Class 1
Sutton Upon Derwent Nursery and Reception
WELCOME to CLASS 1!
Learning in Class 1 is based on children’s interests and needs and is a thriving place to learn, discover and grow. Children have the opportunity to engage in a range of stimulating and ‘hands-on’ tactile experiences which aim to engage and motivate children and encourage an enthusiasm for learning.
Every day children will take part in fun phonic and maths activities. We follow the DFE-Approved Twinkl phonics and White Rose maths.
Gymnastic Fun
Party Fun
Creating the Gruffalo on trees
Introduction
Early Years education is the foundation upon which young children build the rest of their schooling. It is a holistic education that encompasses all learning and development. The EYFS applies to children from birth to the end of the Reception Year. The Early Learning goals (ELGs) set out what is expected of most children by the end of EYFS.
We have an inclusive school where pupils, staff, governors, parents and the school community work extremely hard and have high expectations of one another. We are committed to the highest standards of teaching and learning – achieved through a combination of challenge, support, encouragement, and praise to ensure all pupils achieve their full potential.
The Aims of the Early Years Foundation Stage
In the EYFS in our school we believe that all children are entitled to the best possible start in their school life, both intellectually and emotionally, in order to enable them to develop their full potential. At Bugthorpe and Sutton Upon Derwent C of E Federation, through a positive caring environment, we provide the opportunity for every child to reach their full potential. We embrace Christian values and ensure all children are ready for their next steps. We follow the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage and the four overarching principles that it is based upon;
Every child is a Unique Child, who is constantly learning and can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured.
Children learn to be strong and independent through Positive Relationships.
Children learn well and develop in Enabling environment, in which their experiences respond to their individual needs and there is a strong partnership between practitioners and parents / carers
We aim to support each child’s welfare, learning and developmental needs by:
• recognising that all children are unique and special.
• Understanding that children develop in individual ways and at varying rates.
• Fostering and nurturing children’s self-confidence and self –esteem through their developing awareness of their own identity and role within the community.
• Providing a safe, secure and caring environment where children feel happy and know that they are valued by the practitioners looking after them.
• Teaching them to express and communicate their needs and feelings in appropriate ways.
• Encouraging children’s independence and decision-making, supporting them to learn through their mistakes.
• Developing children’s understanding of social skills and the values and codes of behaviour required for people to work together harmoniously.
• Supporting children to develop care, respect and appreciation for others, including those with beliefs, cultures and opinions different to their own.
• Understanding the importance of play in children’s learning and development.
• Providing learning experiences in play which reflect children’s personal interests and areas of curiosity in order to encourage and develop their natural desire, interest, excitement and motivation to learn.
• Providing experiences which build on children’s existing knowledge and understanding to challenge, stimulate and extend their learning and development.
• Providing effective learning opportunities in a range of environments, inside and outside.
• Provide opportunities to support children’s problem solving skills, nurture their creativity, provide opportunities to develop their imagination, inventiveness and resourcefulness
Planning and organising the Curriculum
The curriculum for the Early Years forms the first stage of our Whole School Curriculum. There are seven areas of Learning and Development which are interconnected.
The Three Prime Areas are particularly crucial for igniting children’s curiosity and enthusiasm for learning, and for building their capacity to learn, form relationships and thrive, these are:
Personal, Social and Emotional Development – This area focuses on making relationships, self-confidence and self-awareness and managing feelings and behaviour. This is critical for very young children in all aspects of their lives and gives them the best opportunity for success in all other areas of learning.
Communication and Language – This area encourages developing competence and confidence in listening and attention and in understanding and speaking. children have opportunities to speak and listen in a range of situations and experience a rich language environment.
Physical Development – This area focuses on the child’s physical control, moving and handling and self care.
The prime areas are strengthened and applied through four Specific Areas:
Literacy – This focuses on reading and writing. Children are taught phonics throughout the EYFS. They are also exposed to many different forms of literature. We implement a book-based curriculum throughout the school.
Mathematics – This area focuses on learning through practical activities. Children develop counting and calculation skills, learn to subitise and to use numbers in everyday activities and recognise and describe shapes, patterns and measures. We follow the White Rose maths scheme throughout our school.
