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Snaresbrook Primary School

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Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)

At Snaresbrook we want all our children to be independent, resilient, confident, articulate, knowledgeable and kind. We believe children learn best when they feel safe, cared for and valued. Children should learn to play and learn through play, the learning should be engaging and challenging. We are committed to providing the best possible start to our children’s school life, teaching them skills and knowledge and giving them experiences, which will ensure their well-being now and success in the future.

We believe that a child’s environment has a significant impact on their present and future development. We are committed to providing daily access to a stimulating, supportive and language rich learning environment that fosters independence, resilience and skilful communication. Responsive adults who are kind, calm, and consistent ensure high quality interactions, which support children’s social and emotional development. A mixture of adult-led and child-initiated experiences ensure that children are taught the skills and knowledge they need and given opportunities to consolidate and refine what they have learnt in a play-based environment. The curriculum is delivered in both indoor and outdoor classrooms and the provision of rich, varied and challenging learning experiences, allows children to reach their full potential and prepares them for future learning.

Curriculum

Our curriculum for the Foundation Stage reflects the learning aims and objectives set out in the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum. There are seven areas of learning and development that must shape educational provision in all early years’ settings.

The Prime Areas of Learning

Communication and Language: All adult interactions support your child to develop a rich and varied vocabulary. Adults model correct grammar and sentence structure and teach child how to use language to structure their learning and interact positively with others. If your child is new to English or needs additional support with their communication and language development, they may take part in the small group intervention sessions Early Years Talk Boost and NELI.

Personal, Social and Emotional Development: Children learn how to share, take turns, make and keep friendships, care for others and their environment, be independent and develop resilience. Adults spend time talking to children about their emotions, they teach them how to express them clearly and manage the strong feelings that they experience. We use the Reception and Nursery versions of the whole school Jigsaw scheme to support children’s personal, social and emotional development.

Physical Development: Physical development includes your child’s gross motor skills like climbing, moving confidently and riding a bike and fine motor skills including handling tools, doing up zips and buttons, drawing and writing. To support your child’s gross motor skills they take part in a weekly P.E session and have daily access to the outside areas with planned opportunities to develop their, climbing, balancing, throwing and catching skills. To support fine motor development children take part in Funky Fingers sessions and daily pre-writing shape or handwriting practise. Fine motor is also developed through continuous provision including the workshop, malleable, painting and mark making areas.

The Specific areas of learning

Literacy: In the EYFS we carefully select books that include complex themes, aspirational language and beautiful illustrations. The Nursery children explore a different core book each week while the Reception children follow the writing through reading approach adopted by KS1 and KS2 with the children spending three or four weeks on a text and taking their time to explore and unpick the themes and language featured in the book to inform their writing. Across the EYFS we follow the Letters and Sounds phonics programme to help children develop their early reading and writing skills in daily phonic sessions.

Mathematics: We use the White Rose Maths scheme of work to support children to develop their mathematical skills and reasoning ability. The reception children follow the White Rose Reception scheme while Nursery maths sessions follow an adapted form of the scheme. Children are taught using a variety of different representations and concrete resources to help them understand the concepts and language taught. Children explore maths in the real world in the EYFS environment including looking at weight in the malleable areas, length and shape in the workshop and capacity in the sand and water areas.

Understanding the World: This area of the curriculum includes understanding the past and present, people, cultures and communities and the natural world. Children explore themes and concepts in adult led sessions based around the topics that are taught throughout the year. Learning is based around a key question and knowledge organisers are used to help the children learn and retain relevant information and skills.

Expressive Art and Design: This area of the curriculum includes creating with materials and being imaginative and expressive. Children explore expressive art and design through taught music, dance and art sessions they also consolidate taught skills in the construction, workshop, mark making, painting and small world areas.

Parent Links

At Snaresbrook Primary School, we get as excited as you do watching your child grow and develop. We like to celebrate all their achievements – whether they happen in school or at home with you.

We use the online system ‘evidence me’ for our observations and to track pupil progress. At the end of each half term your child’s observations are released and you can view them through the ‘evidence me’ app. The observations enable parents/carers to see what their child has been doing, how they are developing and their next steps.

We encourage parents/carers to upload photos and comments about their child’s learning and experiences at home, these responses are automatically stored with your child’s records.

One of the most important ways to support your child’s learning is reading to them and listening to them read every day. To support you to read with your child and to help to consolidate their skills they will have access to the ‘Bug Club’ learning platform. Bug Club will give you and your child access to online books and phonics resources that are interactive, enjoyable and match their current level of attainment.