EYFS
Early Years Foundation Stage
At Wansbeck Primary School we place great value on the development of children as individuals and providing them the skills, knowledge and understanding they need to prepare them to be ready to take on the challenges of their next stage in education
Mrs Matthews is the EYFS Lead. We have 3 members of teaching staff – Mrs Robson, Miss Peers and Mrs Sharkett. There are also our Achievement Support Officers who are Miss Pickering, Mrs Young, Miss Owen, Miss Kaur, Miss Corner and Mrs Atkinson.
We aim to build strong academic foundations by providing a balanced curriculum which enables each child to develop their emotional, social and academic skills in a play-based environment.
In the EYFS, we follow the Early Years Foundation Stage statutory framework from the Department for Education.
This has four principles that we follow:
- A Unique Child
- Positive Relationships
- Enabling Environments
- Learning and Development
There are 7 areas of learning development that fall into two categories:
The Prime areas are:- Communication and Language
- Physical Development
- Personal, Social and Emotional Development
The specific areas are:
- Literacy
- Mathematics
- Understanding the World
- Expressive Arts and Design
Each of these areas will be implemented through planned, purposeful play and through a mix of adult led and child-initiated activity. The Foundation Stage is divided into two classes for direct learning time, before merging as a unit in the continuous provision. During this time, we enhance the learning from our lessons and independently apply the skills we are practising. Direct teaching includes Phonics, Literacy and Maths alongside Music, R.E, P.E. and Topic lessons.
EYFS Provision:
- Writing – children will be able to access a wide range of writing implements and papers throughout all areas of provision to encourage mark making and writing.
- Reading – a book corner containing a range of fiction, non-fiction, poetry and class-made books. Reading is at the heart of our curriculum and we aim to develop a love of reading. Books will also be evident in other areas of the provision eg counting books in the maths area. Children learn to read the thr Little Wandle Phonics Programme.
- Maths – a range of practical equipment for children to select to help develop concrete methods to solve problems.
- Creative – a range of media and materials for children to access to explore and express their imagination in art, design, music and technology.
- Construction – resources for children to explore, developing fine motor skills, communication and collaborative work and problem solving.
- Small world – resources to develop imagination, fine motor skills communication and language.
- Sand, malleable materials (e.g., play dough), and water play, where children can engage in practical investigations and further develop communication and language.
- Role play – linked to the topic that enable children to become immersed in it using real-life scenarios.
Our outdoor area is an extension of the classroom, and our children enjoy experiencing learning outdoors. Access to the outdoors is available at all times during the provision to ensure children are able to explore the areas they wish. We enhance this provision with engaging and memorable experiences including educational visits throughout the school year to support the learning taking place in school
Development and Assessment
Our curriculum needs to meet the needs of all our children, we observe and evaluating how children are learning by talking to children, looking at their work, observing their learning experiences. Every member of staff uses ongoing observational assessment to identify children’s starting points and plan experiences which ensure progress.
This is based on the Development Matters document which gives statements for the ages of the children. We share this with parents and base the next steps for the children on this.
Seesaw
We use the Seesaw App in the Foundation Stage in order to share your child’s learning with you. Parents are encouraged to sign up to this so that you can see more about your child’s day at school as well as sharing things you are doing at home too. We love to see all of the amazing activities that are shared and the children enjoy talking about these in school with friends.