Understanding of the World – This area focuses on children’s developing knowledge of their own environment, through learning about people and communities, the world and technology. It forms the foundation for later work in Science, Design and technology, History, RE, Geography and ICT.
Expressive Arts and Design- This area focuses on developing a child’s imagination and their ability to communicate and express ideas and feelings in creative ways.
Characteristics of effective learning
The EYFS also includes the characteristics of effective teaching and learning and we plan with these activities in mind. The characteristics highlight the importance of a child’s attitude to learning and their ability to play, explore, and think critically about the world around them.
The three characteristics are;
Playing and exploring – children investigate things and have a go
Active Learning – children concentrate and keep on trying if they encounter difficulties, and enjoy achievements
Creating and thinking critically- children have and develop their own ideas, make links between ideas and develop strategies for doing things
Active Learning through Play
At our schools we recognise that young children learn best through when they are active. We understand that active learning involves other people, objects, ideas and events that engage and involve children for sustained periods. Therefore, we believe that Early Years education should be as practical as possible and our EYFS setting has an ethos of learning through play. Play is an essential and rich part of their learning process, supporting them in all areas of development. Play is a powerful motivator encouraging children to be creative and to develop their ideas, understanding and language. In the EYFS settings at our school, practitioners provide both structured and unstructured play opportunities inside and outside. These activities are designed to engage children in practical, first-hand experiences which will support children to discover, explore, investigate, develop their personal interests and areas of curiosity, and help to make sense of the world around them as they begin to understand specific concepts.
We aim to ensure -
• Both the environment indoors and outdoors, play a key role in enabling and extending children’s learning and development.
• Children have opportunities to explore the indoor and outdoor learning environment through free flow.
• Focus teaching occurs both indoors and outdoors.
• A clearly defined learning environment designed to allow and encourage children to extend and deepen their understanding of the EYFS curriculum
• Challenge passports set children challenges both indoors and outdoors to build up their independence, explore recent learning and practise new skills.
• An environment that facilitates independence, curiosity, hands on play based learning and the confidence to follow their own interests and ideas.
• Staff enhance and change Continuous provision regularly through careful intervention.
• Carefully chosen and organised high quality resources and experiences that are readily available for children to access across every area of learning
• Ample of reading, writing and number opportunities in the different areas of provision
• Topic and Maths floor books which allow children to access and discuss their prior learning with all members of staff, their peers, governors, and parents.
• Use the ample facilities the school has to offer to enrich the curriculum, including our environmental tutor on a Wednesday, looking after the chickens, the wider school grounds, and our market stall to teach the children about the importance of eating fresh produce and creating links with the wider local community
Planning
The EYFS framework provides a long term plan to follow by ensuring that all Early Learning statements/Goals are covered throughout the academic year through carefully thought out topics and topic questions. Medium term planning is created with all early years’ practitioners’ involvement and takes into account the individual children’s learning and developmental needs. All Areas of Learning and Development are planned for and available to access within the setting. The learning opportunities provided include a range of adult focused and child initiated activities indoors and outdoors. We value all areas of learning and development and understand that they are inter connected. Child-initiated learning is an important part of our daily routine at our school and whenever possible adult–directed activities are play based, active and related to the children’s interests. We aim to help children with their learning through observing, getting involved in their play, supporting their thinking and asking open questions. Educational visits within the local community and further afield are also planned to support children’s learning within the settings. Children and parents/carers are encouraged to be involved in the next steps for learning through Tapestry and parent/carer consultations and parent workshops.
Assessment and Record Keeping
Baseline assessment is carried out during the children’s first weeks upon entering the setting. Judgments made on children’s development are based on practitioners’ evidence of children’s behaviour observed independently and consistently in their self-initiated activities across all Areas of Learning and Development. In Reception children take part in the Government RBA (Reception Baseline Assessment). Tapestry Learning Journeys record children’s progress over the academic year in all Areas of Learning and Development of the EYFS framework.
