Early Years
Our Core Beliefs
We believe that:
- Children learn best through creative, curious and collaborative play.
- Every child is unique and their strengths and differences are to be valued and celebrated.
- Strong, nurturing relationships are essential to children feeling happy and confident at school.
- Outdoor play and connection with nature are vital for our children’s development and wellbeing.
- Developing close and supportive partnerships with families gives our children the best start in school.
Our Curriculum
Our EYFS curriculum has been specially designed to support, challenge and inspire all the learners in our community.
In our Early Years classes, children’s learning is developed through a balance of direct teaching, small group activities and independent play-based learning in our continuous provision.
We follow the revised Early Years Framework (2021) and use the revised Development Matters curriculum guidance (2021) to support our practice.
Our curriculum is carefully planned so that children develop their skills and knowledge in all seven Areas of Learning in the Early Years Foundation Stage:
- Communication and Language
- Personal, Social and Emotional Development
- Physical Development
- Literacy
- Mathematics
- Understanding the World
- Expressive Arts and Design
We also support children to become powerful, life-long learners by focussing on the Characteristics of Effective Teaching and Learning:
- Playing and exploring – “I investigate and experience things, and ‘have a go’.”
- Active learning – “I concentrate and keep on trying even when I encounter difficulties, I enjoy achieving.”
- Creating and thinking critically – “I am learning to develop my own ideas, make links between ideas, and develop strategies for doing things.”
There are 6 central strands around which we weave the rich tapestry of our learning in Nursery and Reception:
