St Amand's Catholic Primary School

E.Y.F.S. at St Amand's

Our Vision

Every child deserves the best possible start in life and the support that enables them to fulfil their potential. (Statutory Framework for EYFS, 2021)

High quality early learning is the foundation that provides children with the ability to make the most of their abilities and talents as they grow up.  At St Amand’s we greatly value the importance EYFS plays in laying secure foundations for future learning and development. 

Intent

At St Amand’s Catholic Primary School, we are committed to providing our children with the best possible start to their school life. We believe the experiences that a child has in the first year at our school is vital in developing skills, attitudes to learning and values that build on the early experiences in pre-school settings.

Throughout St Amand’s Foundation stage we aim to:

-offer a broad and balanced curriculum providing a range of motivating first-hand experiences whilst encouraging children to build resilience, a natural curiosity, ambition and a lifelong love of learning.

-develop positive partnerships with parents, other professionals and others who know the child.

-build on the wealth of knowledge and skills children already have when they arrive and work with parents and previous settings to achieve this.

-recognise that all children are unique, celebrating and welcoming differences within our school community.

-give children opportunities to broaden their experiences, providing opportunities to try new things and encouraging them to relish a new challenge.

-provide a stimulating indoor and outdoor learning environment that is safe, welcoming and nurtures a sense of belonging where children can flourish.

-ensure skilful adult interactions informed by knowledge of child development, as well as curriculum content that help children achieve their potential and support those who need additional help, in order to maximise their chances of achieving the Early Learning Goals.

-deliver a holistic curriculum, which maximises opportunities for meaningful cross-curricular links and opportunities for child-initiated and adult-led play-based learning, including embedded Catholic Social Teaching.

-build strong foundations rooted in academic success as well as moral and spiritual development, so that ultimately our pupils can be successful academically, go on to be active citizens of society and happy, curious life-long learners. 

Implementation

The Early Years teacher plans motivating and engaging activities for the children to access, alongside the continuous provision available daily, inside and outside.  Children’s curiosity and enthusiasm for learning is celebrated by following the interests of the children in the class and tailoring the activities to meet their current interests.  Therefore, the Early Years staff are constantly observing and reflecting on their plans to ensure that children’s interests are being met and followed.  As a result, planning is flexible and responsive to the learners’ needs.

Our Early Years setting follows the curriculum outlined in the latest version of the Statutory Early Years Framework (2021).  Alongside this, we use Development Matters (2023). 

There are seven areas of learning which are delivered using a range of adult-led and child-initiated opportunities. Three areas, known as the prime areas are seen as particularly important for igniting curiosity and enthusiasm for learning, and for building children’s capacity to learn, form relationships and thrive. Prime Areas of Development focus on the development of essential life skills, like speaking and listening, physical coordination and self-care.

The prime areas of learning and development are:

· Personal, Social and Emotional Development

· Communication and Language

· Physical Development

The prime areas are strengthened and applied through 4 specific areas. Specific areas of development and learning are designed to give children a strong grounding in literacy and maths. They aim to broaden their understanding of the wider world while also encouraging creativity and self-expression.

The specific areas of development and learning are:

· Literacy

· Mathematics

· Understanding the world

· Expressive arts and design

As we are a Catholic Primary School, Catholic Social Teaching is embedded in all of these areas.  Children will be involved in daily worship, circle time, role play, creative activities and liturgies to support their learning within this area.

Characteristics of Effective Learning

Interlinked with these subject areas are the children’s characteristics of learning which we support and help develop by providing children with opportunities to initiate ideas and activities so that they can develop the learning characteristics which are assessed by the EYFS profile.

·       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

The impact of the EYFS curriculum is reflected when well rounded, happy, resilient, confident children transition into Year 1 with foundations firmly in place to continue their learning journey.  Ongoing assessment in the integral part of of the learning and development processes.  EYFS staff observe children during child-initiated activities, group learning, adult-led 1-1 learning or whole class learning opportunities, to identify their levels of understanding, interests and learning styles.  These observations are used to inform future planning.

At the end of the EYFS, staff complete the EYFS profile for each child. Pupils are assessed against the 17 early learning goals, indicating whether they are

·       Meeting expected levels of development

·      Not yet reaching expected levels (‘emerging’)

The profile reflects ongoing observations, and discussions with parents and/or carers. The results of the profile are shared with parents and/or carers for their child.

Our Provision

The EYFS classroom and outdoor area provides opportunities to explore:

• Role play, 
• Construction 
• Maths, 
• Writing 
• Reading corner, 
• Malleable materials 
• Creative arts, 
• Climbing 
• Mud kitchen, 
• Paint
• Water,
• Sand  

Our continuous provision allows children to make their own decisions and pursue their ideas, build on their own interests and experiences, become independent learners and use their own initiative.