Early Years Education

Welcome to our Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)

Here at Killamarsh Infant and Nursery School we strive to give children the best possible start to their education.

Aims

• We aim to welcome all children, parents and carers into a happy, safe and secure environment that encourages learning, development, and well-being.
• We recognise all children are individuals and strive to work in partnership with parents/carers to meet their child’s needs, with the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Framework, Development Matters Framework and Every Child Matters underpinning our practise.
• We use the framework to support the progression of children’s learning throughout the EYFS and, in Reception, the sequence of lessons.
• We foster learning through play and therefore we aim to offer enjoyable, meaningful and hands on experiences that support a child’s development in their early years.
• We recognise the importance of British Values and support children to develop their understanding of these in their early years in order to help them to reach their full potential as an individual.

EYFS curriculum

The Characteristics of Effective Learning and the 7 Areas of Learning help to shape our curriculum throughout Nursery and Reception.

Planning and guided children’s activities reflect the different ways that children learn; we support children in using the three characteristics of effective teaching and learning. These are:

• Playing and Exploring - children investigate and experience things, and ‘have a go’;
• Active Learning - children concentrate and keep on trying if they encounter difficulties, and enjoy achievements; and
• Creating and Thinking Critically - children have and develop their own ideas, make links between ideas, and develop strategies for doing things.

The prime areas of learning are those most essential for your child’s healthy development and future learning. These are:

• Communication and Language – Children will learn to express themselves effectively, showing awareness of listeners’ needs; to use language to imagine and recreate roles and experiences in play situations.  Listen attentively in a range of situations.  Give their attention to what others say and respond appropriately.
• Physical Development – Children will develop coordination and control over their bodies enabling them to become active and interactive within their environment.  They will develop mastery over large and small movements becoming confident in using a range of equipment and tools effectively.  They will be encouraged to make healthy choices and develop independence in their self-care skills.
• Personal, Social and Emotional Development – Through sensitive, nurturing support children are helped to develop a positive self-image and have confidence in their own abilities.  They will learn important life skills of resilience and perseverance to reach a goal or acquire new skills; to form positive relationships and develop respect for others; to develop social skills and learn how to manage their feelings; to understand appropriate behaviour in different situations and have the confidence to make the right choices.

As children grow, the prime areas will help them to develop skills in the 4 specific areas.

• Literacy – Children will develop a love of literature in both the spoken and written form: linking letters and sounds to read and write simple words becoming early readers and writers; engage and play with language, stories, characters, extending their vocabulary and imagination through drama, story-telling and role play.
• Mathematics – Through practical and real life play opportunities children will develop and improve their counting, use of numbers, addition and subtraction, shape, space and measures.  They will develop an understanding of maths through stories, songs, games and imaginative play, creating resilient mathematicians.
• Understanding the world – Children will have the opportunity through a variety of exciting themes and topics to make sense of the world in which they live and how they can influence it.  Learning about their own lives and how they have changed in their own lifetime; making sense of the physical world, the local community, finding out about people, places, technology and the environment.
• Expressive Arts and Design – Enables children to express feelings, emotions and extend their imaginations and ideas through exploration, with a wide range of media and materials through art, music, dance, movement, role-play, design and technology.

To find out more about the EYFS framework and the age related expectations, see the documents below.

For more information about the EYFS framework at our school, please see our EYFS Policy and EYFS brochures.

To see some of the exciting things that our EYFS children take part in, please visit our Nursery and Reception class pages; from the menu simply click ‘children’ then ‘class pages’. You will get to see everything from Always on Learning documents to Parental Involvement, and Celebrations to Galleries of learning and events. If your child already attends our Nursery and Reception, remember to log into their Teams account for learning, videos and more!

Parent Voice

We strive to build positive partnerships with parents and work with them to support their child’s development. One way we do this is our half-termly events. Here is some of the feedback parents give us…

• “I think this event was amazing we had loads to do and lots of different connections to the world of science. I liked the different experiments and how the different things linked to animals like the tarantula Web, global warming and the bear boats. I think this was mine and my child’s favourite event so far.”
• “We loved the variety of activities that were provided.”
• “This had so much variety which I really liked.”
• “There was a really good range of activities & plenty of time for us to explore them together.”
• “I thought the activities were fun, varied and engaging. It was clear the children enjoyed them and learnt a lot from them.”
• “My child enjoyed having a go at everything and was really excited that I was there to join in with them.”
• “It was great to see my daughter in school and she clearly relished the opportunity to show off her school environment to me. It was an excellent session!”

For more information about how we gather and use parent voice, please see the ‘You Said, We Listened!’ document below:

Ofsted Feedback; “Leadership of the early years is strong. Nursery children settle quickly into school life because staff have created a stimulating learning environment where children are nurtured. Children follow well established routines and procedures which mean they enjoy school and are kept safe.” (Taken from Ofsted report: 10-11 July 2019)