WHAT IS THE EYFS?
The EYFS Statutory Framework sets the standards for the learning, development, and care of children from birth to 5 years old. All schools and Ofsted-registered early years providers must follow the EYFS, including childminders, preschools, nurseries, and school reception classes.
THE SEVEN AREAS OF LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT
Your child will be learning skills, acquiring new knowledge and demonstrating their understanding through seven areas of learning and development.
There are three prime areas, and these are essential for your child’s healthy development and future learning.
They are communication and language; physical development; and personal, social and emotional development.
These three prime areas will help them to develop skills in four specific areas.
These are literacy; mathematics; understanding the world; and expressive arts and design.
CHARACTERISTICS OF LEARNING
PLAYING & 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 & THINKING CRITICALLY: Children have and develop their own ideas, make links between ideas and develop strategies for doing things.
Inspiring Children to SHINE
We aim to make the transition between pre-school and reception as smooth as possible. We are following government guidelines to take the very best practice from Foundation Stage 1 into our Foundation Stage 2, these include:
- Curriculum which is relevant to children
- First-hand experience
- Learning through senses and movement
- Play with a purpose
- Learning inside and outside the classroom
- Organisation which allows independence
- Partnership of families and carers
The children will access independent learning activities on a daily basis, whilst engaging in two or three focused learning sessions with teaching staff. The Foundation Stage 2 Curriculum builds upon and extends the experiences that children have had in pre-school. Learning through play will continue to be an important part of the school day.
Our Communication and Language Aims Early Years Foundation Stage Profile
Listening, Attention and Understanding
ELG Children at the expected level of development will: -
*Listen attentively and respond to what they hear with relevant questions, comments and actions when being read to and during whole class discussions and small group interactions.
*Make comments about what they have heard and ask questions to clarify their understanding.
*Hold conversation when engaged in back-and-forth exchanges with their teacher and peers.
Speaking
ELG Children at the expected level of development will: -
*Participate in small group, class and one-to-one discussions, offering their own ideas, using recently introduced vocabulary.
* Offer explanations for why things might happen, making use of recently introduced vocabulary from stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems when appropriate.
*Express their ideas and feelings about their experiences using full sentences, including use of past, present and future tenses and making use of conjunctions, with modelling and support from their teacher.
Our Literacy Aims Early Years Foundation Stage Profile
Literacy Comprehension
ELG Children at the expected level of development will: -
*Demonstrate understanding of what has been read to them by retelling stories and narratives using their own words and recently introduced vocabulary.
*Anticipate – where appropriate – key events in stories.
*Use and understand recently introduced vocabulary during discussions about stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems and during role-play.
Word Reading
ELG Children at the expected level of development will: -
*Say a sound for each letter in the alphabet and at least 10 digraphs.
*Read words consistent with their phonic knowledge by sound-blending.
*Read aloud simple sentences and books that are consistent with their phonic knowledge, including some common exception words.
Writing
ELG Children at the expected level of development will: -
*Write recognisable letters, most of which are correctly formed.
*Spell words by identifying sounds in them and representing the sounds with a letter or letters.
*Write simple phrases and sentences that can be read by others.
Our Mathematics Aims Early Years Foundation Stage Profile
Mathematics Number
ELG Children at the expected level of development will:-
*Have a deep understanding of number to 10, including the composition of each number.
*Subitise (recognise quantities without counting) up to 5.
*Automatically recall (without reference to rhymes, counting or other aids) number bonds up to 5 (including subtraction facts) and some number bonds to 10, including double facts.
Numerical Patterns
ELG Children at the expected level of development will: -
*Verbally count beyond 20, recognising the pattern of the counting system.
*Compare quantities up to 10 in different contexts, recognising when one quantity is greater than, less than or the same as the other quantity.
*Explore and represent patterns within numbers up to 10, including evens and odds, double facts and how quantities can be distributed equally.
Assessment
Assessment is on-going and at the heart of good quality early years provision. We use a range of assessments, including; formative assessment which is based on observations of each child in action, both in self-chosen play and planned activities and summative assessment which provides a summary of each child's learning and development at a point in time. These forms of assessment help staff to establish a genuine picture of all children's capabilities, interests and needs. We record our findings in their individual ‘books of wonder’ and use these alongside the data collected and our knowledge of each child to complete The Foundation Stage Profile.
Forest School
Children have regular opportunities to experience our forest school environment. Positive experiences in forest school increase cooperation with peers and can empower children in the natural environment.
Home Learning/Formation Books
Children bring home their home learning books containing a pick ‘n’ mix homework menu. The menu has nine different activities to select from. This is to ensure that children in both classes are accessing the same home learning.
Your child will bring home a formation book. This book is for you to support your child with their weekly sounds, letter/number recognition and letter/number formations as they are introduced in class. Please read the parent instructions inside the cover to help you support your child.
Reading Books
All children will be given a wordless picture book to bring home. These books are a valuable tool to teach early reading skills e.g. holding the book the right way up, looking/reading from left to right, turning the pages, discussing the illustrations, telling your own stories etc
Please read the information inside the front cover of your child’s reading diary to help you support your child.
As children begin to learn the first set of phase 2 phonemes they will bring home a reading book containing the taught sounds.
With reading being at the heart of everything we do, it is really important to put aside five minutes every day to hear your child read. We look forward to reading your comments in your child’s reading record.
Harder to Read & Spell Words
These words are common words that appear most often in language. You may know these words as 'sight words' as they are words that children are taught to recognise ‘on sight’. This is an important part of a child’s education, as it enables children to identify words at a glance and allows them to read with greater confidence and speed. Please read these words regularly with your child. We will check with your child on a weekly basis and new lists of words will then be sent home.