EARLY YEARS FOUNDATION STAGE
At Basildon CE Primary School our Early Years vision is to provide the best start to school life, enabling children to become happy, enthusiastic, resilient, and confident lifelong learners.
We believe in providing a broad and balanced curriculum that will be fun, build on interests and inspire further learning, enabling every child to work with appropriate challenge and make progress, all within a safe, happy, engaging and stimulating environment. An environment where there are opportunities for enquiry, exploration, problem solving and risk taking. We aim to develop strong relationships with children and their families where there is reciprocal respect, support and involvement.
Specifically we will do this through using the revised EYFS framework and Development Matters documents to inform the curriculum, the enhancements in the provision and next steps for pupils.
Prime areas of learning:
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Communication and Language (Listening, attention and understanding; and Speaking)
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Personal, Social and Emotional Development (Self-regulation, Managing Self and Building Relationships)
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Physical Development (Gross motor skills and fine motor skills)
Specific areas of learning:
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Literacy (Comprehension, Word reading and Writing)
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Maths (Number and Numerical patterns)
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Understanding of the World (Past and present; People, culture and communities; and The natural world)
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Expressive Arts and Design (Creating with materials and Being imaginative and expressive)
What Early Years Learning will look like:
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All children engaged in their learning
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Positive and respectful relationships between children and staff.
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A nurturing, safe and happy environment
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An enabling environment in which children are learning through playing, exploring and developing independence in a purposeful manner
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An environment that will encourage asking questions, taking risks, and reflecting
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An outdoor area that is an extension of the indoor area for encouraging learning and exploration.
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High quality continuous provision both inside and outside, which is planned around the children’s interests, needs and gaps in learning as well as encouraging progression through our curricular goals.
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Continuous provision resources are well stocked and meets the needs of the learners to make progress in their learning.
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A broad and balanced curriculum that is planned but is flexible at the point of delivery.
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A curriculum that is planned with the needs of the children in mind and shows progression when working towards the goals.
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A curriculum and environment that is immersed in story and literature.
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Planning in `the moment’ to move learning forwards and develop children’s interests
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Focus children each week so that adults have a rounded knowledge of children’s interests and in all areas of learning.
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High quality interactions between children and adults.
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Use of key book/poems/festivals/artists/visits and experiences
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Balance between child initiated and adult guided learning
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Staff and the environment promoting independence
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Extra opportunities to consolidate/deepen understanding
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Learning will build on previous knowledge, understanding and learning will challenge all pupils appropriately.
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Children building on and expanding their vocabulary and developing their communication skills.
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Tier 2 vocabulary taught, practised and consolidated when progressing through curricular goals.
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Adults in class will support, scaffold learning, model, prompt, question, comment, feedback to move learning on.
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Adults and children embracing and celebrating diversity and children experiencing diversity in a range of ways (see EYFS diversity document)
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Promoting use of metacognitive skills and the characteristics of effective learning (playing, exploring, active learning, creative and critical thinking).
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Learning through practical experiences looking to make links across the curriculum.
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A roleplay area to reflect interests and cover aspects of `real life’ learning.
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Curricular goals to ensure progression through from FS1 to FS2 to KS1
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A continuity and consistent approach from FS1 through to FS2 and beyond into ks1.
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2 year old supported by key workers to support settling in, happiness and confidence.
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A daily teaching session for phonics using Monster Phonics (see phonics vision statement).
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Daily phonics intervention sessions for those identified as needing it to fill gaps in learning.
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A daily teaching session for Maths using White Rose
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Group guided reading sessions twice a week in Reception linked to phonics, one session decoding and one on comprehension.
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Learning from teacher input sessions will be built on and have opportunities for follow up throughout the day.
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Use of Greg Bottrill’s Drawing club introduced in Reception term 2.
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Children performing poems from poetry basket.
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Children orally telling stories and performing as Helicopter stories in Reception.
What Early Years Learning at Basildon looks like outside of lessons:
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Visits (church, farm)
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Visitor to school, including parents and people in the community
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Science/STEM week annually
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Arts week annually
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PSHE week annually
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Weekly visits to local woodlands and other outdoor learning
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Regular staff training
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Reporting to parents every term and keeping informed of learning through the use of tapestry journals.
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Displays will be interactive and will celebrate learning
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Core experiences eg. caterpillars to butterflies, growing plants.
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Observations from focus weeks and any `wow’ moments in learning recorded in tapestry journals with photos/videos and shared with parents for the purpose of promoting the partnership with parents to support learning. Tapestry will enable us to find out about learning at home and for us to sharer learning with families. Parents will be encouraged to contribute to tapestry journals. Staff will then use the feedback from parents to contribute to their knowledge of the child. Tapestry journals will not be over burdensome, sometimes letting the photos/videos tell a story.
SEN
At Basildon we will use a range of strategies for ensuring the delivery of an ambitious Early Years curriculum for all learners, such as:
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Every child follows the same curriculum and goals, being enabled to progress through modelling, scaffolding, prompting gradually moving towards independence. Through enabling all children all children to access the curriculum, all children will be able to meet with success.
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Every child will progress through the goals at different rates and with different levels of support, with staff making judgements to enable children to reach their full potential.
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Once a goal is reached, children will be challenged through deepening and breadth
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Daily phonics interventions will take place for the children that are identified.
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Regular speech and language interventions for those who need it
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Early identification of children who may need temporary help to fill gaps in learning and those who may have special educational needs will be supported and have any necessary interventions to help them achieve their full potential.
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Work with other agencies when necessary
Children leave their Reception year with strong foundations, fully equipped with the attitudes, skills, knowledge and understanding to continue a happy and successful journey through school. Children leave EYFS at Basildon CE Primary School as confident, independent, resilient and kind individuals with a zest for learning.
Assessment:
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Informal baseline assessment through interaction with the children to get to know each child during their first weeks in their class.
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National Baseline assessment during the first six weeks of the Reception year.
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Will focus on what the children can do and what the barriers are, supporting in overcoming these barriers to learning.
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Staff are constantly assessing the children in their everyday activities, through play and adult led interactions, building on current knowledge and understanding and building on this, moving learning forward in the moment, allowing misconceptions to be spotted and effectively addressed at an early stage.
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Discussing and encouraging reflection for next steps with the child.
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Monitor every child’s progression against curricular goals.
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Phonics assessments every half term using monster phonics.
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Mark making/pencil grip assessments every term in Reception.
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Daily teaching sessions for Literacy and Maths to be regularly monitored, assessed and reviewed so that planning will be based on teacher led Next Steps as well around children’s interests.
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See SEND policy
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At the end of EYFS, we will assess each child’s learning and development against the Early Learning Goal’s (ELG’s) and this will be shared on the end of year report.
At Basildon CE Primary School communication and expanding vocabulary is given key importance in the EYFS.
We have a vocabulary rich curriculum, taking every opportunity to introduce new vocabulary and embed this. We will do this through the texts shared, through working on curricular goals, subject specific vocabulary during Maths, phonics, woodland learning and by taking opportunities to extend vocabulary during interactions and continuous provision.
Introducing unfamiliar and challenging vocabulary and ensuring vocabulary becomes embedded through using in a variety of contexts. Tier 2 and Tier 3 vocabulary have been included on our curricular goals document.
Subject leaders map texts taught across the school to ensure a range of diverse texts are taught throughout EYFS
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