The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) describes the time in your child’s life between birth and age 5. Children learn and develop at a faster rate from birth to five years old than at any other time in their lives and therefore it is paramount that their experiences during this time allow them to feel secure, safe, and happy.  Research confirms that the experiences that a child has in the early years has a significant impact on their future life chances and that high quality Early Years education makes the biggest difference to every child.

The EYFS sets the standards that all Early Years providers must meet to ensure that children learn and develop well and are kept healthy and safe. It promotes teaching and learning to ensure children’s ‘school readiness’ and gives children the best foundation for good future progress through school and life. 

The EFYS Statutory Framework can be found in the link below:

Early years foundation stage statutory framework
 

Intent

At Gretton Primary School, we place great value on the development of children as individuals and providing them with the skills, knowledge and understanding they need to prepare them for the challenges in Key Stage One and beyond. Our aim in the EYFS is to build strong foundations rooted in academic success as well as moral and spiritual development, so that our pupils can go on to be active citizens of society and happy, curious life-long learners. 

Implementation

Pupils learn through a balance of child-initiated and adult-directed activities. The timetable is carefully structured so that children have rigorous directed teaching in English, maths and phonics. Children are also given time to engage in ‘learning though play’ which is carefully planned to engage and challenge them in the provision. The curriculum is planned for inside and outdoors and equal importance is given to learning in both areas. 

Reading is at the heart of our curriculum.  Our chosen SSP (Systematic Synthetic Phonics) is Little Wandle. We provide daily Phonics sessions to provide the children with the skills and knowledge to become confident early readers and writers. Maths is taught in small, sequential steps using the White Rose Maths programme of study. We also follow the Mastering Number programme, enabling our children to secure firm foundations in the development of good number sense.  Pupils learn through games and tasks using concrete manipulatives which are then rehearsed and applied to their own learning. We use Drawing Club to teach literacy. We are passionate about immersing children in the world of stories to ensure purpose and enjoyment in the writing process. We also believe in the importance of sharing a treasure trove of vocabulary to open up the playground of language to all of our children. 

The Early Years class teacher will strive to ensure that all learning is fun, engaging and inclusive.  Children will be given opportunities to have visitors, go on trips, take part in extracurricular clubs, learn outdoors, and use different technology and resources. 

Learning is recorded in many different ways, such as: evidence in books/folders, photographs, observations, pupil voice and a floor book. The class teacher and teaching assistant will consider all of these records when assessing the children.

Impact

The class teacher will assess the children regularly through evidence presented in books, photographs, observations and the floor book. Consideration will also be taken from conversations with colleagues, parents and children.

Insight will be updated throughout the year and analysis will be made to ensure that children are making progress. Where progress/attainment is low, extra intervention will be put in place and this will be identified and organised at pupil progress meetings. Throughout the year, the class teacher will attend internal and external moderations to ensure that the judgements made are accurate.

Behaviour is monitored using the school behaviour system. Other systems are put in place for individual children when needed. The teacher and SENDCO will review My Plans regularly to ensure that they are up-to-date and that the children are achieving and working towards the smart targets that they have been given.