EYFS (Reception & Nursery)
What is the intention of the curriculum in the EYFS at High Lane Primary School?
The Early Years Curriculum at High Lane aims to provide children with meaningful experiences and the foundations for their educational journey. We strive to embed the school's core values, through the seven areas of learning from the EYFS Statutory Framework.
We provide a nurturing learning environment that fosters positive relationships and values the whole child, including their starting points, interests and individual rates of development. Through a carefully planned balance of play-based exploration and teacher-led activities, our children develop the characteristics of effective learning to become curious, confident, independent and active learners who reach their full potential and love learning. We believe that children’s well-being and mental health is central to their growth and development. Therefore, through a safe, caring, encouraging environment, we support our learners in developing a ‘have a go’ attitude, self-regulation and self-belief and pride in their own thinking, decision making and achievements. Reception and Nursery aged children work closely together, supporting each other in their learning adventures and regularly use our beautiful school grounds to explore nature and further develop through outdoor learning experiences. By providing enriching learning experiences, working collaboratively with parents and carers, and developing early skills to become capable lifelong learners, our children engage in a broad and balanced start to their learning journey.
Our EYFS curriculum aims to enable our children to be:
- Creative, capable and proud learners who are curious and make connections about the world around them.
- Secure, confident and resilient individuals who enjoy coming to school and have the self-regulatory skills to thrive when learning new knowledge and skills that develop from their existing learning.
- Increasingly focused and reflective problem solvers who have confidence in and can adapt their own decision making.
- Skillful communicators and collaborators who connect with others through language and play.
- Inquisitive and efficient early readers with an interest in rhythm, rhyme, sounds, shapes, letters and words through our bespoke High Lane phonics programme.
How do we implement the EYFS Curriculum at High Lane Primary School?
At High Lane Primary School, we follow the Early Years Foundation Stage framework and our practice is built upon the four principles within this framework:
Our carefully planned and sequenced curriculum provides a play-based and experiential learning environment, combined with focused teaching and basic skills, to ensure children make rapid progress and reach their potential before moving into Year 1. Children in both Nursery and Reception are provided with many learning opportunities accessible in our indoor and outdoor provision. They engage in planned, focused activities as well as self-initiated and free flow activities with the key features of effective practice embedded throughout:
The learning experiences within our Early Years environment are driven by the seven areas of learning and development of EYFS Framework and Development Matters. These areas are split into three prime areas and four specific areas.
For further information about the seven areas of learning in the EYFS, please see the full EYFS Framework document below and the website link below for Development Matters:
We strongly believe that in order for our children to develop their knowledge, skills and understanding in these seven areas of learning and as they move into Year 1 and beyond, they need to develop the following positive and effective learning behaviours which are based upon the 'Characteristics of Effective Teaching and Learning':
What impact do we expect to have through our effective EYFS setting?
Children within our EYFS provision will grow to be confident, curious, capable lifelong learners who feel a sense of belonging in their school and wider community. Through their ability to manage their emotions, our reflective learners will demonstrate resilience and a sense of pride when achieving challenges. Progress towards the ELGs will ensure well-rounded, independent communicators with a love of learning. The children experience a smooth transition between Nursery, Reception and beyond. Effective communication and collaboration ensure the children leave the EYFS with a solid foundation of learning of which to build upon. Our starting point and ongoing observations ensure we can identify individual rates of development and areas of need quickly as well as children’s ever-changing interests and fascinations to inform planning. Our assessment procedures enable us to effectively demonstrate what learning is taking place and how each child is progressing in all seven areas of the EYFS curriculum.
For further information about the themes and key questions our current EYFS children are exploring, please visit the EYFS class page.