematic lessons and guided group work.
Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum
At St Botolph’s CofE Primary School, we fully embrace the four guiding principles which shape the EYFS curriculum:
- All children are unique and constantly learning. They should be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured;
- Positive relationships encourage children to be strong and independent.
- Enabling environments, in which children’s experiences meet their individual needs and interests, help them to build their learning over time. Children benefit from a strong partnership between practitioners and parents and/or carers.
- Children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates.
The framework covers the education and care of all children in early years provision, including children with special educational needs and disabilities.
There are seven areas of learning and development
The seven areas of learning that are equally important and inter-connected. Three areas are particularly important for sparking an enthusiasm for learning and forming relationships.
The Prime Areas of Learning:-
Communication and Language
Physical Development
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
The prime areas are strengthened and applied through 4 Specific Areas of Learning:
Literacy
Maths
Understanding the World
Expressive Arts and Design
Characteristics of Effective Teaching and Learning
In addition to addressing all seven Areas of Learning our curriculum is designed to promote the Characteristics of Effective Learning. These characteristics describe how the children will learn. These learning behaviours are particularly important in the EYFS because they build the foundations for children to be lifelong learners. The characteristics are:
- Playing and Exploring – Engagement
- Active Learning – Motivation
- Creating and Thinking Critically – Thinking
At the end of Reception our children will be assessed against the Early Learning Goals, and their progress shared with parents.