EYFS

Aims

“Every child deserves the best possible start in life and the support that enables them to fulfill 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”. (Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage 2021).

The Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum sets the standards that ensure that children learn, develop, and are kept safe and healthy. They develop quickly between birth and five years old and their experiences in this time period, have a major impact on their future. The broad knowledge and skills gained at this key time in their lives, provide the firm foundations needed for future progression in their time at school and beyond. 

The four principles that guide the effective work of practitioners in the Foundation Stage are:

• Every child is unique, constantly learning, and can be resilient, capable, confident, and self-assured.
• Children learn to be strong and independent through positive relationships.
• Children learn and develop well in enabling environments with teaching and support from adults, in which their experiences respond to their individual needs to build upon their learning over time. Children respond well to effective relationships between practitioners and their parents and carers.
• Children develop and learn through three prime and four specific areas of learning and development, and develop and learn at different rates.

Intent

Implementation

Teaching and assessment in EYFS at St. Oswald’s Catholic Primary School are delivered in accordance with the government’s statutory document ‘Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage: setting the standard for learning, development, and care for children from birth to five 2021’ bringing together children’s welfare, learning, and development requirements. We aim to provide the learning and development that each child requires to ensure they reach their full potential and are ready for future school learning.

The curriculum has seven interconnected areas of learning and development that are divided into three prime areas and four specific areas.

The three prime areas are important as they build the children’s enthusiasm and curiosity for learning, form positive relationships and prepare them for their future learning as they move through the Key Stages.

The Prime Areas:

• Communication and Language
• Physical Development
• Personal, Social, and Emotional Development

There are four specific areas that strengthen and apply the three prime areas and include the knowledge and skills that the children need to make further progress.

The Specific Areas:

• Literacy
• Mathematics
• Understanding the World
• Expressive Arts and Design

The Characteristics of Teaching and Learning

When activities are planned and guided, the three characteristics of development are considered. These characteristics move through all areas of learning and enable practitioners to reflect upon the ways that individual children engage with other people and their environment, and be motivated learners.

The Characteristics of Effective Learning are:

• Playing and exploring – Engagement of children, investigate and experience things, and ‘have a go’.
• Active learning – Motivation of children, to concentrate and keep on trying, and enjoy achievements. 
• Creating and thinking critically – Thinking to develop their own ideas, make links and develop strategies for doing things.

Link to Statutory Framework: Statutory framework for the early year’s foundation stage (publishing.service.gov.uk)

Impact

From their own starting points, children make excellent progress in all areas of their learning. They develop a sense of themselves, gain confidence and become independent learners so that they are well-prepared for the transition into Key Stage 1 at the end of the school year.

Children demonstrate high levels of engagement in activities and develop skills and knowledge across all areas of the curriculum.

Children can apply their knowledge in making links and explaining their ideas and understanding. They can show goal-directed behaviour, and resilience in their learning, as well as take on risks and challenges with confidence.

Children develop a wider sense of the world around them and draw on these experiences. They appreciate their own faith and religion and learn to respect and appreciate people from other religions, cultures, and communities in the world we live in.

The impact is formally measured at the end of EYFS when children are assessed against the 17 Early Learning Goals and achieve their GLD (Good Level of Development). Children are informally assessed daily throughout the year this supports their next steps with consolidation or challenge. Some assessments are recorded as observations using ‘Evidence Me’.

By the end of EYFS, children are happy, confident, and independent learners who thrive at St. Oswald’s both academically and socially. They have a love of learning and are ready for their next steps into Key Stage 1.