Early Years Foundation Stage
“The goal of early childhood education should be to activate the child’s own natural desire to learn.” Maria Montessori
The Foundation Stage at St John’s is the starting point for children to ignite their passion and love of learning at St John’s. We see it as being instrumental in laying down the foundations for their journey through education and the goal of being a life-long learner through a genuine love and excitement for the world around them.
Within our Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) we provide children with a broad range of learning experiences, to ensure that they are confident, eager and enthusiastic learners who have made a positive start to school. We recognise the importance of treating your child as an individual and offering your child a variety of experiences and activities which are designed to further their development process.
We also believe that learning should be serious fun – something that you enjoy whilst setting yourself the highest of expectations. At the heart of our curriculum is the notion that we provide a learning environment that empowers children to be championed – children who are great people who have a passion for learning and a passion for the success of their community
Much of the children's learning will be through structured play, where children are offered a range of activities each with an underlying educational purpose. Play is the means by which the children explore a variety of experiences in different situations for a variety of purposes. It is a process which provides for children a way of learning about the world around them. We plan activities and experiences that promote children's development and learning based on the ‘Development Matters' in the Early Years Foundation Stage.
There are seven areas that are used to plan our curriculum. These are:
- Personal, Social and Emotional Development
- Communication and Language
- Physical Development
- Literacy
- Maths
- Expressive Arts and Design
- Understanding the world.
The importance of securing positive relationships with children and their families begins before the children start in our early years provision. There is a full transition programme for every child that involves a visit into school, parents’ meetings and visits into nurseries. The transition programme is developed to meet the needs of individual children to ensure positive attachments are made with staff across the early years provision. This approach supports children’s and family’s wellbeing and enables the children to settle quickly within the provision.
Our EYFS curriculum is child-centred, with an ‘in the moment’ approach, however we have broad themes and set up provocations to aid children’s initial thinking as well as first hand experiences (as much as possible), which engage the children. We encourage active learning to ensure the children are motivated and interested. We take time to get to know children’s interests and likes to support learning.
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All areas of the EYFS curriculum are followed and planned for to ensure there is a broad, balanced and progressive learning environment and curriculum. The children will learn new skills, acquire new knowledge and demonstrate understanding through the seven areas in the EYFS curriculum as mentioned above. |
Daily whole class sessions and guided activities are set up and planned to cover different areas of the EYFS curriculum and allow children to develop their personalised next steps in learning. Areas of need and next steps are identified for all children, to ensure good progress is made. There are also a range of stimulating and engaging activities which the children can access independently and a variety of opportunities for child-initiated play. In planning and guiding children’s activities we reflect on the different ways that children learn and reflect these in our practice.
All activities and opportunities allow the children to show the Characteristics of Effective Learning. These are:
• playing and exploring - children investigate and experience things, and ‘have a go’;
• active learning - children concentrate and keep on trying if they encounter difficulties, and enjoy achievements;
• creating and thinking critically - children have and develop their own ideas, make links between ideas, and develop strategies for doing things.
Children in the EYFS learn by playing and exploring, being active, and through creative and critical thinking which takes place both the indoor and outdoor learning environment and continuous provision. Our outdoor area is free flow and used all year round and in all weather conditions.
