“The quality of teaching for children in the Early Years Foundation Stage is consistently outstanding.” OFSTED 2014″

Our vision for EYFS at St Mary’s School is to inspire, engage and enthuse our pupils to be active learners every day.  Our children in early years learn in a stimulating environment with high quality provision areas inside and outdoors. Our EYFS curriculum is developed with clear end points that are the foundations to the National curriculum.  Our whole school curriculum (EYFS to Year 6) is sequenced, fundamental knowledge is mapped and linked to the next stage in our pupils education.  Through exciting provision the highest quality Early Years experience is delivered by establishing a firm foundation on which to build future academic, enterprising, social and emotional successes focusing particularly on well being, attitudes to learning, vocabulary and early reading. High aspirations are instilled in our pupils from a very early age and pupils self belief and ownership of learning allow them to take risk and develop resilience on a daily basis.

Our Learning Approach

In our EYFS class we follow the children’s interests on a daily basis around our themes  planned though our core texts. Our highly effective practitioners work with the children in the environment to encourage the pupils to explore and investigate problems, to ensure the best outcomes for all pupils. Their excellent knowledge of the Early Years Curriculum allows them to support pupils progress, allowing each child to have ownership of their learning.  At St Mary’s we believe the adults role is to facilitate opportunities for pupils to learn through sensitive interactions with clearly deliberately planned end points through using our purposefully planned half termly checkpoints. By responding to pupils needs in this way, pupils see their learning as meaningful and being valued by adults.

In addition to our core texts we have our “famous five” books. These texts will be read repeatedly throughout the year to support the development of vocabulary, language structures and foster a passion for reading.

The four overarching principles shape good practice in our early years setting:

A unique child
Every child is unique. They are consistently learning and can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured.

Positive relationships
Children learn to be strong and independent through positive relationships.

Enabling environments
Children learn and develop well in environments where their experiences respond to their individual needs and there is a strong partnership between practitioners and yourself as a parent and/or carer.

Children learn and develop in different ways and at different rates
The framework covers the education and care of your child within the early years setting, including children with additional needs.

Characteristics of Effective Learning

St Mary’s EYFS use the CoEL as a primary focus in planning and guiding children’s activities, practitioners must reflect on the different ways that children learn, and then reflect these in their practice. We believe a child’s individual learning characteristic will determine the way they respond to both the teaching and learning taking place in the environment.

Three characteristics of effective teaching and learning identified by the EYFS are:

• 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; and
• creating and thinking critically – children have and develop their own ideas, make links between ideas, and develop strategies for doing things.

Seven Areas of Learning

Early years learning concentrates on 7 areas split between prime and specific areas of learning.

The prime areas of learning are:

• Communication and Language
• Physical Development
• Personal, Social and Emotional Development

The specific areas of learning are:

• Literacy
• Mathematics
• Understanding the World
• Expressive Arts and Design

Daily Mathematics

Foundation 2 (Reception) Mathematics at St Mary’s is based around the Early Years Mastery approach. Each week our teaching will be based around a number. The pupils will investigate and explore the ‘Twoness of 2.’  This is through direct teaching that is supported by a range of planned and structured play situations, both independent.  Not a moment is wasted throughout the day, as Maths is emphasised in all aspects of the daily routine e.g. snack-time /lining up etc. Maths through real-life and meaningful experiences, using practical hands-on resources is key here.

Daily Phonics

Read Write Inc (RWI) is our chosen phonics programme.  This accredited programme  helps all children learn to read fluently and at speed so they can focus on developing their skills in comprehension, vocabulary, and spelling.  It also allows them to spell effortlessly so that they can put all their energy into composing what they write. The children are assessed by the RWI lead teacher and grouped according to their ability. Small group phonics lessons are taught daily by trained staff and there are consistent expectations across the range of abilities. Assessments are undertaken every 6 weeks to check on their progress, identify gaps and regrouping. Fast track intervention is implemented for pupils who are not making the expected progress and the first 20% of each cohort.

Children learn sounds in school which help them to read and write. They then practise these skills through reading ‘Book Bag Books’ at home which are specifically aligned to both consolidate learning and provide challenge in an engaging and fun way!

Parents as Partners

Tapestry is a secure online Learning Journal we use for communication between school and home.  This system allows us to work with parents and carers to share information. At St Mary’s we actively encourage our parents to upload home achievements onto Tapestry, these are celebrated in class throughout the week. Children thoroughly enjoy discussing their pictures uploaded with their teachers and friends. We see their confidence grow each time they share their tapestry posts!