Early Years Foundation Stage

Intent

At Murdishaw West Community Primary School we greatly value the important role that the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) plays in securing foundations for future learning and development. Our EYFS curriculum is designed to enhance and build upon prior learning. We provide a broad and balanced curriculum that is motivating and rich in first hand experiences that encourage independence and resilience and nurtures a love of learning. We strive for all of our children to reach their full potential, by providing a safe learning environment in which they can develop personally, socially, emotionally, physically, creatively and intellectually.

Our curriculum intends to:

Provide a safe, challenging, stimulating and caring environment which is sensitive to the needs of the child, including children with additional needs.
Provide a broad, balanced, relevant and creative curriculum that will set in place firm foundations for future learning and development.
Provide opportunities for children to develop personally, socially and emotionally as well as learning about British Values.

Teach the early skills of reading, writing and number.
Provide opportunities for children to learn through planned, purposeful play in all areas of learning and development in the indoor and outdoor environment.
Use and value what each child can do, assessing their individual needs and helping each child to progress.
Enable choice and decision-making, foster independence and self-confidence.
Work in partnership with parents/carers and value their contributions.
Ensure that all children feel valued, respected and included and that classroom resources and activities reflect the culture and language of their homes.

Implementation

At Murdishaw West, we believe:

All children are unique; we celebrate their similarities and differences, using these to create a curriculum that is flexible and works with the children’s interests.
Children are powerful learners who can make good progress in their learning when given the right guidance and support.
Children should be encouraged to become independent learners; taking some responsibility for initiating their own lines of enquiry and investigation through the use of natural resources available within the school grounds.
A mixture of approaches is required for effective pedagogy. Children learn through play, by adults modelling, by observing each other, as well as through guided learning and direct teaching.
A well-planned learning environment, indoors and outdoors, is vital to enhance children’s learning experiences through high quality play. It is the process through which children can explore, investigate, recreate and come to understand their world. Play is a vital component of children’s lives, and it is an important way for skills to be developed and practised. It is essential for physical, intellectual, linguistic, emotional, behavioural and social development. Therefore, all staff ensure time and space is available for children to invent their own play and adults may join in to sensitively support and extend their learning.
The development of children’s spoken language underpins all of our practice. Children’s back-and-forth interactions from an early age form the foundations for language and cognitive development. The number and quality of the conversations they have with adults and peers throughout the day in a language-rich environment is crucial. By commenting on what children are interested in or doing and echoing back what they say correctly and with additional new vocabulary, our staff build on children’s language effectively.
We recognise that every child is a competent learner who can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured. We recognise that children develop in individual ways and at varying rates. Their attitudes and dispositions to learning are influenced by feedback from others so our staff regularly reflect on the rates that children are developing at and adjust their practise appropriately. There are three characteristics of effective teaching and learning which underpin what we do. 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.

Impact

Children demonstrate high levels of engagement in activities, developing their speaking and listening skills and communicate well to both adults and children. They become independent learners and have the ability to regulate and manage their emotions. Children develop skills across all areas of the EYFS curriculum.

Children have developed a wider sense of the world around them and can draw on these experiences during interactions with others and link this to new learning. They have enjoyed a range of experiences and vocabulary needed for them to be successful as they progress through our school and for later life. Children develop their characteristics of learning and can apply their knowledge to a range of situations making links and explaining their ideas and understanding. Children are confident to take risks and discuss their successes and failures with adults, drawing on their experiences to improve or adjust what they are doing. From their own starting points; children will make excellent social, emotional and academic progress, developing a sense of themselves so that they are well prepared for Key Stage 1.