Early Years



















The Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage (2021) sets the standards for learning, development and care for children from birth to 5 years.

INTENT

At Gislingham CE Primary School, we aim to provide a safe, nurturing environment which promotes the highest standard of education for our youngest pupils. Our Early Years team is committed to providing an environment that is rich with possibilities and develops children’s independence. 

There is a strong emphasis of the Prime Areas of learning: Personal, Social and Emotional Development and Communication and Language, including Oracy.  We recognise that oracy not only improves academic outcomes, but is a life skill to ensure success beyond school.  Oracy develops children's thinking and understanding which, in turn, promotes self-confidence, resilience and empathy which supports the child's well-being.  Our enabling environment and nurturing, skillful adult interactions support the children as they begin to link learning to their exploratory play. 

Our engaging curriculum ensures that all children make good progress from their starting points.  We maximise opportunities for meaningful cross-curricular links and learning experiences.  We follow children's interests and ideas to foster a lifelong love of learning both in and outside of school.

By the end of the Reception year, our intent is to ensure that all children are equipped with the skills and knowledge to have a smooth transition into Year 1.

Early Years

IMPLEMENTATION

Through our child-centred approach, we plan topics and activities based on the children’s interests. Each half term a new theme is introduced to provide inspiration for learning.  Children are given the opportunity to be explorers, be actively involved in their learning, as well as creative and critical thinkers through the planning of open ended tasks. We aim to foster curiosity through carefully planned learning environments enabling children to demonstrate those key characteristics of effective learning. We value the importance of learning outdoors and enjoy using our early year’s outdoor area within our everyday planning.

At Gislingham we ensure that our learning environments provide:

The timetable is carefully structured so that children have directed teaching during the day.  These sessions are followed by small focused group work which allows the teacher to check for understanding, identify and respond to misconceptions quickly and provide further support and opportunities for challenge.

We also know that parents are children’s first and most enduring educators and we value being partners with them in their child’s education. We look to forge positive relationships with parents to enable us to support learning both at home and school. We share the children’s learning through a range of ways including; teacher/parent meetings, sharing workbooks and regular communication.  

Literacy

Reading is at the heart of our curriculum and our aim is to encourage a love of reading right from the start.  There is a voting system for 'book of the day' where children are encouraged to independently choose between a selection of books to be read to them.  The aim is to expose children to a wide range of books that not only develop a love of reading but have been chosen specifically to develop their oracy, vocabulary and comprehension.  

Pupils' language is also nurtured through the implementation of The Write Stuff approach; this develops listening, encourages deep talk, equips children with a rich vocabulary and provides a rich repertoire of real and imagined experiences to ignite writing. 

Phonics 

We teach reading through Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised which is a systematic synthetic phonics (SSP) programme validated by the Department for Education.  Children learn how to ‘read’ the sounds in words and how those sounds can be written down. This is essential for reading, but it also helps children learn to read and spell well.   The children also practice reading (and spelling) ‘tricky words’, such as ‘they',  'you' and ‘said’.  Once children can blend sounds together to read words, they practice reading books that match the phonics and the ‘tricky words’ they know. They start to believe they can read and this does wonders for their confidence.  Children are encouraged to read at home and to share books with family members.  

Please see our Reading page for more information.

Mathematics

In Reception, pupils take part in daily focused maths sessions.  We follow the White Rose Maths Scheme of work which, along with the high quality learning environment and meaningful interactions with adults, supports children in developing mathematical thinking and discussion.  Pupils learn about numbers through games and activities using concrete manipulatives and pictorial representations which are rehearsed and applied within their own child-led exploration. 

Wider Curriculum

The wider curriciulum is taught through the learning areas: Understanding of the World and Expressive Arts and Design.  Exciting, purposeful and contextual activities are planned to build on children's natural curiosity and to develop their knowledge and understanding.  Children are introduced to subject specific language which builds further on our oracy focus.   

Our inclusive approach means that all children learn together but we provide additional intervention and support for pupils who may not be reaching their potential or are showing a greater depth of understanding and need further challenge.

Assessment

During the first half term in Reception, staff use on-going assessments, observations and conversations with the child to develop a baseline assessment.  This identifies each individual's starting points in all areas which enables us to plan experiences to ensure progress.  The following baseline assessments are also carried out:

The RBA (Statutory Reception Baseline Assessment)

This assessment focuses on 'language, communication and literacy' and 'mathematics'.  The purpose of this is to show the progress children make from Reception until the end of key stage two.

NELI (Nuffield Early Language Intervention)

NELI is an evidence-based oral language intervention for children who show weakness in their oral language skills and who are, therefore, at risk of experiencing difficulties with reading and writing.  The assessment informs us if a child is at the expected level for their age or requires intervention from our trained NELI practitioner.

Ongoing Observations

Ongoing observations of children engaged in child-initiated activities are also used to inform weekly planning and identify children's next steps.  

Pupils' progress is carefully tracked and attainment is closely monitored.  In phonics, for example, children are assessed every six weeks and any child falling behind has daily 'keep up' sessions.

IMPACT

Our EYFS curriculum provides a sustained high quality, well planned and progressive curriculum for the unique child. 

The positive relationships developed between staff and children ensure that the children are self-confident, with a good degree of self-esteem and resilience. In addition to this the children’s level of involvement ensures they are intensely engaged in activities which encourage deep level learning and development. This can be seen through the active learning environment which has a ‘buzz’ of learning as they ‘get busy’.

All children have Quality First Teaching. Any children with identified SEND may have work additional to and different from their peers in order to access the curriculum dependent upon their needs. As well as this, our school offers a demanding and varied curriculum, providing children with a range of opportunities in order for them to reach their full potential and consistently achieve highly from their starting points.

EYFS staff have a good understanding of how Early Learning Goals link to the National Curriculum which supports successful transitions into Year 1 and ensures children leave Reception with the skills, knowledge and confidence to continue their learning journey.