Early Years

Intent

At Sacred Heart our main intent is to have a play based curriculum which will provide a firm foundation that will underpin all future learning. We understand that young children have a thirst for new experiences and knowledge, and should be provided with a range of opportunities that will engage their inquisitive minds. Therefore, we provide stimulating continuous indoor and outdoor provision, which follows children’s interests, to support learners in investigating and developing their skills. We aim to work in close partnership with parents and carers throughout the year to support and encourage children to reach their full potential. We strive to support the transition from EYFS to KS1 and provide the children with the skills, knowledge and attitude that they need to succeed throughout their education.

Implementation

At Sacred Heart we follow the Early Years Statutory Framework which was published in March 2021. This Framework specifies the requirement for learning and development in the Early Years and provides prime and specific areas of learning that must be covered within the Early Years Curriculum. The EYFS curriculum is split into seven areas of learning and development.

The Prime Areas

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

The Specific Areas

Literacy, Mathematics, Understanding the World and Expressive Arts and Design

The majority of learning within these areas takes place in our indoor and outdoor continuous provision. When the children access the areas of continuous provision, an adult supports the children with their learning via the suggestion of activities, modelling of behaviour and use of language and by asking questions.

In addition to continuous provision, all children participate in small group and whole class adult led sessions (Mathematics, Phonics, Topic and RE).

At Sacred Heart, we promote the three characteristics of effective learning.

These are:

Playing and Exploring – We will encourage all children to find out and explore, play with what they know and be willing to ‘have a go’.

Active Learning – We will encourage all children to persevere with their learning, be involved and concentrate and to enjoy what they set out to do.

Creating and Thinking Critically – We will encourage all children to have their own ideas, choose how they approach activities and make links within their learning.

Impact

The intended impact of the EYFS Curriculum is that the majority of children leave Early Years working at or above the expected level for their age – Good Level of Development.

In addition, it is the intended impact that the children:

Are inspired to explore and learn more – have a thirst for learning;

Develop the necessary skills to be a good learner – confident, resilient, curious etc;

Can talk about their learning and remember what they have learnt;

Apply the 3 characteristics of effective learning to their work;

Be ready for the next stage of their school journey when leaving Reception.