EYFS
Intent
Welcome to Early Years at Morgan's Vale! We have a Reception class called Hedgehogs and a Nursery called Mini Morgan's for 2, 3 and 4 year old's. The adults in Early Years plan together and share ideas and expertise, ensuring that all children have access to great learning opportunities. We have a shared outdoor area which we all use which allows us plenty of opportunities to play and explore together. We believe that the Early Years are a crucial time for children to build the foundational skills which will equip them to become successful and happy life-long learners.
Our EYFS curriculum:
- Is carefully mapped out to support children's learning across all areas of the Early Years Foundation Stage.
- Provides a wide range of rich, first-hand learning experiences;
- Is based around high quality texts which address a wide variety of themes and experiences, broadening the children’s vocabulary and understanding;
- Allows the children to develop interpersonal skills, build resilience and become critical and creative thinkers, preparing them to make a valuable contribution to society.
Implementation:
Our EYFS curriculum has been carefully sequenced to help children to build their learning over time, through a mixture of child led activities and adult supported tasks. We want to encourage children to have a go at new things, challenge themselves, learn to work together and learn to listen to each other. We want them to be able to talk confidently about their learning and feel proud of themselves.
The 7 areas of learning are:
Prime Areas
- Personal, Social and Emotional Development
- Physical Development (including fine and gross motor skills)
- Communication and Language development
Specific Areas
- Literacy (reading and writing)
- Mathematics
- Understanding the World
- Expressive Arts and Design
The core aim of the Foundation stage is to provide a strong and solid start to our children's time at Morgan's Vale and Woodfalls Primary School. We believe that they should develop the three prime areas first, and these areas are the main focus of the children's pre-school learning in Mini Morgan's. As children grow and progress, the prime areas will support them to develop skills in the four specific areas.
Our outdoor areas are used all year round and in most weather conditions and where possible we allow children to free-flow between outdoor and indoor play.
Why is learning through play so valuable? Because it gives us lots of opportunities to develop our Characteristics of Effective Learning:
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 achievements.
- Creating and Thinking Critically – children have and develop their own ideas, make links between ideas and develop strategies for doing things
Phonics
We follow the Little Wandle Phonics programme, which
Every child in Reception and Year 1 has daily phonics lessons, with keep-up practice session for anyone who needs extra consolidation.
We also ensure children have opportunities to read in a small group three times per week. The books they read are carefully matched to their phonics level.
Impact:
The impact of the EYFS curriculum is reflected in having well-rounded, happy and confident children transitioning into Year 1. Our children have varied and diverse starting points. We have high expectations to ensure that all children make strong progress across all of the areas of the EYFS curriculum
We measure progress and children’s learning across the year through formative and summative assessments which are based on the teacher’s knowledge of the children. We record children's voices as they retell their learning captured through pictures and videos in their learning journeys and on the SeeSaw app.
At the end of EYFS our children:
- Have strong communication skills, both written and verbal. Our children also listen respectfully and with tolerance to the views of others.
- Take pride in all that they do, always striving to do their best.
- Demonstrate emotional resilience and the ability to persevere when they encounter challenges.
- Develop a sense of self-awareness and become confident in their own abilities.
- Are kind, respectful and honest, demonstrate inclusive attitudes and have a sense of their role in our wider society.