Our Learning / EYFS
At St. Margaret Clitherow, our EYFS classes areNursery and Reception. Each class has access to an indoor classroom and outside area whatever the weather.
Our EYFS curriculum is designed to recognise children’s prior learning from previous settings and their experiences at home. This enables us to provide first-hand learning experiences linked to a child’s need and interests whilst allowing the child to build up resilience, ambition, and integrity. Every child is recognised as a unique individual, and we celebrate and welcome differences within our school community. We aim to give all children experiences that they may not have had before both within the setting and on learning visits out of the school. We want our children to experience the world and appreciate what we have around us.
The ability to learn is underpinned by the teaching of basic skills, knowledge, concepts, and values. We provide adult focused learning activities and child led opportunities, through enhanced continuous provision, to engage the child and encourage a love of learning enabling children to consider school to be a consistently happy and safe place. We use a positive reinforcement to promote positive attitudes to both learning and behaviour. This reflects the values and skills needed to promote thinking skills, and the adaptability needed to succeed in future learning.
Children in our Early Years phase follow the EarlyYears Foundation Stage Curriculum published by the DfE. This framework specifies the requirement for learning and development within the EYFS and provides 7 areas of learning that we assess children on throughout their time in EYFS.
Prime areas:
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
Physical Development
Communication and Language Development
Specific areas:
Literacy
Mathematics
Understanding the World
Expressive Arts and Design
Our learning takes place through different activities including adult led focused activities, child-initiated play, and independent focused activities. These are informed by children’s interests that they have demonstrated and through our observations that are carried out daily by all staff members. This will feed into our planning when we witness misconceptions and areas that require further support and teaching. We also provide 'hooks' or 'scenarios' to support their ideas and to really engage the children in their new learning experiences. We use both our indoor and outdoor provisions to support our children’s learning and they have free flow access to both areas during child-initiated learning time. Every part of our learning environment has been carefully planned to meet and challenge the development needs of our children.
The children’s learning is recorded through an online learning record and within an individual Learning Journey which records a child’s achievements throughout EYFS.
The Characteristics of Effective Learning underpin ourcurriculum and the children’s learning.
Playing and exploring
Active Learning
Creating and thinking critically
Through an enabling and well-planned environment, we ensure the children have access to meaningful opportunities for playing and learning, active learning and creating and thinking critically. As children use, develop, and reinforce these characteristics, they become effective and motivated learners who demonstrate high levels of well-being and involvement.
1. Chat - Talking with your child. Speaking and singingrhymes together.
2. Play - Developing imagination through shared activities and games.
3. Read - Visit the library and share books and stories at home.
4. Listen - Hearing sounds, songs and tuning into your child’s chatter.
5. Write - Make marks with different tools and materials.
6. Make - Build, create, decorate, and construct.
7. Move - Walk, skip, dance jump, and stretch inside andout.
Please find below the powerpoint we used at our EYFS curriculum meeting earlier this year -
EYFS Curriculum Evening
Please scroll through the gallery below for a flavour of EYFS learning at our school
