Early Years

Our EYFS Curriculum Intent

Our curriculum intent for the Early Years Foundation Stage at Alston Primary School is to offer a curriculum that is coherently planned, sequenced and rich in wonder and real life experiences. We aim to ensure that all children develop physically, verbally, cognitively and emotionally in an environment that is both inclusive and one which values all cultures, communities and people. We strive for our children to be confident and independent, to believe in themselves and interact positively with others.

It is our intention to provide a curriculum that:

• offers our children a wide range of exciting opportunities and prepares them for the next stage in their education
• provides our children with the knowledge, skills and language that will nourish both them and the society of which they are members
• is structured to have vertical, horizontal and diagonal links in a deliberate, planned way so that the curriculum is memorable; which will enable our children to build up cumulative knowledge over time
• is ambitious and designed to give our children, particularly the most disadvantaged, the knowledge, self-belief and cultural capital they need to succeed in life
• develops our children’s characteristics of effective teaching and learning across the curriculum so as to ensure that we empower all children to become life-long learners.
• broadens our children’s experience by providing opportunities to try new things and encouraging them to relish a new challenge
• provides opportunities that develop our children’s confidence and independence
• ensures that we have stimulating, language rich environments that promote challenge, exploration, adventure and a love of learning
• provides a carefully planned and balanced mix of adult led and child initiated play, to ensure the best outcomes for all pupils
• provides a stimulating, language rich environment, where our children learn to speak clearly and are able express their thoughts and ideas with others
• provides a learning environment that supports all of our children in reaching their full potential
• supports and challenge our children who need additional help, in order to have the best possible outcomes
• provides an environment that values and respects all cultures, communities and people.
• creates a unique learning space where there are consistent routines and positive relationships between staff and children
• develops the skills and expertise of staff working in our EYFS, through regular and comprehensive professional development
• engages parents/carers, so as to foster strong links between home and school

Our EYFS Curriculum Implementation

The implementation of the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum at Alston Primary School, adheres to the learning and development, assessment, safeguarding and welfare requirements of the EYFS Statutory Framework. When implementing our carefully designed curriculum, we prioritise:

• creating a language rich environment, through the use of songs, nursery rhymes and stories so as to develop our children’s speech, language and communication needs
• providing time for quality interactions between adults and between peers
• positive and progressive interactions, which support children in developing their oracy skills, through which to become confident communicators
• fostering a love of reading early through our approach to early reading and our systematic teaching of phonics
• developing our children’s mathematical thinking through direct teaching and exploration so that they can apply what they have learnt to real life experience
• ensuring that our curriculum is specifically relevant to the children of Alston, we have chosen people, places and problems that reflect and meet the needs of our location, our community, our collective history and our potential for the future
• learning opportunities that allow our children to experience our curriculum through real-life experience thus fostering a sense of awe and wonder
• ensuring that all children are fully engaged in our curriculum, through our carefully planned for and delivered indoor and outdoor provision
• equipping our children ready for their next stage of education and future learning
• actively involving parents and carers to build a strong partnership between school and home (TAPESTRY)
• using our school environment to enable our children to strengthen their core muscles through physical play
• adapting our learning environment so as to reflect our children's interests, needs and support them in making progress
• supporting our children in learning to work together, managing their feelings and communicating their wants and needs
• teaching our carefully planned curriculum through topics, stories, classroom enhancements, trips and visitors

As part of the learning and teaching process, children are assessed in relation to the assessment requirements of the EYFS statutory framework; we use the non-statutory guidance ‘Development Matters’ and ‘Birth to Five Matters’ to support us in the delivering our curriculum.

Our EYFS Curriculum Impact

The impact of our carefully planned and delivered curriculum at Alston Primary School, enables children to develop detailed knowledge and skills across the seven areas of learning in an age appropriate way.  Through our consistently high expectations for behaviour and outcomes, we support our children’s ethical growth, so as to develop their ability to be trustworthy and respectful, whilst being responsible, fair and caring citizens. This is demonstrated through our well rounded, independent, happy and confident children, who confidently transition into Year One, equipped with the skills needed for the next stage in their education. As leaders and practitioners we:

• identify how we have made a difference to each child’s learning and development, and plan their next steps
• demonstrate effective and reflective self-evaluation of practice, so that we know what we are doing, is making a difference
• see the impact of the education we provide by our observations and assessments of children
• continually evaluate the impact of our curriculum, by checking what children know and can do
• are able to talk about and describe our children’s likes and dislikes, their successes and areas for development
• believe that integral to teaching and learning is how practitioners assess what children know, understand and can do, as well as taking account of their interests and dispositions to learn
• know the key principles of effective observation and assessment and are skilled in monitoring progress and planning next steps
• know how to plan and deliver lessons that support and challenge the needs of all of our children and in particular our most vulnerable

Our judgements are made on the basis of accumulative observations and in depth knowledge of the children acquired through ongoing informal assessments throughout the year.

EYFS Curriculum Map