Early Years
Early Years Foundation Stage
The Best Start in Life for all Children
Ethos
We believe that children should come into school every day excited and interested to learn and play, making friends and ready to explore their surroundings, keen to develop their minds and understand the world around them. We aim for every child to grow individual and confident personalities, always willing to have a go. We will provide new, stimulating and challenging activities, which will make sure all children progress in their learning, whatever their starting point, reaching their full potential.
We have created a safe and healthy environment that is a home from home, with a balance of learning through play and teacher directed activities. Children are loved in their first year of school. Loved, looked after and nurtured.
A day in the life of Apple Class
Adult Led Learning
Child Led Learning
Daily Routine
- The day begins with the ‘Good Morning Dear Earth’ song.
- Daily Mile or yoga session.
- Phonics lesson (teacher led), the children are taught how to read in a fun, interactive and engaging way. This is linked to the seasons of the year.
- Shared Reader lesson, the children put what they have learned in Phonics into practice.
- Free play session, in which the children have access to both indoor and outdoor play spaces.
- Rolling snack is prepared together, we eat snacks that have been planted in the garden and grown by the children.
- Lunch is eaten together in the hall. Before we eat we sing the ‘Blessings on the Meal’ song.
- After lunch the children have a peer massage session and relaxation time.
- Maths session (teacher led) after lunch. The children are taught how to recognise numbers, shapes, space and measure.
- Free play session follows on from maths, the children have access to both indoor and outdoor play spaces.
- At the end of the day we all come together for story time (teacher led). The teacher tells the story using simple props such as puppets. This enchants the children and inspires them to use their imagination. Usually the children will imitate this the next day in their play.
- Before we leave, we sing the ‘Dear Friends Goodbye’ song.
Trips
Welcome to Hadlow Introduction Booklet
Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum Plans
Useful links to help support your child
In the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) at Hadlow Primary School our aims are to:
• Support children to make a planned, confident transition from home to school
• Provide a happy, caring, safe and secure environment for learning
• Plan learning experiences that meet the individual needs and interests of the children through a balanced provision of adult led and child initiated opportunities
• Support children to become competent and confident learners so they are able to reach their full potential
• Provide a broad and balanced high quality curriculum in line with the Early Years Foundation Stage guidance
• Foster positive home school links with parents and other care providers.
We follow The Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum as detailed below. This framework is a means of ensuring high standards of early education and care that will reassure parents that their child’s development is being fully supported. It underpins all future learning by supporting and fostering the children’s personal, social and emotional wellbeing. It encourages positive attitudes and dispositions towards learning in the children and promotes learning through play.
All children in the EYFS at are encouraged to enjoy and share books with each other, individually and with an adult. A meeting is held in school for parents in the Autumn Term to explain in detail about reading/ phonics and maths in the EYFS and school life in general. The children use ‘Letters and Sounds’ which is a synthetic phonics approach to learning to read and write, and more information is given about this at the meeting.
Assessment
Assessment in Nursery and Reception is carried out in line with the ‘Early Years Foundation Stage’ and staff observe the children to create a ‘learning journey’ which evidences the child’s progress through the Foundation Stage. Parents are invited in every term at the end of their child's 'Special Week' to see the journey and to add their own comments.
The information below is taken from the Department for Education Document 'Statutory framework for the early years foundation stage'.
The Early Learning Goals
The Prime Areas
Communication and Language
ELG Listening, Attention & Understanding:
- Listen attentively and respond to what they hear with relevant questions, comments and actions when being read to and during whole class discussions and small group interactions.
- Make comments about what they have heard and ask questions to clarify their understanding.
- Hold conversation when engaged in back and forth exchanges with their teachers and peers.
ELG Speaking:
- Participate in small group, class and one- to one discussions, offering their own ideas, using recently introduced vocabulary.
- Offer explanations for why things might happen, making use of recently introduced vocabulary from stories, non- fiction, rhymes and poems when appropriate.
- Express their ideas and feelings about their experiences using full sentences, including use of past, present and future tenses and making use of conjunctions, with modelling and support from their teacher.
