The EYFS covers our three parallel Reception classes. We use the ‘Development Matters’ document as a tool to support our planning and assessment.
In order to be successful learners, we are committed to developing the whole child. We believe children need to be supported in developing as happy, confident and enthusiastic learners, and we ensure adult support and interaction facilitates this through skilled observations and high quality assessments and interactions. We focus on the personal, social and emotional aspects of learning, alongside communication and language skills. We are skilled in understanding the development of a child, and move quickly to identify any concerns and ensure appropriate support, interventions or referrals are made.
We have a strong commitment to the development of early Literacy and Numeracy skills in the school to give children firm foundations for their learning. Soon after the children start Reception, the children take part in daily maths sessions focussed around both Number, Numerical Patterns and Shape. Once the children are fully settled, the children start their daily Twinkl Phonics sessions.
We aim to inspire all children to have a love of writing, and our use of scribed stories with the children has proven impact in this area. Children begin by telling a story to an adult scribe and over time progress to writing letters they know, then familiar words and finally stories of their own as their skills progress. This gives the children ownership over their work. These are acted out to their peers and displayed in the classroom.
We use topics as a starting point for learning each half term, to give the children opportunities to explore a broad range of new experiences and to offer challenge through in school opportunities and visitors and visits. We also ensure we respond swiftly to the children’s own child initiated learning experiences, and that adults are interacting in a way which moves learning forwards for all learners.
The team meet regularly to moderate assessment judgements, share expertise and best practice and to reflect on what has worked well and what else needs to be done. Moderation also takes place with other settings to ensure consistency in judgements.
We ensure we involve parents in the education and care of their child, keeping them informed of what we the children learning and their next steps, giving opportunities to share in their child’s learning giving workshops and ideas for supporting their child and listening to and acting on any concerns. Tapestry online learning journeys have been introduced as a way to promote parental involvement and this is proving to be successful in this area. Parents are able to see evidence of their child’s learning at home and can use this information as a starting point from which to build on.
There is a helpful guide to help parents understand their child’s learning and development in the Early years and how parents can support learning at home. The link can be found here: https://dev-foundation-years.pantheonsite.io/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/What-to-expect-in-the-EYFS-complete-FINAL-16.09-compressed.pdf
How we learn in the EYFS
In the EYFS the children are learning through play! They are exploring and investigating, using all of their senses. They spend time asking questions, solving problems and seeking challenge. The adults take the lead from the children and our learning follows their interests. These pictures will give you a flavour of how we are learning every day.