EYFS
Our EYFS Curriculum:
'Every child deserves the best possible start in life and the support that enables them to fulfil their potential. Children develop quickly in the early years and a child’s experiences between birth and age five have a major impact on their future life chances. A secure, safe and happy childhood is important in its own right. Good parenting and high quality early learning together provide the foundation children need to make the most of their abilities and talents as they grow up.'
Statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage, Department for Children, Schools and Families, 2012)
Our vision for pupils in EYFS:
At St Bartholomew Catholic Primary School our Early Years Team is committed to providing children with the best possible start to school life, providing children opportunities to follow their interests to ensure future success. We strive to ensure our children are happy, enthusiastic and confident learners with aspirations to excel in whatever they choose to do.
Our provision is based on the four key principles:
A Unique Child:
We recognise that every child is a competent learner who can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured. We recognise that children develop in individual ways, at varying rates. Children’s attitudes and dispositions to learning are influenced by feedback from others; we use praise and encouragement, as well as celebration and rewards to encourage children to develop a positive attitude to learning.
Positive Relationships:
We recognise that children learn to be strong and independent from developing secure relationships. We aim to develop caring, respectful, professional relationships with the children and their families.
Enabling Environments:
We recognise that the environment plays a key role in supporting and extending the children’s development. Through observation we assess the children’s interests, stages of development and learning needs, before planning challenging, achievable activities and experiences to extend the children’s learning.
The Learning Environment:
The EYFS Unit is organised to allow children to explore and learn securely and safely. There are areas where the children can be active, be quiet and rest. The unit is set up in learning areas, where children are able to source equipment and resources they need independently.
The EYFS curriculum at St Bartholomew's:
The EYFS provides children with a broad and balanced curriculum of play-based activities alongside aspects of adult-directed teaching and learning opportunities. We aim to replicate real-life learning experiences and provide practical, first hand learning opportunities to enhance children’s knowledge and understanding of the world around them. We aim to provide high-quality education for all our children, laying strong foundations for their future learning and development. Our stimulating learning environments, both inside and outside, provide children with a variety of resources to discover and explore. Through child-initiated play, our children explore and develop learning experiences which help them make sense of the world. They practise and build up ideas, and learn how to control themselves and understand the need for rules. They have the opportunity to think creatively alongside other children as well as on their own. They communicate with others as they investigate and solve problems.
Our classrooms are accessible to all, allowing children to gain independence whilst exploring and learning safely. We give our children every opportunity to achieve their best. We do this by taking account of our children’s range of life experiences when planning for their learning. In the Early Years Foundation Stage we set realistic and challenging expectations that meet the needs of our children, so that our children have the best opportunity to meet the Early Learning Goals by the end of the Foundation Stage. Some children progress beyond this point. We achieve this by planning to meet the needs of boys and girls, children with special educational needs, children who are more able, children with disabilities, children from all social and cultural backgrounds, children of different ethnic groups and those from diverse linguistic backgrounds.
We believe that all parents have an important role to play in the education of their child. We recognise the role that parents have played, and their future role, in educating the children. We offer a range of activities that support the involvement of parents and there is regular communication with home in a variety of forms. We value parent communication to achieve the full picture of each individual child’s development and learning journey.
