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Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)
Intent
At Lowtown, we provide a high-quality early years education by committing to nurture a lifelong love of learning alongside the objectives of the Early Years Foundation Stage statutory framework. We strive for high standards, consider the development of the whole child and seek to foster resilience and independence.
The Reception setting at Pudsey Lowtown Primary is a learning environment which aims at all times to be happy (because we know that happy children are responsive, receptive and enthusiastic to learning) and challenging (because we know children are capable and keen to learn, and enjoy the challenge and the achievements that come with it). Working collaboratively with parents and carers in order to build up strong home-school relationships, we aim to give children the best possible start to their early education by providing the essential knowledge and skills they need to prepare them for their future success.
We provide inviting classroom environments indoors and outdoors to stimulate learners and engage them in developing the ‘characteristics of effective learning’ as set out within the EYFS framework. We understand the importance of pupils being able to verbalise what they have learned and develop a strong vocabulary. By providing engaging and vocabulary-rich environments and teaching inputs, we encourage children to connect with both their peers and adults through language and play.
Alongside this, we ensure that all children receive high quality teaching in early reading through daily sessions of systemic, synthetic Phonics, story time and Rhyme Time. Our curriculum is based on books because we understand the importance of fostering a love of reading in ensuring children are not only able to read words and simple sentences by the end of Reception, but grow into life-long lovers of reading.
Staffing & Organisation
At Lowtown, we have one Reception class which caters for 30 children.
Reception class teacher: Mrs Robinson
Reception class teaching assistant & Speech and Language specialist: Mrs Knowlton
EYFS lead: Miss Brearey
SENCO & Reception class teacher 1 day a week: Mrs Benson
Implementation
In Reception, children are able to discover, practise and refine their skills in Literacy and Mathematics as well as find out about themselves and their environment through planned, purposeful play. In a broad and balanced way, our provision ensures coverage of the seven areas of learning and responds to the needs and interests of all our children. At all times, we consider characteristics of effective learning which promote positive attitudes to learning, an enthusiasm for knowledge and the confidence to become successful learners.
We ensure a balance of adult led and child-initiated activities across the day. Although much of the time is spent with children self-selecting activities indoors and outdoors, the interactions between the adult and the child is essential as the adults’ response to the child builds understanding and therefore guides new learning. The adult role is to continually model, demonstrate and question what the child is doing. At times the adult will ask the child to come and complete a focus task or game with them; at other times the adult will participate in a child’s play, extending it where possible. By the Summer term in Reception the children will experience many more adult-directed tasks as they prepare for their transition to Year 1. Getting the balance right between child-initiated play which is purposeful and adult-led which further extend learning is very important to us.
Each day we follow a timetable with set routines in place. We set aside times in the day when the children come together to be taught in the more traditional sense, gathered together on the carpet as a class. During these times we focus on Literacy, Mathematics, Phonics and stories. These sessions help to develop vital habits of learning: learning as a group, listening to the adult and each other, taking turns to answer and sitting still.
We believe many children need a starting point to learn new things and find topics are a great way to ignite and engage their imagination. The topics are initially mapped out at the beginning of the Reception year however they are flexible to ensure we also follow the children’s interests, school themes and local or national events e.g. the Olympics. Every half-term staff plan the next topic, using formative and summative assessments as well as information about a particular cohort’s interests or experiences.
Impact
We strive to ensure that all children’s progress across the Early Years curriculum is good from their varied starting points. We use a mixture of formative and summative assessments across the year to identify next steps for children and ensure that any gaps in skills or knowledge are addressed quickly. We aim for all children to achieve a Good Level of Development through meeting the Early Learning Goals at the end of the Reception year.
We use formative assessment through observations and regular adult-child interactions; which allows all staff working in Reception to build up strong relationships with every child in Reception class. This means that we are able to extend children’s learning on a day-to-day basis, and can adapt our teaching methods to meet the needs of all children. Teaching and pedagogy are regularly reviewed and evaluation through weekly meetings. We ensure that the areas we discuss and develop are reflected in changes and developments in our classroom practice.
Our assessments are moderated in school, on a half-termly basis, by teaching staff working with the children. The Senior Leadership Team also regularly conducts learning walks within the learning environment to ensure that our aims are being implemented, and are having an impact on our children.
The impact of our EYFS curriculum is reflected in our enthusiastic, happy and confident leaners. Our children consistently exceed the National and Local Authority data for children achieving a good level of development.
The children transition into Year 1 equipped with key knowledge and skills which enable them to access the requirements of the National Curriculum. Children with SEND or specific barriers to their learning have been identified, and provision has been put in place to support them to make good progress.
Long Term Plan
