Intent
At St Francis Primary School, our Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum is designed to promote and encourage all children to be motivated, curious, independent and happy learners.
We aim to ensure that we provide all children with the best start to their education through a carefully designed curriculum that enables them to fulfil their full potential and achieve future success regardless of their various starting points and backgrounds. We have an inclusive and broad curriculum that incorporates diversity and is culturally sensitive. We ensure that all children’s individual needs are met through careful planning and assessment, identifying and addressing any issues and implementing early intervention or additional support if required.
We recognise every child is unique, and we acknowledge and promote children’s interests to provide them with the opportunities to follow their imagination and creativity. We celebrate the differences in our school community, and always strive to promote and instil a love for learning.
Implementation
At St Francis Primary School, we ensure that all children experience the seven areas of learning set out in the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework through a balance of adult lead teaching and child initiated play. At the end of Reception, children are assessed in each area under the ‘Early Learning Goals’.
There are seven areas of learning and development.
The prime areas are: –
- Personal, Social and Emotional Development
- Physical Development
- Communication and Language
The Specific areas are: –
- Mathematics
- Literacy
- Understanding the World
- Expressive Arts & Design
We have an overarching, broad theme each half term and use high quality texts that enable us to plan a balance of adult-led and enhanced provision activities so children can become fully immersed in the books and continue their learning independently through discovery, exploration, curiosity and challenge. All staff engage in quality interactions with children throughout the day, which enables the staff team to be flexible with planning and include ‘current interests’; we believe our children at St Francis should be a part of the planning process and have ownership over what we do.
Whilst the children’s interests are at the heart of our curriculum, we ensure that we provide all pupils with a broad range of experiences and opportunities covering a variety of festivals and celebrations giving them the cultural capital they need for future success.
As we are a mixed setting of Nursery and Reception aged children. We have a carefully planned out skill progression document, which has been developed using the new EYFS Framework and Development Matters; this allows for all staff and children to be aware of differentiation within our provision and adult interactions, depending on the stage of each individual child.
British Values play a fundamental part of our curriculum and everything we do. Many of the British Values encourage sharing and collaborating, and it’s one of the most important skills children learn in the early years. We develop provisions that allow children to share, while encouraging collaborating and working together towards a common goal.
We make all learning meaningful so our children can use what they have learned and apply it in their independent learning. The Characteristics of Effective Learning are threaded through all learning in the EYFS curriculum. Emphasis is placed upon playing and learning, active learning and thinking critically; Adults engage in purposeful play and quality interactions with children, modelling and encouraging these characteristics.
Impact
Our curriculum, delivered by a skilled and committed staff team, ensures that all children make strong progress from their individual starting points. Many children join our Early Years with skills that are significantly below those of their peers nationally. Throughout their time with us, they make rapid and sustained progress, working confidently towards the national expectation for a Good Level of Development by the end of Reception. As pupils move through the school, they continue to make good progress both academically and socially, consistently working towards age-related expectations.
Our carefully structured skills progression is firmly aligned with the Year One curriculum, enabling all children to develop the essential knowledge and understanding needed to transition smoothly and succeed in Key Stage One.
Children at St Francis develop positive learning behaviours and are able to apply their knowledge across a range of contexts. They make connections in their thinking, articulate their ideas clearly, and demonstrate resilience when faced with challenge. They feel confident to take risks, to reflect on both success and setback, and to use these experiences to adjust and improve their work.
Through our creative, balanced and purposeful provision, we nurture happy, motivated, and independent learners who are well prepared for the next stage of their education.
