Curriculum Overview
Early Years Foundation Stage
In Reception, our teachers follow the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum.
The areas of learning and development are:
Communication and language
The development of children's spoken language underpins all seven areas of learning and development. Children's back-and-forth interactions from an early age form the foundations for language and cognitive development. The number and quality of their conversations with adults and peers throughout the day in a language-rich environment are crucial. By commenting on what children are interested in or doing and echoing back what they say with new vocabulary added, practitioners will build children's language effectively. Reading frequently to children, engaging them actively in stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems, and then providing them with extensive opportunities to use and embed new words in various contexts will allow them to thrive. Through conversation, story-telling and role play, where children share their ideas with support and modelling from their teacher and sensitive questioning that invites them to elaborate, children become comfortable using a rich range of vocabulary and language structures.
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
Children's personal, social and emotional development (PSED) is crucial for leading healthy and happy lives and is fundamental to their cognitive development. Underpinning their personal development are the essential attachments that shape their social world. Strong, warm and supportive relationships with adults enable children to learn how to understand their feelings and others. Children should be supported to manage emotions, develop a positive sense of self, set simple goals, have confidence in their abilities, persist, wait for what they want, and direct attention as necessary. Through adult modelling and guidance, they will learn how to look after their bodies, including healthy eating, and manage personal needs independently. Through supported interaction with other children, they know how to make good friendships, cooperate and resolve conflicts peaceably. These attributes will provide a secure platform for children to achieve at school and in later life.
Physical Development
Physical activity is vital in children's overall development, enabling them to pursue happy, healthy and active lives. Gross and fine motor experiences develop incrementally throughout early childhood, starting with sensory explorations and developing a child's strength, coordination and positional awareness through tummy time, crawling and play movement with both objects and adults. By creating games and providing opportunities for play both indoors and outdoors, adults can support children in developing their core strength, stability, balance, spatial awareness, coordination and agility. Gross motor skills provide the foundation for developing healthy bodies and social and emotional well-being. Fine motor control and precision help with hand-eye coordination which is later linked to early literacy. Repeated and varied opportunities to explore and play with small world activities, puzzles, arts and crafts and the practice of using small tools, with feedback and support from adults, allow children to develop proficiency, control and confidence.
Literacy
It is crucial for children to develop a life-long love of reading. Reading consists of two dimensions: language comprehension and word reading. Language comprehension (necessary for both reading and writing) starts from birth. It only develops when adults talk with children about the world around them and the books (stories and non-fiction) they read with them and enjoy rhymes, poems and songs together. Skilled word reading, taught later, involves both the speedy working out of the pronunciation of unfamiliar printed words (decoding) and the speedy recognition of familiar printed words. Writing involves transcription (spelling and handwriting) and composition (articulating ideas and structuring them in speech before writing).
Maths
A strong grounding in numbers is essential so all children develop the necessary building blocks to excel mathematically. Children should be able to count confidently, and develop a deep understanding of the number 10, the relationships between them and the patterns within those numbers. By providing frequent and varied opportunities to build and apply this understanding - such as using manipulatives, including small pebbles and tens frames for organising counting - children will develop a secure base of knowledge and vocabulary from which mastery of mathematics is built. In addition, the curriculum must include rich opportunities for children to develop their spatial reasoning skills across all areas of mathematics, including shape, space and measures. Children must develop positive attitudes and interests in mathematics, look for patterns and relationships, spot connections, 'have a go', talk to adults and peers about what they notice, and be afraid to make mistakes.
Understanding the World
Understanding the world involves guiding children to make sense of their physical world and their community. The frequency and range of children's personal experiences increase their knowledge and sense of the world around them – from visiting parks, libraries and museums to meeting important members of society such as police officers, nurses and firefighters. In addition, listening to a broad selection of stories, non-fiction, rhymes, and poems will foster their understanding of our culturally, socially, technologically and ecologically diverse world. As well as building important knowledge, this extends their familiarity with words that support understanding across domains. Enriching and widening children's vocabulary will support later reading comprehension.
Expressive Arts and Design
Children's artistic and cultural awareness development supports their imagination and creativity. Children must have regular opportunities to engage with the arts, allowing them to explore and play with various media and materials. The quality and variety of what children see, hear and participate in are crucial for developing their understanding, self-expression, vocabulary and ability to communicate through the arts. The frequency, repetition and depth of their experiences are fundamental to their progress in interpreting and appreciating what they hear, respond to and observe.
Key Stage 1 and 2 - Years 1 - 6
In Years 1 to 6, our curriculum is based on the National Curriculum which can be found by clicking the link at the bottom of this page.
The subjects covered are:
- English - Phonics, Reading and Writing
- Maths
- Science
- Physical Education (PE)
- Computing
- RE
- History
- Geography
- Art and Design
- Design & Technology (DT)
- Personal, Social, Health & Citizenship Education (PSHCE)
- Modern Foreign Languages (MFL)
- Music
In the autumn term of Year 1, the teachers strive to achieve a smooth transition for the children from Reception to Year 1 by adopting a curriculum incorporating aspects of the EYFS curriculum and the National Curriculum. This fine balance of the two programmes of study allows for more flexibility and allows the children to settle into the new routines of Year 1.