Curriculum – Early Years

Curriculum Intent 

Our main aim is that we give children the best possible start to school and their learning journey as possible. We give children a strong foundation to grow, explore and achieve as learners and we want them to feel happy, safe and secure, fostering an excitement in the world around them and for learning.

Our Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum is designed to provide first hand learning experiences so the child is at the heart of their own learning. It allows the children to build resilience, determination and integrity. Every child is recognised as an unique individual and we celebrate and welcome differences within our school community. We provide regular opportunities to engage in learning and believe that our first experiences of school should be happy and positive, enabling us to develop a lifelong love of learning. 

We ensure that all children’s individual needs are met through careful planning and assessment, identifying and addressing any issues and implementing early intervention or additional support if required. 

Prime areas – these underpin all areas of learning

  • Personal, Social and Emotional development
  • Communication and language
  • Physical development

Specific areas

  • Literacy
  • Mathematics
  • Understanding the world
  • Expressive arts and design

EYFS Parents Guide

EYFS-policy-2023

We create a stimulating learning environment building on children’s first-hand experience, where children can learn through play. We provide a mixture of structured and child-initiated activities where children can develop independence and enquiry skills. We help children to take on challenges and to explore the amazing world around them.

We believe that the learning environment is vital to developing and supporting children’s learning. We utilise the classroom, the outdoor play area and school grounds in all weather throughout the year.

Rabbit’s class have a very special member that helps the children to settle in and learn about school. The children will meet Berkley Bunny and will have a ‘Starting School’ booklet whereby he will introduce them to the classroom, staff and routines. When children start, Berkley Bunny will spend a weekend with each child which we ask parents to document.

In order to track and assess the children’s progress we photograph and record observations of learning. These are placed in a learning diary which will provide a record of each child’s first year at school. We believe that the link with home is vital in supporting learning and there will be times when we ask for contributions to be added from home.

We run Drop in sessions where parents can come and see the work we are doing in school. We also run formal Parents Evenings and send home termly reports highlighting learning targets for the term ahead. In Summer term children will receive a formal report of their learning and development across the year.