PSHE Curriculum - Selattyn C of E Primary School

EARLY YEARS FOUNDATION STAGE (EYFS)

Selattyn School Simple Vision just circle.png

Our Vision

As a loving community, our vision is to nurture each individual in our care, giving them the skills, resilience and hope to succeed and flourish, both academically and spiritually, in God’s ever changing world.

Intent

Here in Early Years, we pride ourselves on our caring and cooperative environment, as we learn from and support one another to reach our full potential and have fun together. Our school values run through everything we do.

Our experienced, warm and welcoming staff provide opportunities for children to learn, explore and play through a mix of child-initiated and adult-led play and experiences which follow children’s interests.

At Selattyn, we understand that children’s early years are the most influential in their education as they set the foundations for all future learning. We provide a rich, stimulating curriculum based on the principles of the EYFS.

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS 2021) sets the standards that all early years’ providers must meet, to ensure that children learn and develop well and are kept healthy and safe. It promotes teaching and learning to ensure children’s ‘school readiness’, and gives children the broad range of knowledge and skills that provide the right foundation for good future progress through school and life.

We intend to provide:

Quality and consistency, so that every child makes good progress and no child is left behind.
A secure foundation through learning and development opportunities which are planned around the needs and interests of each individual child and are assessed and reviewed regularly.
Partnership working between practitioners and with parents and/or carers.
Equality of opportunity and anti-discriminatory practice, ensuring that every child is included and supported.

Implementation

In Early Years, we care deeply about our children, and treat every child as a unique individual. Above all we want our children to feel happy, secure and safe. Praise and clear boundaries contribute to building confidence and resilience of our children. We believe in praising the little steps that really make the difference to the children’s progress and self-esteem.

We believe that young children are capable of amazing things, and we develop this through high expectations and promoting a strong sense of independence. Our children are proud to be independent in their learning, personal belongings and routines.

At Selattyn, we are lucky to be enveloped by beautiful countryside, and our stimulating outdoor area, along with our nearby Forest School area and grounds, provides children with lots of opportunity to explore and develop their creativity.

Play equipment, both on the large school yard and in our own smaller, enclosed area, helps children ‘s gross motor skills and physical development to aid the practical skills of writing and poses challenges to build confidence and self-esteem. Sharing equipment and space and negotiating turn taking are important skills for our children to acquire and helps children’s communication.

At Selattyn, we pay great attention to the physical environment and resources used to enhance the children’s experiences. Staff have worked hard to create high quality indoor and outdoor environments, that inspire children and provide a variety of learning opportunities. Our classroom includes designated areas for construction, block and small world imaginary play, dry sand, water, playdough, role-play area, maths, literacy, cosy area and creation arts.

The environment supports children to be fully engaged in purposeful play of their own choice and interest. Resources are displayed in open shelving units, in clear boxes, so that they are always accessible, meaning children can choose where to go, what to use and how.

We are also keen to promote a love of books and reading! A well-stocked cosy corner, in neutral tones and textures, has been created, where children can curl up on the sofa, read a book and relax, or share books with friends. Baskets of books are categorised and displayed in numerous areas of the classroom.

Our EYFS team are key to in providing the emotional environment that supports the children with their learning, ensuring they feel confident and independent, ready to try new things, reassured that adults can help them if necessary, without taking over.

Key to our children’s progress are these high quality interactions from our staff in the moment. It is when children are engaged in what they are doing, in that moment of curiosity, puzzlement, effort or interest that we can make a difference.

Our skilled staff are always ready to listen, communicate, role-model, assess, explain, demonstrate, question and push the next steps of the child’s learning journey. Staff will ensure that obstacles are overcome, and new possibilities are available, so learning is meaningful and fun!

We want every child to enjoy coming to school, and are passionate to instil a love of learning in our children, that follows them throughout the rest of their schooling here at Selattyn.

Impact

At Selattyn C.E School we measure the impact of our curriculum in a number of ways.

The impact of our EYFS curriculum is measured by how effectively it helps our children develop into well rounded individuals, who embody our school values and carry with them the knowledge, skills and attitudes, which will make them lifelong learners and valuable future citizens. Our children have varied and diverse starting points. At Selattyn, we have high expectations to ensure that all children make ‘strong progress’ across all of the areas of the EYFS curriculum.

Baseline

Prior to children starting, staff spend time speaking to parents and previous settings, to gain an understanding of the whole child and where they are at. Parents are also encouraged to fill out a booklet with their child, called ‘All about me’. During the first few weeks of term, staff use ongoing assessments, observations and conversations with the child to develop a baseline assessment. This identifies each individual’s starting points in all areas, so we can plan experiences to ensure strong progress is made for all children.

In addition to our school baseline, the class teacher will also administer The Statutory Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA). This assessment focuses on ‘Language, Communication and Literacy’, and ‘mathematics’. The purpose of this is to show the progress children make from Reception until the end of KS2.

Ongoing observation

At Selattyn, we pride ourselves on really knowing our children. Significant time is given to interacting and engaging with our pupils, and using our professional expertise to plan engaging learning opportunities. Invaluable parental contributions are also taken into account. Through a reflective cycle of observation, planning and assessment, staff are able to ensure all children make progress. This formative assessment does not involve prolonged periods of time away from the children and excessive paper work. Children have whiteboards and books for recording their learning for phonics, literacy and maths, where appropriate and staff make notes in these books if necessary to record pupil voice.

EYFS profile in Summer Term 2

At the end of the EYFS, staff complete the EYFS profile for each child. Pupils are assessed against the 17 early learning goals, indicating whether they are:

Meeting expected levels of development (on track)
Not yet reaching expected levels (‘emerging’/not on track)

A ‘Good Level of Development’ is achieving expected levels in the three prime areas, plus literacy and mathematics.

The profile reflects ongoing observations and discussions with parents and/or carers. The results of the profile are then shared with parents and/or carers.

Moderation

EYFS Staff will liaise with other local schools, within the cluster group, to validate judgements on standards and progress, and attend EYFS EIP meetings.