EYFS consists of two year groups, Nursery and Reception. The team is led by Assistant Headteacher, Mrs Honor Dargan.

In Reception we follow the statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage.

Children in the EYFS learn by playing and exploring, being active and through creative and critical thinking which takes place both indoors and outside.

The curriculum for the Early Years classes is divided into seven areas of learning. Of these seven, there are three prime areas which are the key focus areas in Nursery and Reception. The prime areas are Personal, Social and Emotional Development; Communication and Language; and Physical Development. The remaining four areas are referred to as specific areas of learning. They are Literacy, Mathematics, The World and Expressive Arts and Design, and are incorporated as appropriate within our overall curriculum and according to the needs of individual children.

Personal, Social and Emotional Development – This involves learning to understand our emotions and to manage ourselves in various social situations. It also focuses on developing personal characteristics that are fundamental in building the life skills that are a prerequisite for being a good learner. These include being able to understand and follow school rules, being able to take turns and resolve conflicts, and being able to accept the needs of others.

Communication and Language – This involves giving pupils opportunities to speak and listen in a range of situations and to develop their confidence and skills in expressing themselves. We focus especially on listening to stories, paying attention to the details and being able to recall and retell what happens to other people. We also focus on listening and responding to ideas expressed by others in conversations and discussion along with expanding our vocabulary and the ability to organise, sequence and clarify thinking, ideas, feelings and events.

Physical Development – This involves focusing on big body movements as well as small body movements to develop children’s co-ordination, control, and movement. This includes activities such as holding a pencil with the correct grip, throwing and catching a ball, balancing on a range of equipment, and negotiating space as we move around when playing or when moving around the school.

This involves enjoying rhyming and rhythmic activities along with building the ability to hear and identify sounds we hear around us. There is a strong focus on listening to stories and joining in, leading to an understanding of how stories are structured and being able to structure our own. In Reception we start to learn the individual letter sounds in readiness for reading and, when the children are ready, for writing.

This involves providing pupils with opportunities to:

practise and improve their skills in counting, recognising numerals, understanding that once we have counted a set of objects, e.g. 4 chocolates, it will always be 4 unless we add or take one away. Later on we focus on calculating simple addition and subtraction problems along with some halving, doubling and general number problem solving skills.

describe and apply knowledge about shape, space, and measure.

This involves guiding pupils to make sense of their physical world and their community through opportunities to explore, observe and find out about people, places, technology and the environment.

This involves supporting pupils to explore and play with a wide range of media and materials. Children are provided with a broad range of opportunities and encouragement for sharing their thoughts, ideas and feelings through a variety of activities in art, music, movement, dance, role play, and design and technology. A part of this, of course, is encouraging the growth of each child’s creativity and imagination.

Teachers will also monitor each child’s characteristics of learning, namely their abilities in:

• Playing and exploring
• Active learning
• Creating and thinking critically

Children’s progress towards the Early Learning Goals is tracked using ‘Tapestry’.

Tapestry is an online Learning Journal to record photos, observations and comments, in line with the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum, to build up a record of your child’s experiences during their time with us. This system allows us to work with parents and carers to share information and record the children’s play and learning in and outside of the classroom.

Key Stage 1 consists of two year groups, Year 1 and Year 2. The team is led by Assistant Headteacher, Mr Matthew Brant. The National Curriculum for Key Stage 1 comprises of Core and Non-Core Subjects.

Pupils have regular experience of speaking and listening, reading, writing, phonics, grammar, handwriting and spelling.   English is taught across the curriculum using topics and themes as well as the programmes of study in the National Curriculum.  Pupils are learning to use language effectively for different purposes and different audiences.

We use Oxford Reading Tree, Rigby Star and Collins Big Cat as our core guided reading books. We also have a number of other fiction, non-fiction, poems and plays which are used for extension reading. Reading books are banded according to their content. Pupils are taught reading skills during guided reading lessons, phonics lessons, individual reading sessions and through cross curricular activities. Pupils’ book band levels are checked regularly to ensure each child is on the correct level. This takes into account both their ability to decode words as well as their comprehension skills. Each child has a reading record book for staff and parents to write in. Reading targets are set by the teacher and recorded in the children’s reading record book. The school has a lending library that pupils borrow books from each week.

KS1 children take part in daily sessions of phonics teaching of between 15-20 minutes. Phonics skills, knowledge and understanding are vital to learning to read and write. These lessons are taught consistently and follow guidance set by ‘Letters and Sounds’. We group children according to their needs as they develop at different rates.

Maths is taught to be purposeful and meaningful through the teaching of mathematical skills and knowledge. All teachers in each year group adapt their lesson plans to suit their children’s needs. There is a strong emphasis on differentiation between groups and individuals and children are given the chance to extend their understanding where necessary, and to obtain extra support or help if appropriate. We maintain a strong emphasis on using practical apparatus to support the children’s learning of maths to suit their level of attainment. We use the online ‘My Maths’ programme for setting home learning.

Assessment of a child’s attainment is of a continuous nature within the classroom context. Throughout Key Stage 1, teachers are continually assessing each child’s progress to ensure that they are able to make the best possible progress. This also allows teachers to quickly identify any problems or difficulties which may create a barrier to a child’s learning.

More formal assessments take place at the end of Key Stage 1, just prior to the move to the Key Stage 2. These take the form of teacher assessments, backed up with National Tests in Reading, Writing and Maths. At the end of the year, usually towards the end of June, every child in the school receives a formal written report.