EYFS
Our EYFS Vision StatemenT
The 17 Early Learning Goals (ELGs) provide a summary of the knowledge and skills that young children are expected to have gained by the time they reach the end of the Reception year. The ELGs are organised into seven areas of learning and development, which are divided into prime areas and specific areas. The EYFS curriculum is made up of three prime areas and four specific areas;
Prime Areas
• Communication and Language
• Personal, Social and Emotional Development
• Physical Development
Specific Areas
• Literacy
• Maths
• Understanding the World
• Expressive Arts and Design
The Characteristics of Effective Learning are central to young children’s learning and development and refer to the behaviours that children use to learn;
● 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.
● Creating and thinking critically – Children have and develop their own ideas, make links between ideas, and develop strategies for doing things.
The above characteristics are at the heart of all that we do and are integral to building lifelong learning skills. Children are powerful learners from birth; they can develop strong habits of mind and behaviours that will continue to support them to discover, think, create, solve problems and self-regulate their learning. Children need consistent lived experiences of autonomy alongside support for their growing awareness and control of the processes of thinking and learning. Play, time, space and freedom to follow their intentions, sustained shared thinking, and experiencing the satisfaction of meeting their own challenges and goals all contribute to development as curious, creative and confident learners.
At The Icknield Primary our EYFS curriculum is carefully designed and sequenced using content from Development Matters and the EYFS Statutory Framework, guided by the Characteristics of Effective Learning. Through planned topics and activities, we have created an exciting curriculum that teaches the children the skills and knowledge they will need to prepare them for the rest of their school career.
Our curriculum is broad and balanced and focuses on depth of learning. The children are explicitly taught skills and knowledge linked to each of the prime and specific areas through adult-led lessons. The children have planned, purposeful opportunities to practise these skills and embed this knowledge independently through the classroom provision. The provision for the children to learn is combined of both indoor and outdoor learning.
We believe that all children in EYFS are entitled to access a rich and varied play-based curriculum in a safe and stimulating environment. Our indoor and outdoor spaces are planned to enable children to explore their own ideas and interests, supporting high levels of well-being and involvement. Purposeful play situations are planned to support the mastery of skills and are valuable for making formative observations.
We follow a holistic, progressive curriculum which is carefully sequenced and designed to be extremely flexible so that staff can follow the child’s individual needs and interests and use these to inform and plan the next steps in their learning. We provide continual enhancement opportunities to engage learning and believe that childhood should be a happy, investigative and exciting time in young lives, where there are no limits to curiosity and there is a thirst for new experiences. Children have a natural ability and drive to want to explore and play and it is through the power of play that children learn and develop essential life skills and knowledge.
Useful links
EYFS Statutory Framework The standards that school and childcare providers must meet for the learning, development and care of children from birth to 5.
Development Matters Development Matters is for all early years practitioners, for childminders and staff in nurseries, nursery schools, and nursery and reception classes in school. It offers a top-level view of how children develop and learn.
EYFS profile This handbook supports EYFS practitioners in making accurate end of year judgements about each child’s attainment.