Early Years Foundation Stage EYFS

The Early Years at Gainsborough

We truly believe that children will grow and develop throughout their school life and beyond if they build firm foundations in the Early years.  This is why our key aim at Gainsborough is to provide a broad and balanced, varied and progressive curriculum to help our child gain the skills needed to further their educational journey successfully.  We plan carefully so that all children are able to access, explore, enjoy and flourish every day. We promote a love for reading from an early age, providing our children with new and exciting vocabulary to shape their future. 

 

Our curriculum aims to...

• focus on key skills to enable children to know more and remember more and build firm foundations for their learning 

• text rich curriculum developing a wealth of vocabulary and a 'love for reading.'

• fun and creative provision to support, engage and challenge all learners and all abilities 

• a curriculum planned around what we want the child to 'know and remember   

   'We enjoy making friends at Gainsborough'

 

EARLY YEARS FOUNDATION STAGE

Teachers carefully plan activities that stimulate and interest children. Teachers typically give children good opportunities to practise their skills and they model language for them effectively.

Because of leaders’ actions, there has been a considerable increase in the number of children who achieved a good level of development in 2018, compared to 2017.

OFSTED 2018

High quality planning,  delivery and resources

The early years lead has a secure understanding of standards in the provision. They have taken effective action to enhance the quality of education that children receive and to ensure that children make typically strong progress from their starting points. They have taken decisive action to ensure that the maximum number of children are ready for Year 1.

OFSTED 2018

 

  'We enjoy getting active outside.'

 

EARLY YEARS FOUNDATION STAGE CURRICULUM

There are seven areas of learning and development that are all equally important and inter-connected.
Three areas are crucial for igniting children’s curiosity and enthusiasm for learning, and for building their capacity to learn, form relationships and thrive.

• communication and language

• physical development

• personal, social and emotional development

There are also four specific areas, through which the three prime areas are strengthened and applied.

• literacy

• mathematics

• understanding the world

• expressive arts and design

  'We enjoy being imaginative in our role play areas.'

 

At Gainsborough our high quality provision involves activities and experiences for children including:

• • Communication and language development – giving children opportunities to experience a rich language environment; to develop their confidence and skills in expressing themselves; and to speak and listen in a range of situations.

  • Physical development – providing opportunities for young children to be active, interactive and to develop their co-ordination, control, and movement. Children must be helped to understand the importance of physical activity and to make healthy food choices.

  • Personal, social and emotional development – helping children to develop a positive sense of themselves and others. To form positive relationships and develop respect for others.  To develop social skills and learn how to manage their feelings.  To understand appropriate behaviour in groups.  To have confidence in their own abilities.

  • Literacy development – encouraging children to link sounds and letters and to begin to read and write. Children have will  access to a wide range of reading materials to ignite their interest.

  • Mathematics – providing children with opportunities to develop and improve their skills in counting, understanding and using numbers, calculating simple addition and subtraction problems and to describe shapes, spaces, and measures

  • Understanding the world – guiding children to make sense of their physical world and community through opportunities to explore, observe and find out about people, places, technology and the environment.

  • Expressive arts and design – enabling children to explore a wide range of media and  materials, as well as providing opportunities and encouragement for sharing their thoughts, ideas and feelings through a variety of activities in art, music, dance, role- play, design and technology.

 

 

'We are keen to find out more'

    

Our highly skilled teachers and teaching assistants consider the individual needs, interests, and stage of development of each child in their care, and use this information to plan a challenging and enjoyable experience in all of the areas of learning and development.

If throughout the early years, any child’s progress in any of the prime area show cause for concern, we pro-actively discuss this with parents and agree how both school and home can best support the child. Together, we consider whether a child may have a special educational need that require specialist support. We draw on the expertise of outside agencies and help families to access relevant support from other agencies as appropriate.

Each area of learning and development is planned through purposeful play and a mix of adult-led and child-initiated activity. Play is essential for children’s development, building their confidence as they learn to explore, to think about problems, and relate to others. Children learn by leading their own play, and by taking part in play which is guided by adults. The Foundation team will actively respond to each child’s emerging needs and interests, guiding their development through warm, positive interaction. As children grow older, and as their development allows, it is expected that the balance will gradually shift towards more activities led by adults, to help children prepare for more formal learning.

The Foundation Team are highly experienced in planning and guiding children’s activities, based on the different ways that children learn.

• playing and exploring – children investigate and experience things, and ‘have a go’
• active learning – children concentrate and keep on trying if they encounter difficulties, and enjoy achievements
• creating and thinking critically – children have and develop their own ideas, make links between ideas, and develop strategies for doing things

   We are amazing readers, writers and mathematicians.

 

Home-School Partnership

This partnership is central to everything we do and we actively encourage an open and supportive partnership between home and school from Nursery through to Year Six. The importance of small details or changes that may affect your child cannot be underestimated and we encourage you to inform any member of our Foundation team at the start or end of the school day. 

 

      

 

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