EARLY YEARS
FOUNDATION STAGE (EYFS)

Intent

At Kingsfleet, our aim is for all children to look forward to the excitement of the new experience that day at school will bring.

Our curriculum is designed to be flexible, engaging and exciting, adapting to meet the needs of the children at every stage of their development throughout the year, providing them with the social and academic tools to enable them to successfully engage in their educational development. There is a strong emphasis on the Prime Areas of learning (communication and language, physical development and personal, social and emotional development).

We inspire our children to succeed by becoming independent, confident, curious and resilient learners as they take risks and develop positive social interactions within the class setting.

By the end of Reception, our intent is that all children will have made good progress from their starting points and will be ready to embrace learning in Year One.

Implementation

We believe an engaging curriculum leads to high-level attainment. At the beginning of each half term, we introduce a new theme to provide inspiration for learning, whilst also providing flexibility for children to follow their own interests and ideas.

We prioritise providing a language rich curriculum using songs, rhymes, stories and quality interactions with staff. The timetable is structured so that children have directed teaching each day for Phonics, Maths, English and wider curriculum areas (such as Understanding the World and Expressive Arts and Design). The children then learn through a balance of adult-directed and child-initiated activities. They are provided with plenty of opportunities to engage in exploratory play through a variety of activities carefully planned to engage and challenge them in the provision. The curriculum is planned for the inside and outdoor classrooms, with equal importance given to learning in both areas.

Our inclusive approach means that all children learn together but we provide additional intervention and support for children who may not be reaching their potential or those who may need extra challenge.

We work hard to create strong partnerships between home and school and understand the importance of parental engagement in maximising learning.

Impact

Ongoing observations are used to inform planning and identify the children’s next steps in learning. Staff use their professional judgement to assess stages of development, drawing on discussions with other staff, photographs and physical examples of work such as drawing or writing. Some observations are uploaded and shared with parents using Tapestry.

Phonics assessments are carried out each term and pupils needing extra intervention are identified.

Assessments of all areas of learning are completed each term. In the Summer term, the class teacher will judge whether the child has met each of the Early Learning Goals in the Foundation Stage Profile. The children will be assessed as either not yet reaching expected levels - ‘emerging’ or meeting expected levels of development - ‘expected’.