Early Years Foundation Stage

Colville Primary School inspires children through engaging and challenging learning within a happy school.

Intent: why do we teach what we teach?

At Colville our focus is the development of children as individuals and providing them with the skills, knowledge and understanding they need to prepare them for the challenges in Key Stage One and beyond. We teach our children to have a growth mind-set, which enables them to have the skills to overcome any challenges they face. We provide high quality provision for children from 6 months to 5 years old, from our Day Care to Reception. Our aim in the EYFS is to work alongside parents and carers to build strong foundations rooted in academic success as well as moral and spiritual development, so that ultimately our children can be successful, go on to be active citizens of society and most importantly, happy, curious life-long learners. 

We embed the right habits for learning through the Characteristics of Effective Teaching and Learning: Play and Exploration, Active Learning and Creative and Critical Thinking. We call these ‘our learning powers’ and they are revisited through our adult led and continuous provision.

Implementation: how do we teach what we teach?

Children learn through a balance of child-initiated and adult-led activities through the 7 areas of learning. In Day Care and Nursery, the timetable is carefully structured so that children have time to extend their learning and play. Directed small group teaching in phonics, rhyme time, maths and topic, with regular circle time sessions to build on a PSED focus is timetabled throughout the week. Adult led focus activities where children work with an Early Years trained practitioner to work on next steps are planned alongside targeted interventions. During these times practitioners can systematically check for understanding, identify and respond to misconceptions quickly and provide real-time verbal feedback which results in a strong impact on the acquisition of new learning. 

In Nursery, specialist teachers for Art, Music and PE support children to engage in small groups to access the learning in an age-appropriate way. Our whole school progression maps show the progression of skills from Day Care to Year 6. 

In Reception, the adult led teaching time is increased throughout the year to support the children in their journey to Key Stage One. Vocabulary is at the heart of all that we do and star words are planned into the adult led and continuous provision. Specialist teachers for Art, Music, Computing, and PE plan lessons to support children in developing their next steps as well as communicating effectively with the class-based practitioners to continue extending the learning in the environment. 

Children are provided with plenty of time to engage in ‘exploration’ throughout the variety of experiences carefully planned to engage and challenge them in the provision. The curriculum is planned for the inside and outside environments and equal importance is given to learning in both areas. The curriculum is planned in a cross-curricular way to enable all aspects of the children’s development across the 7 areas of learning and our curricular goals. 

Early reading is at the heart of our curriculum. Our EYFS library holds our curriculum books that children access to extend their learning, alongside providing home books that children self-select weekly. All children have daily rhyme time which supports our children’s vocabulary, language and reading development, building up a bank of rhymes. Each half term we have a ‘learning theme’ in which high quality curriculum books have been planned throughout the year in order to enhance and build upon children’s learning. We currently follow the phonic scheme Essential Letters and Sounds from DayCare to Reception. Children in Reception begin Guided Reading groups which supports them in the transition to Year One. 

Our inclusive approach means that all children learn together, however, through assessment, we put in place a range of early interventions and support to enhance and scaffold children who may need further support to make progress, closing the gap to support all children to be on track. 

Our strong relationships with parents and carers ensures that every child reaches their full potential. Each child’s needs and interests are different which is why our home -school connection is vital.

Impact: how do we know what children have learnt and how well they have learnt it?

Our curriculum and its delivery ensure that children make good progress. During their time in our EYFS, children make rapid progress so that we meet over and above the national expectation for GLD at the end of the year.  They develop detailed knowledge and skills across all 7 areas of learning and use these in an age-appropriate way. Our children develop their vocabulary and understanding of language across the EYFS curriculum. Children also make good progress toward their age-related expectations before transitioning into Year One as they have the knowledge and skills they need for when they need to move on. We believe our high standards are due to the enriched play-based exploration alongside the rigour of assessment and teaching the children have as they move through the early years – a rich diet of balanced learning experiences is undoubtedly the best way to develop happy, curious children. 

Performance Data