Early Years Foundation Stage

“The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled”

Plutarch

EY Leader: Mrs Hannah Bostock

EYFS Link Governor:

External Links: Blackfriars Teaching Hub, SHEADs

Vision and INtent

Our mission statement ‘Be proud of yourself, your school and your achievements’ summarises our commitment to bringing out the very best in each and every one of our children.

Here at Cheadle Primary School, we believe that primary education is more than just academic achievement. We aim to foster a love of learning for all our children, a love so strong that it will carry them throughout their life. We place a strong emphasis on ensuring an ethical ethos and insist that our strong values system permeates everything we do. All our endeavours are concentrated on the core purpose: To provide the very best primary education for all our children.

Our curriculum has been designed to enable children to succeed through cooperative and collaborative learning principles. Communication and language skills are key to children’s development and this area of learning underpins everything we do. As an EYFS team and effective role models, we will provide high quality interactions in order to develop and deepen the children’s learning opportunities.

We believe that high level engagement ensures a high level of attainment. We therefore provide an engaging curriculum that maximises opportunities for meaningful cross-curricular links and learning experiences, as well as promoting the unique child by offering extended periods of play and sustained thinking. We work on broadening children’s experiences, providing opportunities to try new things and encouraging them to relish a new challenge.

By the end of the Reception year, our intent is to ensure that all children make at least good progress from their starting points and that they are equipped with the skills and knowledge they need in order to have a smooth transition into Year 1.

Early Years Leader

My name is Hannah Bostock and I am the Early Years and Year 1 lead at Cheadle Primary School. I have been at Cheadle Primary School for 16 years. I am and will always remain passionate about the Early Years curriculum and what it portrays.

My role as Early Years Lead, alongside the EYFS team, is to ensure the children are happy, safe, develop a love of learning and become confident individuals. We support parents/ carers with developing their children at home as well as any worries or concerns you may have. We always have time to listen and support in any way in which we can. We take time to get to know your child and family before they start school, so we can ensure we tailor the curriculum to your child’s interests and needs. Myself or a member of the EYFS team will visit the children in their previous setting as well as arranging home visits in the Summer term.

Curriculum and implementation

The Early Years classes learn together in an environment which is developed around the children’s interests. We pride ourselves on being an exciting and engaging place to be - encouraging our children to be independent learners through a range of practical activities. We follow a thematic curriculum which allows us to be creative with our lessons and let the children lead their own learning.

As our Foundation Stage children enter the classroom, they learn primarily through a variety of play and real-life experiences. Our teaching is delivered through carefully planned tasks and guided activities. The children access their environment freely; however, they understand the importance of exploring all the activities throughout the week which will scaffold and extend their learning. We understand and appreciate the importance of the outdoor environment for our children. It is a continuation of our indoor provision and it is used at every opportunity.

Literacy

Reading is at the heart of our curriculum and our aim is to encourage a love of reading right from the start.

In EYFS we have a selection of high - quality texts that we use every half term. The aim is to expose children to a range of books that not only develop a love of reading, but that have been chosen specifically to develop their oracy, vocabulary and comprehension.

These books are embedded into our provision through activities and are put on display for children to access independently.

Through this, children begin to internalise new vocabulary, language patterns and begin to retell stories.

Phonics

Miss Lomas is our Early Reading Lead. We follow the Read Write Inc programme to ensure consistency across the school. In Nursery children focus on Phase 1 phonics. This concentrates on developing children's speaking and listening skills and lays the foundations for the phonic work which starts at the beginning of the RWI programme. The emphasis during Phase 1 is to get children attuned to the sounds around them and ready to begin developing oral blending and segmenting skills, prior to GPC.

In Reception, Phase1 continues but children are introduced to Set 1 and Set 2 sounds where they also develop segmenting and blending skills to decode words. Children are encouraged to read at home and are listened to regularly in school. They are given books that match their phonic knowledge in order for them to apply their learning with the aim of becoming successful, confident and fluent readers

Please click here to find out more

Maths

In Reception, we follow the White Rose Maths Scheme of work which is divided into 3 weekly units. High quality learning environments and meaningful interactions with adults, support children in developing mathematical thinking and discussion. Pupils learn through games and tasks using concrete manipulatives and pictorial structures and representations. Children develop their ideas through their own child-led exploration. Children in Reception have daily, ‘Mental Maths’ sessions to develop fluency, revisit key concepts and address misconceptions.

In Nursery, children develop a love of maths through games, songs, rhymes, and play using concrete manipulatives. There is a focus on the following counting principles; one to one correspondence, stable order and cardinal principle. Children’s fine manipulative skills are a focus to develop 1-1 correspondence so children count each object only once.

Core Knowledge and skills

Please click on the links below to see our subject progression documents for EYFS.

Progression and information about RWI

EYFS Statutory Framework

Development Matters Non-statutory curriculum guidance for the early years foundation stage

Reception Long Term Plan 2021-2022

Nursery Big Picture - Summer1

Reception Big Picture - Summer1

assessment

Baseline:

Prior to children starting, staff spend time speaking to the child’s parents, previous settings and read previous learning journey’s to gain an understanding of the whole child and where they are at. During the first half term in Nursery or Reception, all staff use ongoing assessments, observations and conversations with the child to develop a baseline assessment. This identifies each individual’s starting points in all areas so we can plan experiences to ensure progress. The following baseline assessments are also carried out.

The RBA (Statutory Reception Baseline Assessment):

This assessment focuses on ‘Language, Communication and Literacy,’ and ‘Mathematics.’ The purpose of this is to show the progress children make from Reception until the end of KS2.

Ongoing Observation:

All ongoing observations are used to inform weekly planning and identify children’s next steps. Practitioners draw on their knowledge of the child and their own expert professional judgements through discussions with other practitioners, photographs and physical examples such as a child’s drawing / making. Some observations are uploaded using Tapestry and shared with the supporting parents and carers. Physical pieces of work are kept within individual children’s learning journeys.

Assessment:

Read Write Inc phonics assessments are carried out every half term to quickly identify pupils that are not making expected progress. Our aim is for children to ‘keep up’ rather than ‘catch up’ where possible.

Assessments are completed six times per year and reports are shared with parents at three points throughout the year. In Summer Term 2, the EYFSP is completed where teacher judge whether the child has met each of the 17 ELG’s. They will be assessed as either ‘emerging’ or ‘expected.’ Whilst there is no judgement to state if a child is exceeding beyond an ELG, teachers have a duty to provide a narrative for both parents and the Year 1 teacher.

Click here EYFS Baseline assessment

Transition

To ensure a smooth transition we build positive relationships with yourselves and your child. We want the children to feel happy and safe in their school environment.

We provide a bespoke 3-week induction period for those children joining the Nursery and Reception.

Week 1- 1-hour story time

Week 2- Morning session in school

Week 3- 9.30-2.30pm- whole day session, where they will get to do exciting activities as well as have lunch in our school canteen.

We will also arrange a home visit and meet with your child’s previous setting. We invite the local nurseries to attend our school events such as sports day, school plays and celebrations.

We also work closely with the Year One staff to ensure the children continue to feel happy and safe within our school and to build those positive relationships with their new teachers. They will follow the 3-week programme outlined above with in the Year One classrooms.