EYFS
At The Staffordshire Schools Multi Academy Trust, we believe that the Early Years are critical in children’s development and that the Early Years Foundation Stage builds a firm basis for future learning, development and independence.
What is our intent?
The children at Anson CE Primary School will learn through engaging, high quality, fun and inspiring play-based experiences, learning opportunities and enrichment. As a team, we provide high-quality, nurturing interactions in order to extend the learning opportunities for children. We will deliver our curriculum through a blend of adult-led and child-led experiences, activities and provision based on themes, stories, celebrations, events and the interests of the children. We treat our children as individuals and our curriculum aims to enrich the whole child.
Our children will grow up in a school underpinned by our Christian values of love, friendship and respect. These values, coupled with an environment where each child is cherished and valued as an individual, enable our children to flourish, be the best that they can be and to ‘Believe and Achieve’.
How will we implement this?
Here at Anson, our priority is to ensure each child grows as a happy, well-rounded individual who is prepared for the next stage in their journey. We enable this by learning through real experiences. We are a nurturing school who cares about every single child and supports each individual to follow their dreams and to become the best they can be.
Our EYFS curriculum outlines the possible learning experiences across the year and the opportunities that may arise through our themes. These experiences will be planned to support the children to make developmentally appropriate steps through their learning journey and are supported by the non-statutory EYFS Development Matters guidance.
The children will have daily access to a well-planned and resourced indoor and outdoor provision that will be regularly enhanced to suit the developmental needs and interests of the children.
All these opportunities will develop the whole child. Staff build nurturing, warm, strong relationships with each individual pupil. No child is left behind and children will be given the opportunities and support needed to achieve their potential. Children at risk of falling behind are quickly identified and are supported through interactions, experiences, play and interventions to help them to continue to achieve.
We prioritise communication and language and create a language-rich environment through the use of songs, nursery rhymes, stories, Makaton, vocabulary building, partner talk and also by providing constant opportunities for quality interactions between adults, children and their peers throughout the day. Interactions are positive and progressive, allowing children to flourish and gather words at pace in order to become confident communicators.
Children are assessed in relation to their progress towards the Early Learning Goals. These judgements are made on the basis of accumulative observations and in-depth knowledge of the children acquired through ongoing assessment. The EYFS team constantly reflect on and adapt the classroom provision, teaching opportunities and interventions needed to continue to support the children on their individual learning journeys. The EYFS team across the MAT will work in partnership to share assessments and regularly meet to discuss progress models, share best practice and plan the next steps to support the pupils.
We understand the importance of parental engagement and believe that our parents and carers have a crucial role to play in their child's education. Learning is shared through regular blogs, consultations and ongoing conversations. We work together to support each child to be the best they can be.
What will our children achieve in the EYFS?
By the end of Reception each child will:
- Be a well-rounded, nurturing, individual who understands and implements the school values of love, respect and friendship through their behaviour and attitude.
- Speak confidently in a range of situations using complete sentences and new vocabulary.
- Be able to socialise and communicate effectively with their peers and adults as they play, to solve problems and to communicate their needs.
- Have strong fine motor and gross motor skills through a range of opportunities offered through in school environment.
- Love reading and be able to use effective decoding skills to read words and sentences.
- Be able to confidently write a simple sentence using segmenting skills to spell.
- Be a confident mathematician who can subitise and talk about ‘what they see and how they see it’ to support their problem solving, to show, prove and explain their maths understanding effectively.
- Enjoy learning about themselves and others in their school, community and further afield, building a respectful attitude towards others, their beliefs and ways of life.
What will the impact be?
Our curriculum is designed to ensure that children, from their own starting points, make good progress. During their time with us, children make rapid progress towards the national expectation for a ‘Good Level of Development’ by the end of the academic year. Pupils also make good progress toward their age-related expectations both academically and socially in readiness for the next chapter in their educational journey. Children develop their characteristics of learning and are able to apply their knowledge to a range of situations, making links and explaining their ideas and understanding. Children are confident to take risks and discuss their learning with peers and adults, drawing on their experiences to improve or adjust what they are doing. Our children develop a love of learning enabled by our carefully planned environment, enriched play-based curriculum and quality teaching.
Through these experiences, we will learn more about their strengths, areas for development and plan how we will continue to support each child on their learning journey to achieve their potential and to ignite passion and curiosity towards learning.
