Early Years Foundation Stage

At the heart of our Early Years Curriculum intent, are the seven areas of learning and development and the attached educational programmes as set out in the Statutory Framework for the EYFS. Their inter-connected nature means that all seven permeate throughout our curriculum and are integral to the triangular relationship between child, adult, and environment. Our intent is to provide a wide variety of language rich learning experiences that are informed and developed through ongoing formative assessment and support and further children in their personal, social, emotional and physical development. Such experiences range from those that are carefully sequenced and adult supported, to those that are purely explorative and child led, with all being facilitated through the triangulation of consistent whole class and small group teaching, sharply focussed enhanced provision, and last but not least, an exciting and engaging environment that enables the development of new knowledge and skills. Throughout all three areas of practice, run the characteristics of effective teaching and learning - playing & exploring, active learning, and creating & thinking critically - whilst all are in turn supported by strong, warm relationships with adults. The classroom is designed with high quality continuous provision as its bedrock, thus allowing children to continually revisit, practise, and embed explicitly taught learning, whilst also pursuing their own individual and group interests with their exploration guided by the Christian values of our school.

Our weekly timetable of discrete subject lessons and continuous provision is constructed with purposeful connection to the curriculum in mind, whilst holding dear the importance of routine & order in nurturing excellent behaviour for learning and making children feel safe and secure at school. Our curriculum content is designed to be coherent, cumulative and ambitious, with strong links to the Year 1 curriculum and the development of children’s spoken language at its core, whilst all the time acknowledging that children develop at different rates and thus must be suitably supported as such.

Having put all these elements together in a vibrant and purposeful classroom, our ultimate intent is for the learning journey of each individual child in our Reception Class to be one that prepares, inspires and nurtures them to be happy and successful members of our school and local community, leaving no child behind in building the foundational knowledge, skills and language for them to flourish as future global citizens.

Please read more about what EYFS looks like at SMMA in our statement below.