Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)

Intent:

At The Pathfinder, children in daily structured sessions on phonics, writing, maths and our knowledge-rich topics ensure our EYFS children have the best start to their education at our school and give a solid foundation for the knowledge and understanding they will accrue over the seven years in primary.

Our EYFS curriculum will take children on a journey from their local area to outer space, from the fascinating world of dinosaurs to the ancient stories of Greek Gods. Children will encounter interesting people such as George Stephenson, known for his steam train ‘The Rocket’ and Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space.  They will explore captivating places such The North Pole and Mount Everest. They will grow plants, study maps, look closely at fallen leaves, observe ice melting, design floating boats, and much more. Importantly, they will be learning and using new vocabulary in a wide range of contexts.

In EYFS, we encourage child-initiated learning and continuous provision, enabling children to learn through play both indoors and outdoors all through the year.  Children will learn more and remember more as they progress through their early years, enriching their play and their conversations with the powerful knowledge in our curriculum.

Phonics is taught through Sounds-Write, a systematic synthetic linguistics programme validated by the DFE.

Implementation:

Children in our Foundation classes follow the EYFS curriculum, which has seven main areas of learning.

 The Prime Areas:-

• Personal, Social and Emotional Development
• Communication and Language
• Physical Development

The Specific Areas:-

• Literacy
• Mathematics
• Understanding the World
• Expressive Arts

We aim to ensure the teaching of these areas of learning are practical and playful with support and challenge from adults in class sessions, small group sessions and working with individuals. There is a combination of adult-led sessions, as well as a wealth of stimulating continuous provision opportunities for children to access independently.

Our indoor and outdoor learning environments, and the resources within them, are regularly adapted to meet the different needs, and stages of development of the children. We aim to ensure that these areas are exciting and stimulating, offer opportunities for open-ended exploration, and are accessible to all children. The environments are developed to promote independence within all our children, allowing them to access all areas of the EYFS curriculum, with confidence, and enable them to motivate and challenge themselves in their learning.

Impact: 

Throughout the year, children are continually assessed through the use of accurate observations, and purposeful engagements. EYFS practitioners make professional judgements, which provide us with information for future planning; for both individual classes, and individual children’s next steps in their learning. They enable us, as EYFS practitioners, to ensure learning is embedded and consistent, and that all children continue to make good progress, and reach their full potential within our EYFS setting.

We recognise that parents are children’s first and most enduring educators and we value the contribution they make. We recognise the role that parents have played, and their future role, in educating the children. We invite parents, carers and siblings in to enjoy our EYFS environments and curriculum, and welcome their input of their children’s achievements.

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