Cobden Primary School- Early Years Foundation Stage

Intent, Implementation and Impact Statement

Intent

At Cobden Primary School we aim to provide a warm, caring and stimulating learning environment, that nurtures the wellbeing, talents, and potentials of each individual child. The Foundation Stage team ensure positive and trusting relationships are built with the children, ensuring that every day is a happy one. We provide first- hand experiences and encourage children to build resilience, ambition and a lifelong love of learning. We recognise that all children are unique, celebrating, and welcoming differences and diversity within our school community. We aim to build on the knowledge and skills children already have when they arrive with us from working collaboratively with feeder settings and parents.

To ensure children make good progress, it is our intent to take into consideration these starting points and needs of our children as they begin their learning journey at our school. Every child has access to a stimulating, broad, balanced and differentiated curriculum which prepares them for now and for the future in terms of opportunities and experiences. Following personal interests, fascinations and individual needs, allows us to plan and provide opportunities throughout our EYFS curriculum to support learning and development and achieve their next steps. We are passionate about children leading and engrossing themselves in their learning.

We aim to:

• Provide a curriculum that offers children a wide range of opportunities, which in turn helps them to become curious about the world around them. 
• Build positive, trusting, and nurturing relationships between staff and children.
• High level engagement!
• Provide a secure and nurturing environment where children enjoy coming to school and learning new skills and knowledge building on what they already know.
• Provide opportunities and an environment that are rich in vocabulary and allows children to be skilful communicators- connecting with others through language and play.
• Broaden children’s experiences- providing opportunities to experience and try new things and encouraging them to relish a new challenge.
• Provide a learning environment that helps children to achieve their potential and support those who need additional help in order to maximise their progress.
• Provide children opportunities to develop their sense of wellbeing and ability to regulate their feelings so that they feel confident in our community and are equipped with all the tools they need to transition into year 1 effectively.
• Develop the skills and expertise of staff working in EYFS through regular and comprehensive professional development either run by the EYFS lead or attending courses run by other providers.
• By the end of the Reception year, our intent is to ensure that all children make at least good progress from their starting points are equipped with the skills and knowledge to have a smooth transition into Year 1.

Implementation

At Cobden Primary School we follow the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework.

Each half term, we introduce a new topic from our curriculum plan, to provide inspiration for learning. We then extend, develop and adapt this theme throughout the term, based on the children interests and fascinations. Children learn through a balance of child-initiated and adult-directed play and activities. The timetable is carefully structured so that children have directed teaching during the day. These sessions are followed by small focused group work. This means the teacher can systematically check for understanding, identify and respond to misconceptions quickly and provide real-time verbal feedback which results in a strong impact on the acquisition of new learning.

Throughout the day children have access to our continuous provision which allows children to lead their own learning through play and exploration. We provide activities and experiences inside and outside which are based on our theme, focus, children interests and next steps to allow children to apply and extend their learning. There is opportunity for adult directed and child-initiated play. Our children learn by playing and exploring, being active and thinking creatively and critically.

Adults think carefully about when and how to interact with the children’s play, so that the flow of the play is not interrupted, but the children’s thinking is supported and extended in a way that’s appropriate to each child. Adults interactions consolidate, extend or provoke children’s learning and development.

Children also have access to our school garden area, where they have the opportunity to explore the natural world and our local environment. They also have the experiences of working with real tools, building shelters and cooking on a bonfire.

The Learning experiences within our Early Years are linked to the seven areas of learning and development:

• Personal, Social and Emotional Development
• Communication and Language
• Physical Development
• Literacy
• Mathematics
• Understanding the World
• Expressive Arts and Design

Reading

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 ‘key texts’ each half term. The aim is to expose children to a range of books that not only develop a love of reading, but have been chosen specifically to develop their oracy, vocabulary and comprehension. These key texts will be embedded in our provision through activities, story sessions and on display for children to access independently. Through this, children begin to internalise new vocabulary, language patterns and begin to retell stories.

Phonics

The school follow the Read, Write, Inc phonic programme. Every child has access to a phonics session every day, with booster phonic sessions for those children who find the sessions more challenging and are not secure with the learning that day. We use the read, write, ink strategies, methods and resources throughout learning journey sessions and in provision. We use the adapted Read, Write, inc letter formation rhymes to support our handwriting.

Mathematics

We follow the White Rose Maths Scheme of work and the NCTEM materials to support our maths planning.  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 which are then rehearsed applied and recorded within their own child-led exploration.

Rapid intervention

We provide effective and focused intervention for those children who are finding learning challenging and are not on track to meet expectations at the end of the year. Pupil premium children also have weekly focused intervention sessions on their individual next steps. Children who have plans from outside agencies also have focused time each week to work on their specific targets.

The Learning Journey

The EYFS team collect evidence of children’s learning through playing, interacting and joining in with what the children are doing alongside more focused activities and tasks. Our next steps board and class learning journey collate children’s achievements, interests and next steps- which is used to inform planning. Photos are used for evidence and wow moments are recorded on Tapestry, which is also shared with parents. Parents are then able to respond to this and can also add their own special moments, so we don’t miss developmental achievements that takes place at home. Parents can then engage with children regularly about their learning and can contribute to the knowledge we have of their child in school. At the end of a half term children create a class floor book to showcase the learning that has taken place with a focus on any new vocabulary that has been learnt.

Wider Curriculum

We love to provide children with opportunities that lots of them have not experienced before or that enhance their learning in school. These might be experiences within school or our outdoor environment such as seasonal walks in the school grounds. We also take the children on visits and have visitors into school.  We ensure that all of our visits are learning related and will provide the spark for further immersion in a theme or project.

Our foundation stage team ensure that children are surrounded by a kind, caring and happy environment which helps them develop the same skills in their journey through school. It is a positive place to be where resilience, perseverance and successes are celebrated and every child feels valued and respected.

Impact

We hope to show the impact of our EYFS curriculum in a variety of ways. We aim to show:

• Well rounded, happy and confident children transitioning into Year 1.
• Inquisitive and curious children who want to find out more, are enthusiastic and engaged with our curriculum and environment.
• Foundations for a life-long love of learning.
• Children who make more than the expected steps progress from their starting points, ensuring their potential is reached.
• A smooth transition between pre-school and Reception and into year 1.
• Secure assessments and judgements by carrying out regular internal moderation meetings looking at achievements, progress and next steps- based on staff’s observations and knowledge of the child, learning journeys, photographs and videos on Tapestry.
• Secure assessment and judgements through moderation with the wider staff team and other settings.
• Effective assessment procedures that effectively demonstrate what learning is taking place and how each child is progressing in all seven areas of the EYFS curriculum, therefore identifying next steps.
• A reflective EYFS team led by the EYFS Lead who monitors and evaluates the EYFS curriculum effectively in line with the School Development Plan.