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EYFS

Early Years and Foundation Stage Curriculum

Intent

At Pepper Hill School, our experienced staff are dedicated to ensuring that the children have the best experience in their first steps of learning. Our nurturing ethos provides a secure and happy environment for the children during their first years, with a well-planned, broad, and inspiring curriculum. Stimulating, exciting and challenging activities are planned and taught by our excellent team and help every child to achieve their potential.  Children are inspired to learn and develop the ability to follow their own curiosities and interests.

There are seven areas of learning and development within the EYFS framework.

Three Prime Areas

  • Communication and Language
  • Physical Development
  • Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PSED)

Four Specific Areas

  • Literacy
  • Mathematics
  • Understanding of the World (UTW)
  • Expressive Arts and Design (EAD)

We aim for all our children to become healthy, independent, self-regulated learners who feel happy and safe in school, having formed good relationships with their peers. Communication and Language is at the forefront of this, ensuring children have the necessary skills to listen, respond to and understand spoken language. Our children’s learning experiences enable them to develop skills and competency in all areas, not just academically but also socially, emotionally, and physically.

We have developed a flexible curriculum that meets the needs and interests of our children and community, with an emphasis on securing the Prime Areas as a priority.  Alongside this, we work towards our own set of bespoke curriculum goals, with the aim that every child will have achieved these by the end of Reception.

Pepper Hill EYFS Curriculum Goals

  1. Feel happy and safe in school and will have made good friends
  2. Be confident and responsive communicators
  3. Have gained the independence to follow daily routines and practise self care
  4. Enjoy taking part in physical activity and being outdoors
  5. Have a love of stories and books
  6. Be able to read words and simple sentences, matching their phonic knowledge
  7. Be able to write in full sentences using finger spaces and their phonic knowledge
  8. Have gained secure mathematical fluency in numbers to 10 and beyond
  9. Be able to explore and describe shape, space, measure and patterns
  10. Have experience of different cultures, celebrations and ways of life
  11. Know ways to care for living things and our natural environment
  12. Be able to use a range of skills to create freely, inspired by their own interests

Implementation

Our teaching and learning of the EYFS curriculum, involves the following:

  • A staggered start to school, following a personalised transition
  • A balance of adult-led learning, small group work and child-initiated learning
  • The option to ‘free-flow’ between classroom spaces, both indoors and outdoors
  • Topic and theme led learning
  • Responsive planning of engaging and multi-sensory activities and enhancements that meet the emerging needs of the children
  • Stimulating, language rich learning environments including a spacious and varied outdoor area
  • Daily access to water, sand, sensory and messy play opportunities
  • Facilities that encourage children’s independence and self-care
  • Daily opportunities to practise gross and fine motor skills
  • Exposure to different cultures, traditions, and significant role models within the community
  • Use of high-quality texts throughout the setting to develop a love of books and stories
  • Daily ‘Song, Rhyme and Poem’ time
  • Daily read, write, inc. Phonics sessions
  • Four maths lessons and one writing lesson per week
  • ‘Pinny Time’ 1:1 boosters to support early reading skills
  • Home reading books sent home each week
  • Visits to the school library each week
  • Squiggle while you wiggle- fine motor skills club
  • 1:1 and small group interventions as determined by children’s needs
  • One hour of pe per week led by specialist staff
  • One hour ‘Physical Friday’ session led by specialist staff
  • ‘Welly Wednesday’ outdoor learning sessions

Impact

We measure the impact of our EYFS curriculum through the following methods:

  • Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA) carried out in September
  • Documentation of learning using Tapestry Online Learning Journals
  • Half termly assessments to track progress and inform planning
  • Learning walks
  • Lesson observations
  • Pupil voice