Courage Compassion Perseverance Teamwork
"From the home visit before starting school to his last day in reception i feel he got the best care, the staff are kind, compassionate and most of all naturally good at teaching and this shows greatly. I would recommend the foundation stage unit to anyone who asks and couldn't imagine my child going anywhere else!" A quote from a parent.
Early Years Foundation Stage Statement
Intent
The Early Years Foundation Stage is crucial in securing solid foundations for our children to continue to build upon. It is our intent that the children who enter our EYFS develop physically, verbally, cognitively and emotionally whilst embedding a positive attitude to school and learning and become happy members of our school community.
In EYFS we strongly believe that we are at the beginning of our children’s educational journey. By igniting the flame for learning we are transforming lives, building communities for the future and broadening horizons.
We believe that all children deserve to be valued as an individual and we are passionate in allowing all children to achieve their full, unique potential.
As they begin their Burnley Road Academy journey, they are introduced to our core values, Courage, Compassion, Perseverance and Teamwork. In our Foundation Stage the children develop all these skills as soon as they begin. We teach them to have courage, by always having a go, even if something is tricky. We are kind and caring to each other and we show them how to be a good friend. The children know to keep trying and to never give up! The final value is teamwork, we encourage the children to work together as a team, during various activities inside and out.
We begin each new year by looking at the individual needs of our children and – taking into account their different starting points- we carefully develop our EYFS provision to ensure that it is suitable for their unique needs and stages of development of all our children.
Practice in EYFS is led by the four guiding principles that shape our approach in early years settings.
- Every child is a unique child, who is constantly learning and is resilient, capable, confident and self-assured.
- Children learn to be strong and independent through positive relationships.
- Children learn and develop well in enabling environments, in which their experiences respond to their individual needs and there is a strong partnership between practitioners and parents and/or carers.
- Children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates.
The framework covers the education and care of all children in early years provision, including children with special educational needs and disabilities.
Children in both our Nursery and Reception classes follow the Non-Statutory Development Matters (2020) Curriculum and the EYFS Guidance, which has seven main areas of learning. Children in Reception will be assessed against the ELG’s at the end of Reception.
The Prime Areas:-
Personal, Social and Emotional Development – Self-Regulation – Managing Self – Building Relationships
Communication and Language – Listening, Attention and Understanding - Speaking
Physical Development – Fine Motor Skills – Gross Motor Skills
The Specific Areas:-
Literacy – Comprehension – Word Reading - Writing
Mathematics – Number – Numerical Pattern
Understanding the World – Past and Present – People, Culture and Communities – The World
Expressive Arts – Creating with Materials – Being Imaginative and Expressive
Implementation
The teaching of these areas of learning is practical, playful and inclusive with support and challenge from adults in class sessions, small groups and working with individuals.
There is a combination of adult-led, teacher taught sessions as well as a wealth of stimulating continuous provision opportunities when adults scaffold learning through skilful interactions and questioning.
Throughout all of these areas of learning and at the heart of our EYFS are the “Characteristics of Effective Learning”. We strive to develop these key characteristics of “Playing and Learning”, “Active Learning” and “Thinking Critically” in order to give the children the skills that they will continue to draw upon throughout their development.
All of the crucial skills, knowledge and vocabulary that we teach are presented to the children throughout the year. These encompasses a range of topics, which are designed with their interests in mind and supporting children to develop their experience and knowledge across a range of themes.
Our learning environments, both inside and outside are also adapted regularly to meet the different and developing needs of the children in our care.
We aim to ensure that these areas are always stimulating and exciting and that, importantly, they are accessible to and challenge all children, regardless of where they are on their developmental journey.
The environments are developed to promote independence within our children and allow them to access the curriculum independently and confidently with the necessary level of support and challenge.
Within our EYFS, children are assessed (where necessary) through accurate and specific observations. These provide us with information for immediate and future planning, not only for our individual classes but also for individual children’s next steps in their learning.
