Medlock Primary School
Embracing Learning, Realising Potential
T: 0161 273 1830
Early Years Curriculum Intent
We believe that the Early Years Foundation Stage is crucial in securing solid foundations that children are going to continue to build upon. It is our intent that the children who enter our EYFS develop physically, verbally, cognitively and emotionally whilst embedding a positive attitude to school and their learning.
We believe that all children deserve to be valued as an individual and we are passionate in allowing all children to achieve their full, unique potential.
We begin each new year by looking at the individual needs of our children and – taking into account their different starting points - we then carefully develop our flexible EYFS Curriculum which enables them to follow the path of their learning journey, at a point, that is suitable for their unique needs and stages of development.
Through our “In the Moment” approach we learn about, understand and follow children’s interests and provide opportunities throughout our EYFS curriculum to support learning, consolidate and deepen knowledge and ensure that children meet their next steps.
We create indoor and outdoor environments that support learning and allows children to follow their own interests.
Our curriculum prepares children to reach the Early Learning Goals and ensures that children make good or better progress from their starting points.
Early Years Curriculum Implementation
All areas of the EYFS curriculum are followed and planned for either within the environment or as a focus activity in Reception to ensure there is a broad and balanced curriculum. The children will learn new skills, acquire new knowledge and demonstrate understanding through the seven areas in the EYFS curriculum: Personal, Social and Emotional Development, Physical Development, Communication and Language, Literacy, Mathematics, Understanding the World and Expressive Arts and Design. These 7 areas are used to plan children’s learning and activities. Planning for this curriculum is designed to be flexible so that a child’s unique needs and interests are supported.
We ensure that opportunities are given for children to develop Characteristics of Effective Learning and to ensure that learning takes place. These are: Playing and 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 and thinking critically - children have and develop their own ideas, make links between ideas, and develop strategies for doing things.
In N1 and N2 we fully follow in the Moment planning and reception follows this every afternoon. In the moment planning is split into 3 sections that practitioners follow:
The Child’s Spark – This is when the child first shows an interest in something. There should be an air of fascination around the object and concentration in what they are now doing.
The Teachable Moment – The teacher will notice this and approach the child. This is the opportunity to extend their interest, by asking open-ended questions and considering ways to apply this interest to other options within the environment.
The Documentation – At a later date, you can document the observation. Include the spark, the teachable moment and what you did next. This will help you to map out each child’s interests, and plan an environment that works for them.
We offer experiences of the week for all children in eyfs, this ensures that children do not miss out on vital early childhood experiences and includes trips, visits and visitors.
We keep parents informed and we meet regularly with parents and carers to ensure that children’s transition into school and through the EYFS is happy and allows them to reach their full potential.
This includes coffee mornings, workshops, stay and play sessions, Seesaw and parent consultations.
We observe and assess the children constantly which leads to ‘teachable’ moments as referenced above. To avoid teacher paperwork and to ensure that time with children is maximised we no longer complete written observations of children.
We fully engage with learning and then complete planning sheets and record learning and next steps after the event. We record learning through photographs that are shared with parents. Staff meet regularly to moderate and discuss learning of children and use development matters to make a judgement as to where the children are working developmentally. At the end of the year children are assessed against the ELG’s and this information is passed to year 1 in order for the provision and curriculum to be planned for each cohort.
Phonics is taught throughout EYFS - Phase 1 throughout nursery and from Phase 2 in nursery and Reception when the children are ready and able to orally blend and segment simple cvc words. We follow letters and sounds approach to the teaching of early reading and writing.
All children are screened against the Welcomm speech and language assessment when they join EYFS - Speech and Language interventions are then put in place for children who need additional support and to bring them in line with Age Related Expectations
