Learning in the Early Years Foundation Stage
Early Years Foundation Stage at Easton CE Academy (EYFS)
Our school motto is ‘Being different. Belonging together' and we are excited for your child to belong to our school.
Every child deserves the best possible start in life and the support that enables them to fulfil their potential. Children develop quickly in the early years and a child’s experiences between birth and age five have a major impact on their future life chances. A secure, safe and happy childhood is important in its own right. Good parenting and high quality early learning together provide the foundation children need to make the most of their abilities and talents as they grow up.
Intent
Our school vision is for our diverse community to grow together, have fun together and excel in learning together. Our EYFS curriculum is a vital part of this, and these are some our aims for the children:
To be happy, healthy and confident learners. To know and experience the joy of learning new things and mastering new skills.
To have a strong sense of self and good relationships with those around them.
To be able to make good friendships, co-operating with others and learning how to resolve conflicts. To live and play with those who are different from themselves.
To be comfortable talking and listening, and able to use their talk effectively, in a wide range of situations
To be confident at learning to read and write, enjoying books and stories.
To be confident with numbers to 10 and be ready to explore numbers and patterns enthusiastically.
To explore, learn and express themselves in the areas of art, music, dance and design.
To have a desire to know more about the world around them and learn about it through stories and firsthand experiences.
To provide the best for every child:
We have a high focus on speech and language. Adults plan so that every child can improve their spoken English and grow their vocabulary, becoming confident at speaking and listening. We work on this as children play, and also run groups where children play games together to help their speech. We use a programme called Talkboost that is a tried and tested way to help children with their language skills. We also work with Voice 21 (a national charity) across the whole school, so that children learn talking skills to help them with all of their learning. We have a speech therapist who works in school and trains and advises our staff.
We have a high focus on physical development. We have amazing purpose-built outdoor areas which promote gross motor skills while giving children a fun, stimulating and beautiful place to play. We have Forest school sessions weekly throughout the phase as well as PE lessons and lots of fun activities that help children get their fingers ready for writing.
We are ambitious for early reading, writing and maths. We use Soundswrite phonics, one of the government approved schemes, and see good progress for children in learning letter sounds. We use matching reading books both at home and at school, so that children are able to achieve well and feel confident. We use Talk for Writing to teach children writing through learning stories. This means that children enjoy their work and build a bank of stories they know. Children love learning maths in EYFS, playing with a range of equipment and learning to talk about what they notice.
We teach social and emotional development, making sure that adults are trained and available to help children talk about their feelings, resolve conflicts and learn about their needs and those of others. The curriculum includes many opportunities for wonder and excitement, including a wide range of trips and visitors and many new experiences to talk about. Parents are supported to help their child develop, with informal tea and chat sessions and family learning. Our family worker and staff are available to help and parenting courses are also available. Every child and every family are important to our staff, and play a part in our school community.