‘Evidence Me’ is used to build online journals of evidence to demonstrate the children’s learning and progress over time. Observations enable us to ensure that learning is embedded and consistent and that children are progressing within our EYFS setting. Parents are encouraged to comment on observations and to share any learning at home. We understand working with parents is so important to develop a child’s learning further. We hold Information evenings and curriculum meetings for the parents to attend.
Impact
By the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage the majority will have reached their personal best and have achieved outstanding progress. Aiming for a good level of development measure (GLD). They will have achieved at least the expected level in the ELGs across the Prime Areas of Communication and Language, Physical Development, Personal, Social and Emotional Development and in the Specific Areas of Literacy and Mathematics. All children will have made significant personal progress across all areas of learning.
SEND/Disadvantaged
Our ambition is for all of our pupils to access the full EYFS Curriculum. These pupils will be supported to provide them with full accessibility to all aspects of the EYFS provision.
Important EYFS documents
For further information about our EYFS please see the Foundation Stage tab under the Children tab.
Foundation Stage - Ideas for helping at home
We follow the new Early Years Foundation Stage framework and work around the seven areas of learning. Here are a few ideas to help you to support your child's learning at home.
Personal, Social, Emotional Development
- Encourage your child to say please and thank you.
- Encourage your child to take his/her own coat on and off.
- When playing with your child, support them in sharing toys.
- Allow them to choose some toys themselves and reflect on opinions about these toys; e.g. this is my favourite doll/car.
- Ensure that your child is able to go to the toilet unaided.
- Try to support your child in taking turns with others.
- Encourage your child to talk about their feelings.
Physical development
- Encourage your child to handle small and large equipment.
- Allow your child to use scissors and develop their skills.
- Allow your child to run, hop, skip, jump and find different ways of travelling.
- Play games such as follow the leader and change actions to develop motor skills and coordination.
- Discuss changes to their bodies after exercise; heart beating faster, feeling hot
Communication and language
- Talk to your child, ask them about their day at school, who they have played with, what they have done
- Talk about rhymes and rhyming words
- Listen and talk about different sounds in the environment
- When reading stories use different voice sounds
- Read repetitive stories so that your child can join in with repeated refrains
- Play games such as Simon says to encourage listening skills
Mathematics
- Practise counting groups of objects in pictures and stories; pose questions such as how many altogether? Which number is one more?
- Count out loud with your child saying the names of numbers clearly.
- Show numbers to your child (perhaps on number cards).
- Sing songs or rhymes with numbers in them; 10 In The Bed, 5 Little Ducks, 10 Fat Sausages etc.
- Read stories with numbers in them, e.g. The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
- Use mathematical language; add, take away, number names, how many, one more/less, altogether
- Count using fingers.
- Point to and say numbers around the house, street
- Encourage your child to identify shapes around them; do a circle spotting hunt, square spotting etc.
- Apply mathematics to real life; shape, money, amounts of objects etc.
Literacy
- Allow your child to select books for themselves; ones that interest him/her. Picture books with repetitive and basic language such as those by Julia Donaldson.
- Encourage your child to ‘read’ what is happening in the pictures. Prompt them to tell you a sentence about what is happening or what might happen next.
- To increase vocabulary and identify sounds, play word games such as I spy.
- Sing alphabet songs and talk about the names of the letter and the sounds that they make.
- Make shapes of letters out of play dough, write them in sand, write their own name in the air etc.
Understanding the World
- Talk to your child about special times; birthdays, baptism, parties, holidays and other key events in their lives and the lives of others they know.
- Encourage them to explore their surroundings; particularly in the outdoor area.
- Allow your child to observe animals and describe them.
- Allow them to use simple tools; such as a small hand trowel, knife and fork, spade etc
- Encourage them to feel different textured objects and describe; rough, smooth, soft etc.
- Expressive arts and design
- Allow your child to listen to and sing songs and rhymes.
- Engage in role play with your child.
- Explore different media, paint, pencils, crayons.
- Use scissors and glue, encourage cutting and sticking activities.
- Dance to songs and make up actions to go with them e.g. Wheels on the Bus.