Intent  

At Emsworth Primary School we aim to provide engaging first –hand experiences that will foster a love of learning and enjoyment of school. We build on the knowledge and skills that children already have when they arrive and that has been cascaded to us from the pre-school providers. We pride ourselves on our invaluable transition which enables us to already have a starting point for our children before they come to us. At the heart of our curriculum is finding out about the children’s interests as a year group. From this we can plan the learning experiences that we offer and tailor our environment accordingly. This learning is underpinned by the characteristics of effective learning accompanied by high expectations and sufficiently challenging opportunities. Our curriculum is planned and sequenced to give our children the steppingstones to succeed as they move through the school.

We aim to:

• Secure essential skills
• Build on previous learning
• Establish a routine that helps our children to feel safe, secure and happy
• Help our Early Years to become part of the whole school community and equipped to make the transition to Year 1 effective
• Develop confidence, independence and concentration
• Develop perseverance and self-belief-an ‘I can’ approach
• Build relationships with all children and parents/carers

  Implementation 

Our meaningful curriculum follows the Early Years Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage which provides the prime and specific areas of learning that we must cover in our curriculum. Throughout the year we plan according to the interests of the cohort, specific seasonal changes and celebrations. Each year can be created uniquely, and we also evaluate the blend of whole class, guided, adult –led and child-initiated play that is offered. Children in EYFS learn by playing and exploring, being active and thinking critically and creatively, this takes place both in the classroom and in the outdoor area. Children have the opportunity to decide where they would like to learn and there are opportunities for all areas of learning both inside and outside.

Key to the implementation of our curriculum is our team knowledge about the Areas of Learning, our role in facilitating the learning and our response to what we observe. Quality Interactions with the children ensure that we can address misconceptions and adapt the teaching as necessary. Our teaching is designed to help children remember long-term and to practice and refine their skills in many different contexts.

As a team we collect evidence of children’s learning through observations and photos. Parents can contribute to this journey through observations made at home and evidence from the home learning suggestions provided by us on a weekly basis. The books are shared with parents and the children also have opportunities to review their own journeys regularly. Encouraging parents to share their child’s journey is paramount to us and we offer open mornings for working alongside the children on a variety of activities and joining us for workshops. Sharing information with parents about progress occurs 3 times throughout the year and our reports include what we have noticed, the child’s view and parent contributions.

We currently follow the Bug Club Phonics in line with the newly accredited synthetic phonics programmes. We use a wide range of physical and online resources to support our daily phonic sessions. To support, we have also invested highly in decodable books for Early Years and KS1 to run alongside our teaching programme. Parents are encouraged to support and extend their child’s learning at home and promote a love of reading.

 Impact 

The key impact of the EYFS curriculum is reflected in the happy and confident children that move to Year 1. Our children are ready to take the next steps and have developed the key skills to support this transition. At the heart of the impact of the curriculum is the children’s progress from their starting points, reflected in their ability to articulate what they know, understand and can do.

Of course, progress is measured through the use of formative and summative assessments. We were a pilot school for the National Baseline and have carried out these new statutory assessments during the Autumn term. Going forward we moderate as a team at 3 key points in the year and input our data onto the whole school system of iTrack. Importantly, we also monitor the characteristics of effective learning to ensure that we are developing the skills of how our children learn, not just what they learn. Taking part in whole school pupil progress meetings with the HT or subject leads also holds us accountable for all children.

Taking into account historical data we are usually above national and either in line or above local authority data for children achieving a Good Level of Development. Our children make good progress from their starting points. We attend County moderation and network meetings where appropriate to assist our judgements. We have been moderated several times and our practice and judgements have always been upheld.

Early Years provision is featured in subject manager’s curriculum provision maps, in the School Development plan. Monitoring is carried out by the EYFS lead and HT. The Early Years lead also reports end of year information to Governors and also keeps them aware of changes to the curriculum and assessment.

As a team our teaching and pedagogy is reviewed and evaluated regularly by ourselves and is then reflected in adaptations to our classroom practice.

 Reading

The children will be given a reading book linked to their current phonic knowledge

and this will be changed every Friday.

In addition, they will also be given a wider reading book from a range of reading schemes including Oxford Reading Tree, Big Cat and Song Birds. These will be changed on Wednesdays. Please use the blue reading record to make any comments. Library books are changed on Thursdays.

As part of our Bug Club Phonics, we are delighted to offer a range of online reading books which you can access at any time.

PE

PE kit needs to be worn to school every Thursday.

Home Learning

Following on from our parent, staff and pupil surveys, homework across the school is under review.  This will be updated shortly.

In Early Years our topics are led by the interests of the children. Throughout the year we will incorporate celebrations, seasons and specific books. Our planning is guided by the Early Years Curriculum for each of the 7 areas of learning-Literacy, Mathematics, Communication and Language, Physical, Personal and Social, Understanding the World and Expressive Arts and Design.

For more information about the Early Years curriculum please click here.