Early Years

“We need a curriculum that is: relevant to today’s needs, imaginative, creative, innovative and stimulating.

A curriculum that: engages all, develops pupil’s resilience as life-long learners and encourages our children to become partners in their own learning, independent thinkers, soaked like seeds to enable them to grow and mature not in water but in memorable moments.

A curriculum that will “help pupils to fulfil God's unique plan for each and every one of us."

Intent

In EYFS at St Simon’s we focus on experiences. We support children to acquire skills, knowledge and understanding through experience, awe and wonder and play. We create a learning environment and build relationships which support, enhance and invite a child’s curiosity, confidence and individual competency to flourish regardless of backgrounds, circumstances or needs. 

Our EYFS curriculum intends to give children memorable and inspiring experiences, opportunities and direct instruction that will motivate their learning and increase their engagement. Our curriculum builds on children’s prior experiences in other settings and at home, creating opportunities for all children to develop the characteristics of effective learning.  Over the year in EYFS, children will grow in strength and confidence to make choices, self-evaluate and become lifelong learners, who are kind and thoughtful young people.

Throughout their time in EYFS, we want our children to develop a strong sense of belonging to our school family and community, getting ready to transition into Year One.
We strongly believe that our school should be a happy and loving place where every child matters as an image of God and a gift of love. At our school we strive to make all children feel safe and valued, as well as having the courage to take risks and make mistakes.
 

Implementation

• Our curriculum follows the EYFS Statutory framework (DfE, 2021), which informs us of the requirements for learning and development in the Early Years and provides us with prime and specific areas of learning we must cover in our curriculum.
•  All areas of the curriculum are taught progressively and the children are provided with ample opportunities to learn new skills, gain new knowledge and demonstrate an understanding through the seven areas of the EYFS curriculum.
  • Literacy – we use Little Wandle Letters and Sounds to teach phonics, and Talk 4 Writing to develop writing and oral skills.
  • Mathematics – we use NCETM Mastering Number and White Rose Maths.
  • Personal, Social and Emotional Development
  • Physical Development
  • Communication and Language
  • Understanding the World
  • Expressive Arts and Design
• Our curriculum has been designed with progression into Year 1 in mind. Each subject and area of learning links directly with the objectives and learning for Year 1 and beyond, ensuring that learning in Year R is truly a foundation.
• Teaching and learning staff provide stimulating and ever-changing learning environments, both inside and outside, which encourage early language development.
• We develop communication and language by adults and children interacting throughout the day as children engage in play. There are daily opportunities to talk in small groups. We assess children on entry using Language Link, following up with interventions where necessary. 
• Children’s levels of wellbeing are monitored throughout the year and adjustments made in order to raise these (using the Leuven scale).
• Children spend a substantial amount of time outside every day. They develop gross motor skills by building, balancing and climbing, riding bikes, playing games and running. They develop their fine motor skills using playdough, scissors and pencils, construction resources and more.
• We aim for a flexible mix of adult led and child-initiated activities within an environment which is designed to support them. Adult led encompasses whole class input, small group work and intentional interactions during child-initiated learning. Both morning and afternoon sessions provide self-initiated time during which adults and children work together as co-learners and play partners.
• We track pupils’ progress throughout the year using the Early Learning Goals. This allows us to put interventions in place if and when they are needed in order to ensure that all children make good progress.
• Class adults continually make observations to make formative assessments which help with planning and making sure that the children continue to build on their prior knowledge and skills at a good pace.
• Children’s work is celebrated and recorded in big books, classroom displays, individual folders and workbooks.

Impact

Children at St Simon’s make good progress from their varied starting points. They leave the Reception class with a love of learning and a confidence to extend their own learning. They transition well into Year One with the knowledge and skills needed for their next stage of learning. They are able to access learning with a good level of independence and they show a curiosity of the world around them. They have gained resilience and see mistakes as opportunities to learn. They have become good problem solvers and their questions skills are developing.

The Impact of our curriculum is also measured by the effectiveness it has on helping our children to become gentle, compassionate, well-rounded individuals who embody our School Values and 5 Caring Cs, demonstrating these in their everyday lives.