Learning

From September 2020 we shall be following the Early Adopter’s Framework

 
Intent
 • To provide children with a happy and vibrant foundation which fosters a love of learning.
 • To offer stimulating and inspiring provision where children feel safe and secure enough to take risks and experiment within their learning and play.
 • To offer an enriched curriculum providing children with a wide range of new and exciting experiences.
 • To encourage children to develop independence within a nurtured environment.
 • To follow the principles of learning without limits where the highest expectations for all the children are held and promoted providing them with an unlimited opportunity for development.
 • To develop the children’s social and emotional wellbeing through our school values based curriculum.
The Curriculum
At the Federation of Grewelthorpe and Fountains, our curriculum for the Foundation Stage reflects the areas of learning identified in the Early Years Foundation Stage Document.
The EYFS framework includes seven areas of learning and development, all of which are important and included in the delivered curriculum and provision. There are three prime areas, which are seen to underpin the fundamental skills children require. These prime areas also support the development of the specific areas of the curriculum.
The Prime areas are:
• Communication and Language – Listening and Attention, Speaking.
 • Physical Development – Gross Motor skills and fine motor skills.
 • Personal, Social and Emotional Development – Self regulation, Managing Self, Building Relationships.
 
The Specific areas are:
• Literacy – Comprehension, word reading and Writing.
• Mathematics – Numbers, Numerical Patterns.
 • Understanding the World – Past and Present, People Culture and Communities, The Natural World.
• Expressive Arts and Design – Creating with Materials, Being Imaginative and Expressive.
 
Characteristics of Effective Learning
The EYFS also includes the Characteristics of Effective Learning.
The three characteristics are:
 • Playing and Exploring – children investigate and experience things and events around them and ‘have a go’
• Active Learning – children concentrate and keep trying if they experience difficulties, as well as enjoying what they achieve.
• Creating and Thinking Critically – children have and develop their own ideas, make links between different experiences and develop strategies for choosing their own ways to do things.

 

 


Enhanced provision areas
We provide opportunities for children to develop key skills and understanding through enhanced provision in the learning areas, both inside and outside.
Assessment and Observation
Over the course of the Reception Year, teachers will build on their knowledge of what each child knows and can do. They will draw on this knowledge and their own professional judgement, to make an accurate, summative assessment at the end of year. From interactions with the children, Teachers and staff will quickly identify children, who need additional learning support, so that the appropriate additional teaching can be put in place.
At the end of the Reception year all children are assessed against the 17 Early Learning Goals (ELG) where, for each separate goal, they will be judged as being ‘emerging’ or ‘expected’.  This information is then communicated to parents and carers in the child’s end of year report where there is opportunity for it to be discussed with the class teacher. In preparation for transition this information is then shared with Year One staff.
Partnerships with Parents and Carers
At the Federation of Grewelthorpe and Fountains schools, we believe that parents and carers are a child’s first educator and therefore work very closely to ensure they are involved in what we do with their child at school. We want parents to feel they can speak to us about their child at any time and feel comfortable in our setting. New parents are offered a meeting to talk about their child, in order for us to make the transition into our setting as smooth as possible. We hold a parent consultation early in the year to establish how a child is settling into the school environment. As well as the visit days and induction sessions, we have an open door policy where parents are able to come in and see the Early Years team most mornings before, or evenings after, school. Conversely, if staff have concerns about the progress of the child, they will immediately approach parents and carers to discuss them.
Safeguarding and Health & Safety
 Children learn best when they are healthy, safe and secure, when their individual needs are met, and when they have positive relationships with the adults caring for them. We follow the safeguarding and welfare requirements (Section 3) detailed in the Early Years Foundation Stage Statutory Guidance (2020) Early Adopter’s Version.
We follow whole school procedures for reporting accidents and follow the whole school procedures for child protection (see separate policy). Pam Acheson, headteacher, is the lead Child Protection Officer and all concerns are reported to her.