Goldstone Primary School & Little Owls Nursery

EYFS - Intent, Implementation, Impact

“Every child deserves the best possible start in life and the support that enables them to fulfil their potential. Children develop quickly in the early years and a child’s experiences between birth and age 5 have a major impact on their future life chances. A secure, safe and happy childhood is important in its own right. Good parenting and high-quality early learning together provide the foundation children need to make the most of their abilities and talents as they grow up.”

Statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage

INTENT:

Our aim within the EYFS at Goldstone Primary School is to provide a high standard of child centred education and to promote a love of learning within a safe, supportive and happy learning environment in which every person matters.

We recognise the importance of providing a creative, stimulating and challenging curriculum in order to encourage and support children’s confidence, self-esteem, resilience and development.

We work in close partnership with parents, carers, governors, and the wider community and celebrate success in all we do.

We seek to provide equality of opportunity, ensuring that every child is included and supported through anti-discriminatory practice.

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) applies to children from birth to the end of the reception year. In our school, the Foundation Stage consists of a Nursery and Reception Year catering for children aged 3 to 5 years. Our aim is to ensure children leave the EYFS with a good level of development, ready for Year 1 and ready to benefit from the opportunities ahead of them.

IMPLEMENTATION:

Throughout EYFS at Goldstone, we follow the Early Years Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage, effective September 2021, by the DfE. This framework specifies the requirement for learning and development in the Early Years and provides prime and specific areas of learning we must cover in our curriculum.     

We are committed to the four guiding principles of the EYFS which are:

• A Unique Child
• Positive Relationships
• Enabling Environments
• Learning and Development.

Our ethos is guided by the seven key features of effective practice which are:

• The best for every child
• High quality care
• The curriculum- what we want children to learn
• Pedagogy- helping children learn
• Assessment- checking what children have learnt
• Self-regulation and executive function
• Partnerships with parents

The EYFS has seven areas of learning.

The framework sets out the three prime areas of learning that underpin everything in the early years:

• communication and language
• physical development
• personal, social and emotional development

The four specific areas help children to strengthen and apply the prime areas:

• literacy
• mathematics
• understanding the world
• expressive arts and design

(Development Matters: non-statutory curriculum guidance for the early years foundation stage)

All areas of the EYFS curriculum are planned for to ensure there is a broad, balanced and progressive learning environment and curriculum. The children will learn new skills, acquire new knowledge and demonstrate understanding through the seven areas of the EYFS curriculum.

None of these areas can be delivered in isolation from the others. They are equally important and depend on each other. All areas are delivered through a balance of adult led and child-initiated activities. We use the Development Matters as a guide and assess Reception children against the Early Learning Goals at the end of the Reception year.

Planning for this curriculum is designed to be flexible so that children’s unique interests are supported.

• The Planning within the EYFS is based around half termly or termly themes. Each half-term we would aim to address and develop several objectives that are covered by the four guiding principles and appropriate ‘Development Matters’ in the seven areas of Learning and Development.
• These plans are used by the EYFS teachers as a guide for weekly planning, however teachers may alter these in response to the needs (achievements and interests) of the children. This will be indicated on weekly planning.
• During each week, the children will work with an adult to complete three Reading Practice sessions (in Reception), as well as an adult led literacy task and an adult led maths task. There are a range of child initiated tasks planned for and provided through both the indoor and outdoor provision. As the children move through the Foundation Stage, there are also planned weekly ‘Challenges’, which the children are encouraged to engage in during their Continuous Provision.  
• We make regular assessments and observations of children’s learning and we use this information to ensure that future planning reflects identified needs.
• Assessment in the EYFS mainly takes the form of observation, with focused and formal assessments where appropriate. There are also opportunities for pupil reflection and contributions.
• All Foundation Stage Staff are involved in the Observation and Assessment process. These observations are recorded in a variety of ways (anecdotal, annotated photographs, EvidenceMe captured emergent and/or planned learning experiences, annotated pieces of “Teacher Focused” and “Independent” work and planned observations) and used to inform our internal assessments and the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile (EYFSP).
• Within the final term of the EYFS, we provide a written summary to parents/carers, reporting their progress against the ELG’s contained within the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile.  Nursery parents will receive a summative report at the end of the Summer term. The parents are given the opportunity to discuss these judgments with the teacher. Parents will also receive their child’s “Learning journal, Year Book and Writing Book”; These are books recording their child’s learning experiences during that academic year.

