EYFS
Intent
Our Early Years team provides children with an exceptional foundation, which fosters a lifelong love of learning. We follow the Dimensions curriculum alongside using the interests of the children to ensure the children have an active role in their learning, resulting in creative, resilient learners. Our passionate team has the child at the centre of everything they do, providing a caring, supportive environment where children feel safe to develop as an individual. We believe that this provides our children and families with an exceptional start to school.
Implementation
Our school enables every child to become more confident, independent and fully engaged in their learning. Planning and teaching is tailored to the individual’s needs and interests, enabling them to reach their full potential. We truly believe the Early Years are the foundation of their life of learning. We provide the building blocks that will be developed for the rest of their education and life. EYFS practitioners will observe, listen, model, demonstrate, explain, encourage, question and facilitate learning to enable all children to make progress. We have recently begun using the Dimensions curriculum to enhance their learning and ensure breadth and depth.
We are fortunate to have an onsite pre-school, which allows us to get to know the children from a young age and begin building relationships with them. The pre-school, alongside the reception class, follows the Dimensions curriculum, tailored to meet the needs of each child. They are immersed in experiences, sensory play, and involved in whole school activities.
Throughout our Early Years setting, continuous provision is set up to enable and promote high-quality learning opportunities, inside the classroom and outdoors. The classroom is designed to ensure children feel safe and secure. We use resources to match learning needs and interests, and it evolves constantly in line with the children. We use the children’s knowledge to extend the learning opportunity as it happens. This is when it is most powerful, has the most impact, and enables rapid and accelerated progress.
Impact
Children enjoy learning, listen attentively and respond with comprehension to familiar stories, rhymes and songs that are appropriate to their age and stage of development. Children develop their vocabulary and understanding of language across the seven areas of learning. Children become aware of their own feelings and those of others. They have a greater sense of self and are aware of the impact of their actions on other people. In maths, they have a good understanding of number and are able to explain their thinking and use this to begin to solve problems. Their language is expanded and their love of reading is excelled alongside their ability to recognise sounds and to read words and simple sentences. Children in Early Years leave with a strong foundation of skills, preparing them for their future.