Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)
In their Foundation year at Brookhurst Primary School, your child will complete the final year of the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum.
At our school we aim to develop your child both academically and socially.
These seven areas provide the basis for the National Curriculum subjects from Year 1.
· Personal, Social and Emotional Development
· Physical Development
· Communication and Language
· Understanding the World
· Expressive Arts and Design
· Mathematics
· Literacy
At Brookhurst Primary, we believe that our youngest children will learn most effectively within the context of a well-organised play environment where their interests are acknowledged and their needs supported by skilful adults who understand the complex relationships between learning and teaching.
Our Foundation environment is set up in such a way as to enable effective learning to take place in a variety of ways:
· Our children feel secure within their area which enables them to become confident learners
· Children are given time to explore ideas and interests in depth
· Children are able to initiate activities that promote learning and enable them to learn from one another
· Children learn through the opportunity of indoor and outdoor movement and the development of their senses
· We introduce creative and imaginative activities to stimulate and promote the development and use of language
· Our Foundation curriculum is delivered through 4 different strategically planned strands.
· Continuous provision – where the curriculum is accessed through a high quality indoor and outdoor learning environment, this is offered every day hence the term ‘continuous’. The children will be exposed to the term ‘independent learning’ for this time
· Enhanced provision – where the environment is enhanced weekly with additional resources
· Directed activities – where the curriculum is accessed through focused discussion and group activities
· Enrichment activities- enriching the children’s learning with real life opportunities e.g. a visit from the local police during the ‘Who helps us?’ topic.
The members of school staff in the foundation stage are all skilled in the selection of appropriate techniques to facilitate learning, during:
· Continuous provision – the adults will be engaged in playing alongside the children to observe and identify interest/learning, sensitive interaction and supportive intervention involving conversation, role-modelling, responding to and suggesting ideas, making links to previous experiences, wondering out loud, asking questions etc.
· Enhanced provision – this is a time for adults to introduce new ideas and resources, role model, set a clear framework for children to use and provide time for exploration
· Directed activities – during this time the adults will be leading the discussion, shaping the children’s ideas, listening and responding to the children, directly teaching new concepts, skills or knowledge
We hope that, by being engaged in these activities, our children’s learning will be developed and challenged and that the use of their imagination will be excited and strengthened. We hope that our children will really enjoy learning about different things in many different ways.
We look forward to welcoming you to our Foundation Unit so that you can see for yourself what the above looks like in reality and practice.
Brookhurst Primary School Early Years Foundation Stage Policy
Intent Implementation and Impact Statement
Topics of Learning Foundation 2023
Typical day for EYFS children
Within the school day, we have carefully planned carpet sessions (directed activity) to best support the children to learn. We teach daily Phonics using the Little Wandle Scheme. There is a handy parents page to support learning at home too. This can be accessed here: Little Wandle Scheme
Here are some resources that will support you to understand how this is taught and structured:
Reception Scheme Guidance for Teachers
Programme Overview Reception and Year 1
Tricky words for parents Phase 2
Tricky words for parents Phase 3
Tricky words for parents Phase 4
Similarly, we teach Maths daily using the White Rose scheme. This is supported with provision and the children will be given ‘challenges’ based on the learning completed in the carpet session.