Children have access to a wide range of play opportunities within our indoor and outdoor learning environments which are planned to provide experiences across the seven areas of learning.

In planning what children learn, we reflect on the different rates at which children are developing and adjust our practice. The three characteristics of effective learning are:

o Playing and Exploring ~ children investigate, explore and ‘have a go’

o Active Learning ~ children concentrate, persevere and enjoy their achievements

o Creating and Thinking Critically ~ Children have their own ideas, make links and develop strategies.

We support the transition of children into Reception with:

o   A Welcome Meeting for parents and carers in the Summer term.

o   Carefully planned opportunities for children to meet their new teacher and classroom for a Teddy Bear’s Picnic on Transition Day.

o   A picnic in Hove Park for children to meet school staff in an informal setting and to build links with other families.

o   Nursery visits for identified children and feeder PVIs with two or more children coming to Goldstone.

o   Phone calls to each feeder Nursery for a handover about each new child.

o   Open invitations for PVIs to come and visit us at Goldstone.

o   Transition booklets complete with photographs of the staff and learning environments.

o   Thorough hand-overs between Little Owls Nursery and Reception staff.

o   Individual 30 minute Parent and Child consultations in the Autumn term prior to starting school.

o   Story-time session in the Autumn term prior to starting school.

We support the transition of children into Year 1 with:

o   Carefully planned opportunities for children to meet their new teacher for story-times and for the morning on Transition day.

o   Open Classrooms for parents and children to visit their new classrooms and meet the teacher.

o   Transition booklets complete with photographs of the staff and learning environments.

o   Hot-seating of Year 1 children to ask them questions about the next key stage.

o   Thorough hand-overs between Reception and Year 1 staff.

o   Extra transition opportunities for those children who need it.

IMPACT:

We strive to ensure that our children’s progress across the EYFS curriculum is good from their varied starting points. We also strive for children to achieve a Good Level of Development.

The impact of our curriculum is measured by assessment procedures which allow us to measure outcomes against all schools nationally.

Class teachers use observations to make formative assessments which inform future planning and ensure that all children build on their current knowledge and skills at a good pace. Summative assessment is guided by the Development Matters.

This is regularly tracked to ensure rates of progress are at least good for all children, including vulnerable groups such as those with SEND, disadvantaged or summer born children.

Our assessment judgements have been moderated both in school and externally with local schools and others in our Hove Partnership.

The impact of our curriculum is also measured by how effectively it helps our children develop into well rounded individuals who embody our school values and carry with them the knowledge, skills and attitudes which will make them lifelong learners and valuable future citizens. We endeavour for our children to be ‘Reception Ready’ and ‘Key Stage 1 Ready’. 

Our children make strong progress academically, emotionally, creatively, socially and physically. Knowledge, understanding and skills are secured and embedded so that children attain highly and are prepared for their new year group.

At the end of EYFS our children:

• have strong communication skills, both written and verbal. Our children also listen respectfully and with tolerance to the views of others.
• take pride in all that they do, always striving to do their best.
• demonstrate emotional resilience and the ability to persevere when they encounter challenge.
• develop a sense of self-awareness and become confident in their own abilities.
• are kind, respectful and honest, demonstrate inclusive attitudes and have a sense of their role in our wider society.

June 2022: (Cohort of 90 children)

21 children did not achieve GLD: 23%

69 children did achieve GLD: 77% (33% Disadvantaged)

Local Authority: 66%

National: 65%