At Barnett Wood Infant School, we believe that the experiences gained in the Early Years provide the essential foundation for all future learning and supports our children in becoming kind, confident, successful learners. We recognise that early childhood education if important in itself and it is essential that we provide rich learning experiences as part of a broad and balanced curriculum in order to support the development of the while child. We value the importance of the fundamental principles of early childhood education:

• Care and education for children are complimentary and inseparable
• The starting point in children’s education is what they know and can do already
• The adults and children in a child’s life are of central importance
• The quality of all relationships if a major influence on a child’s learning and development
• Play is one of the most powerful medium for learning and discovering the joy of learning in the Early Years

It is our intent to:

• Provide all children with happy, safe, stimulating and exciting learning environments, both inside and outside
• Enable children to develop their independence, confidence, skills, knowledge and understanding through multisensory experiences
• Provide an education that continues to develop their social, physical, intellectual, emotional and linguistic abilities
• Integrate our children into school happily through a variety of effective measures such as visits to previous settings, ‘Tea and Toys’ and ‘Stay and Play’ sessions in the summer before starting Barnett Wood.

The Birth to 5 Matters document along with the Foundation Stage Early Learning Goals set out the end of Reception year expectations and the building blocks that come before in order for children to reach their full potential by the end of the Foundation Stage. At Barnett Wood Infant School we recognise the crucial role that Early Years education has to play in providing firm foundations upon which the rest of a child’s education is successfully based, equipping them with the skills in continuing their journey into KS1.

At Barnett Wood, we understand the importance of following a child-led learning approach. At the beginning of each academic year, the parents are asked to spend time with their children thinking about what they would like to learn about during their time in Reception. They bring in an item linked to this. The teaching staff then use this to map out the topics for the year, ensuring that every child’s interests are covered. Our Medium Term Plans, used by the teacher as a guide for weekly planning, however planning is flexible in response to the needs, achievements and interests of the children.

The EYFS curriculum is planned for using the DfE Statutory Framework for the Early Years 2021 alongside the  Birth to 5 Matters document. We understand the importance of providing a high quality education through a balance of child-initiated and adult-led activities and challenges. The weekly timetable is carefully structured so that children are provided with the skills and knowledge to equip them to fulfil their full potential during play and exploration. Adult led teaching of Phonics and Mathematics are delivered daily, as well as Circle Times and Topic sessions to develop our children’s skills and understanding in C&L, PSED, UtW and EAD. Adult-led sessions are followed by child-initiated learning time, where adults join in with children’s play to scaffold their learning through the effective use of vocabulary and enquiry led questioning. Each day there is an adult led focus activity where children work in small groups to develop their individual targets and understanding in the focussed learning. This focussed group time enables adults (teachers and LSA’s) to systematically check for understanding, identify and respond to misconceptions and provide meaningful verbal feedback.  

In Reception we follow the follow schemes to ensure that there is progression of skills and knowledge in Phonics, Maths and Physical Development (PE), these schemes are used across the whole school:

• Little Wandle Letters and Sounds- this builds up the sounds and keywords the children recognise and provide them with the skills to read and write words and phrases.
• Maths- In Maths as a school we have a Maths Mastery approach, we use both White Rose  to plan in our adult led learning and environment enhancements. White Rose provides us with the themes and ideas for provision enhancements and  is valuable in providing children with the skills to explain their knowledge and understanding linked to mathematical concepts.
• GetSet4PE- The skills taught to support children’s gross motor development are carefully built upon in each lesson. We cover:

• Autumn 1- An introduction to PE
• Autumn 2- Fundamentals in PE
• Spring 1- Gymnastics unit 1
• Spring 2- Gymnastics unit 2
• Summer 1- Ball skills
• Summer 2- Games

All of these schemes build upon the foundations of our children’s learning in these subjects, preparing them for KS1.

The learning landscape both indoors and outdoors are vital in supporting our children to become kind, confident, successful learners. Continuous provision plays a vital role in our children building upon their experiences. Inside we have areas including: the message centre, the creative area, construction, maths, phonics, role play, book corner. Outside areas include: sand, water, physical (bikes), large construction, maths, message centre, role play, creative area, loose parts. Together as staff, we carefully plan the enhanced provision in these areas, taking into account: topic, our children’s needs, specific interests the children have expressed in the previous days and where we need to progress their learning to next.

We adopt an inclusive approach to ensure that all of our pupils reach their full potential. Each half term we plan for and review a range of additional intervention to support those who are working towards the Age Related Expectation (ARE) and those who are working beyond, at greater depth. Our interventions often focus on areas of learning including: Maths, Physical Development (both gross and fine motor), Phonics. When teaching whole class, all children are challenged through questioning and the level of activity. For example, in Phonics, those who are working at greater depth may work with an LSA on more complex skills such as writing simple sentences. The characteristics of effective learning are viewed as an integral part of all areas of learning and are reflected in our observations and assessments of children.

We aim to ensure all children progress through a balanced and creative EYFS Curriculum. We strive to ensure each child makes a very good level of progress through the Early Learning Goals (ELG’s), from their individual starting points. All children get the best possible start to their school life and develop the knowledge and skills to reach and exceed their potential in KS1.