Meppershall EYFS Three I Statement
Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.
Proverb 9:9
INTENT
The Statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage sets the standards for learning, development and care for children from birth to 5 years. Our curriculum is designed to recognise children’s prior learning, both from previous settings and their experiences at home. We work in partnership with parents, carers and other settings to provide the best possible start at Meppershall Church of England Academy, ensuring each individual reaches their full potential from their various starting points. Our curriculum has been designed to enable children to succeed through cooperative and collaborative learning principles. As such, there is a strong emphasis on the Prime Areas of learning; Personal, Social and Emotional Development and Communication and Language. Our enabling environments and warm, skilful adult interactions support the children as they begin to link learning to their play and exploration right from the start. We believe that high level engagement ensures high level attainment. We therefore provide an engaging curriculum that maximises opportunities for meaningful cross-curricular links and learning experiences, as well as promoting the unique child by offering extended periods of play and sustained thinking, using ITMP (In the Moment Planning). 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 make at least good progress from their starting points and are equipped with the skills and knowledge to have a smooth transition into Year 1.
IMPLEMENTATION
Each half term, EYFS staff introduce a new theme/topic to provide inspiration for learning, whilst providing the flexibility for children to follow their own interests and ideas. Children learn through a balance of child-initiated and adult-directed activities. The timetable is carefully structured so that children have directed teaching during the day. These sessions are followed by small focused group work. This means the teacher 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. 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 classrooms and equal importance is given to learning in both areas.
IMPACT
Baseline: Prior to children starting, staff spend time speaking to the child’s parents, previous settings and read previous ‘learning journeys’ to gain an understanding of the whole child and where they are at. During the first half term in Reception, staff use ongoing assessments, observations and conversations with the child to develop a baseline assessment. This identifies each individual’s starting points in all areas so we can 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 KS2.
Wellcomm: Ongoing Observation: All ongoing observations are used to inform weekly planning and identify children’s next steps. This formative assessment does not involve prolonged periods of time away from the children or excessive paperwork. Practitioners draw on their knowledge of the child and their own expert professional judgements through discussions with other practitioners, photographs and physical examples such as a child’s drawing / making. Some observations are uploaded using Seesaw and shared with the supporting parents and carers and examples kept in individual files
Phonics Assessment: Phonic assessments are carried out using phonics Tracker every half term to quickly identify pupils who are not making expected progress. Our aim is for children to ‘keep up’ rather than ‘catch up’ where possible. In Summer Term 2, the EYFSP is completed where teachers judge whether the child has met each of the 17 ELG’s. They will be assessed as either ‘emerging’ or ‘expected.’ Whilst there is no judgement to state if a child is exceeding beyond an ELG, teachers have a duty to provide a narrative for both parents and the Year 1 teacher.
Our Reception class follow the Early Years Foundation Stage ( EYFS) curriculum guidelines,
This is taught through topics and a play based curriculum which covers different areas of learning, such as Communication and Language, Personal Social and Emotional Development and Physical Development, as well as Literacy, Maths, Understanding the World and Creative Arts. The children enjoy learning activities both indoors and outdoors, and we aim to provide a balance of child-led learning and carefully structured class, group or individual taught activities.
The rest of the school follow the National Curriculum 2014 programmes of study:
Year 1 and Year 2 follow the Key Stage One (KS1).
Year 3 and Year 4 follow the first two years of the Key Stage Two (KS2) curriculum with us, before moving on to complete the last two years of Key Stage 2 (Year 5 and Year 6) in a middle school setting.