Physical Development
ELG Gross Motor Skills:
- Negotiate space and obstacles safely, with consideration for themselves and others.
- Demonstrate strength, balance and coordination when playing.
- Move energetically, such as running, jumping, dancing, hopping, skipping and climbing.
ELG Fine Motor Skills:
- Hold a pencil effectively in preparation for fluent writing- using the tripod grip in almost all cases.
- Use a range of small tools, including scissors, paint brushes and cutlery.
- Begin to show accuracy and care when drawing.
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
ELG Self-Regulation:
- Show an understanding of their own feelings and those of others and begin to regulate their behaviour accordingly.
- Set and work towards simple goals, being able to wait for what they want and control their immediate impulses when appropriate.
- Give focused attention to what they teacher says, responding appropriately even when engaged in activity, and show an ability to follow instructions involving several ideas or actions.
ELG Managing Self:
- Be confident to try new activities and show independence, resilience and perseverance in the face of challenge.
- Explain the reasons for rules, know right from wrong and try to behave accordingly.
- Manage their own basic hygiene and personal needs, including dressing, going to the toilet and understanding the importance of healthy food choices.
ELG Building Relationships:
- Work and play cooperatively and take turns with others.
- Form positive attachments to adults and friendships with peers.
- Show sensitivity to their own and others’ needs.
The Specific Areas
Literacy
ELG Comprehension:
- Demonstrate an understanding of what has been read to them by retelling stories and narratives using their own words and recently introduced vocabulary.
- Anticipate where appropriate, key events in stories.
- Use and understand recently introduced vocabulary during discussions about stories, non- fiction, rhymes and poems and during role play.
ELG Word Reading:
- Say a sound for each letter in the alphabet and at least 10 digraphs
- Read words consistent with their phonic knowledge by sound blending.
- Read aloud simple sentences and books that are consistent with their phonic knowledge, including some common exception words.
ELG Writing:
- Write recognisable letters, most of which are correctly formed.
- Spell words by identifying sounds in them and representing the sounds with a letter or letters.
- Write simple phrases and sentences that can be read by others.
Mathematics
ELG Number:
- Have a deep understanding of number to 10, including the composition of each number.
- Subitise (recognise numbers without counting) up to 5.
- Automatically recall (without reference to rhymes, counting or other aids) number bonds up to 5 (including subtraction facts) and some number bonds to 10, including double facts.
ELG Numerical Patterns:
- Verbally count beyond 20, recognising the pattern of the counting system.
- Compare quantities up to 10 in different contexts, recognising when one quantity is greater than, less than, or the same as the other quantity.
- Explore and represent patterns within numbers up to 10, including evens and odds, double facts and how quantities can be distributed evenly.
Understanding the World
ELG Past and Present:
- Talk about the lives of people around them and their roles in society.
- Know some similarities and differences between things in the past and now, drawing on their experiences and what has been read in class.
- Understand the past through settings, characters and events encountered in books read in class and storytelling.
ELG People Culture and Communities:
- Describe their immediate environment using knowledge from observation, discussion, stories, non- fiction texts and maps.
- Know some similarities and differences between different religious and cultural communities in this country, drawing on their experiences and what has been read in class.
- Know some similarities and differences between life in this country and life in other countries, drawing on knowledge from stories , non- fiction texts and when appropriate- maps.
ELG The Natural World:
- Explore the natural world around them, making observations and drawing pictures of animals and plants.
- Know some similarities and differences between the natural world around them and contrasting environments, drawing on their experiences and what has been read in class.
- Understand some important processes and changes in the natural world round them, including the seasons and changing states of matter.
Expressive Arts and Design
ELG Creating with Materials:
- Safely use a variety of materials, tools and techniques, experimenting with colour, design, texture, form and function.
- Share their creations, explaining the process they have used.
- Make use of props and materials when role playing characters in narratives and stories.
ELG Being Imaginative and Expressive:
- Invent, adapt and recount narratives and stories with peers and their teacher.
- Sing a range of well- known nursery rhymes and songs.
- Perform songs, rhymes, poems and stories with others, and when appropriate- try to move in time with music.