EYFS

Intent

At South Wootton Infant School, we believe children learn best when they are provided with a wide range of rich, memorable, first-hand learning experiences. This is achieved through visitors and school trips, learning cafes where families are invited into school. We embed the three characteristics of effective learning (playing and exploring, active learning, and creating and thinking critically) into our EYFS setting through continuous provision play opportunities, adult led activities and challenges that the children self-select. We follow our whole school ‘Tree of Good Learning’, we give clear aims as we want our children to be: 

   
• Reflective
• Resilient
• Resourceful
• Collaborative 
• Creative
• Curious

The curriculum in the Early Years is designed to provide a broad and balanced education that meets the needs of all pupils. We aim for our children to make a good level of development and achieve their best by the time they move into Year One. Our ethos in Early Years is to support children’s personal, social and emotional development so that they feel safe and secure and are ready to learn. Learning experiences we provide are clearly linked to the prime (communication and language, physical development, personal, social and emotional development,) and the specific (literacy, mathematics, understanding the world, expressive arts and design). We provide topics that excite and engage children, building on their own interests and developing their experiences of the world around them. We recognise that all children come into our setting with varied experiences of the world around them, all staff work hard to ensure that the learning opportunities provided widen their knowledge and understanding of the world around them whilst setting ambitious expectations for all children.
The curriculum celebrates diversity and supports the pupils’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Those children with needs including SEND, are supported appropriately allowing them to be successful.

Implementation
At South Wootton Infant School we offer a curriculum which is broad and balanced, and which builds on the knowledge, understanding and skills of all children, whatever their starting points. In our EYFS setting we provide a free flow environment, where children can build on their knowledge and skills both inside and outside. Children learn through their play, where they can develop their own ideas, question, and wonder, putting themselves at the centre of their own learning. We know that children are unique, with their own individual fascinations and it is for this reason that we believe in a balance of child and adult led activities to nurture their love of learning.
Effective interactions between staff and children, and regular home/school communication ensures that our curriculum planning, and provision is flexible and continuously adapted to meet the needs of all learners. We use Tapestry and Pupil Asset to celebrate children’s achievements, record observations, assess and track children’s progress and identify their next steps. Our online learning journals offer parents/family members the opportunity to send information about their child’s news and achievements outside school. This provides us with a well-rounded picture of our children.

Impact
From their different starting points, all children will make good progress academically, emotionally, creatively, socially and physically developing a sense of themselves so that they are well prepared for the transition into Key Stage 1. Children will demonstrate high levels of engagement in activities, developing their speaking and listening skills, enabling them to access more areas of learning and communicate to both adults and their peers. Children will have developed a sense of the world around them and can draw on their experiences during interactions with others and from extra-curricular experiences. We also aim to help children to develop tolerance, compassion and an understanding of their rights and the rights of others in an ever-evolving world. Children leave Reception, confident, independent, resilient learners with these skills embedded to make them successful learners as they move into Key Stage 1. Children at South Wootton Infant School will be well rounded, happy, inquisitive and successful learners. Effective communication between Foundation Stage and KS1 staff is therefore crucial to achieve an effective transition for our children and to plan accordingly for the next stage of their learning journey. As a team, we carry out regular internal moderation sessions and ensure that staff attends external meetings and training to ensure that we feel confident with our judgements and that these judgements are consistent with a range of other settings. In addition to formative observations, staff input summative data on a half termly basis and complete their own data analysis records to ensure that our children’s progress is monitored carefully, the impact of actions are evaluated, and next steps are identified.

If you were to walk into Reception at SWIS you would see:           

Engaged pupils
Quality interactions
Children initiating their own learning
Children following the three school rules; be safe, be respectful and be a learner.

How equality, diversity and citizenship is embedded in EYFS:

Every child is unique and brings a rich cultural heritage with them when they arrive at our setting. The differences between their families, homes and beliefs offer fantastic opportunities to discover and celebrate a wide range of cultures. In addition, making children’s voices central in telling their own stories supports them in developing a positive sense of self. As an inclusive setting we proactively address barriers such as stereotyping, conscious and unconscious bias, and negativity. To develop positive practice we develop a confident, can-do attitude amongst our children. We strive to ensure that every child can achieve their potential, regardless of their sex, race or disability. Allowing children to experience different cultures and beliefs boosts their awareness of diversity and increases their sense of inclusion and belonging.

Pupil Voice
“I like finding insects in the garden.”
“I like building with the construction area inside and outside.”
“I like playing in the home corner.”
“The teachers help you with your writing if you get stuck and forget your sounds.”
“Teacher’s help you if you fall off the bike.”
“The teacher’s make me feel happy when they play too.”