Tapestry is an online learning journey that captures the children’s learning experiences through photographs, videos and comments. It allows learning that takes place at home to be shared with parents, and is used as a way of showing a broader picture of a child’s development
Aim of Tapestry
• To gather information that informs our understanding of a child’s development and next steps
• Ensure that children have equal access to a broad and balanced curriculum
• Involve all significant people in a child’s life
• Monitor development and progress of every child
• To assist in monitoring, evaluating and planning the curriculum
• Share information with staff and parents
• Parents are encouraged to add on their own observations to support their child’s learning journey
• To produce information that will be shared and forwarded to the child’s next teache
Parents/Carers as Partners
At our school we recognise the importance of establishing positive relationships with parents and carers, as highlighted by the EYFS framework. We understand that an effective partnership between school and home will have a positive impact on children’s learning and development. We recognise that parents/carers are children’s first and most enduring educators and we value being partners with them in their child’s education through:
• Talking to parents/carers about their child before their child starts through an informal meeting at school in nursery and stay and play sessions
• Open door policy. Parents are free to chat at the beginning and at the end of the day or organise a time that is appropriate
• Outlining how the EYFS is being delivered to Parents/carers during the new parents meeting, to enable them to understand the value of supporting their child’s learning at home and how they can access more information
• Curriculum Newsletters are sent home half termly to keep parents informed of their child’s current curriculum and learning needs
• Home Learning challenges / reading record books and teach your monster to read activities are sent home regularly
• Tapestry
• Parent workshops where parents are invited into school to join in with the children’s activities and challenges in class
• Phonic focus – meeting on phonics led by the head teacher to help parents support their child’s phonics at home
• End of reception report outlining their child’s achievements against the 17 Early Learning Goals
• Three Parents evenings a year to discuss the progress of their child and to answer any questions or queries
• All parents invited to be part of the PTFA, which exists to facilitate social occasions so that families can get to know one another and feel part of the school, to raise money to provide extras that enhance the education of all children in school and to contribute to the ethos of the school
• Any concerns over special needs will be discussed with parents and the Special Needs Co-Ordinator (SENCO) for the school
Safeguarding and welfare procedures
Children learn best when they are healthy, safe and secure, when their individual needs are met, and when they have positive relationships with the adults caring for them. We follow the safeguarding and welfare requirements detailed in the EYFS Statutory Guidance -
• promote the welfare of children.
• promote good health, preventing the spread of infection and taking appropriate action when children are ill.
• manage behaviour effectively in a manner appropriate for the children’s stage of development and individual needs.
• ensure all adults who look after the children or who have unsupervised access to them are suitable to do so.
• ensure that the premises, furniture and equipment is safe and suitable for purpose.
• ensure that every child receives enjoyable and challenging learning and development experiences tailored to meet their needs.
• maintain records, policies and procedures required for safe efficient management of the setting and to meet the needs of the children.
• encourage a healthy lifestyle including taking exercise and eating healthy food.
Our safeguarding and welfare procedures are outlined in more detail in our safeguarding policy.
Inclusion
We give our children every opportunity to achieve their best. We do this by taking account of our children’s range of life experiences when planning for their learning we set realistic and challenging expectations that meet the needs of the individual children to reach their full potential. We achieve this by planning to meet the needs of all children from all social and cultural backgrounds.
Early Years Pupil Premium – we will identify our least advantaged pupils and inform parents or carers of their opportunity to apply for their child’s entitlement to extra funding in school. All extra funding we receive will be used to support areas in which we identify that children will benefit from the most
If additional needs are identified, the class teacher will liaise with the SENCO to set targets, put in place any EHCPs, liaise with all agencies involved and parents to ensure children make a good level of progress.
The Early Years Foundation Stage
The children’s learning in Class 1 is based on objectives from the EYFS Development Matters. Nurseries, pre-schools, reception classes and childminders registered to deliver the EYFS must follow a legal document called the Early Years Foundation Stage. Please see the Documents below.
At the end of Reception children are assessed against the 17 ELG’s before their transition to Year 1.
A downloadable copy of Development Matters is available here for more specific detail.