Early Years Curriculum

Intent

Quite simply we want children to love school and learning! At Flitwick Lower School we offer a curriculum that is full of wonder and excitement. We want children to be curious about the world in which they live, learning more about different cultures, communities, people and beliefs. We intend to make learning memorable and instil a passion for acquiring new skills and knowledge. We want our children to be confident and independent learners who believe in themselves and interact positively with peers and adults. We aim for our children to develop a love of reading and ensure that this runs throughout our setting, curriculum and weekly timetable. Our intent is that all children develop physically, emotionally, verbally and cognitively in an environment that promotes exploration. 

 Implementation

We follow the statutory Framework for the EYFS and actively safeguard to promote the welfare of our children. We follow the recently published Development Matters to help support our curriculum and ensure children experience a depth of activities and experiences.

We understand that play is a crucial and integral part of learning and is at the heart of our curriculum. We seek to develop positive relationships between children, peers and staff through adult directed, child initiated uninterrupted play. We help children develop their emotions and understand the feelings of others through high quality interactions and time to talk. We prioritise a language rich environment through the use of daily books, songs, rhymes and poems. This follows alongside our teaching of systematic phonics and enables children to become enthusiastic early readers.

Reading in the Foundation Stage.pdf

Mathematics is also a key to our curriculum, and we use our daily teaching to then help develop skills in children’s everyday play. We want children to see the wonder of maths in everything they do and develop a positive attitude to maths early on.

Our environment has been carefully set up to ensure children have space to explore and can develop their physical skills in a safe setting. Our outdoor space includes a designated Forest School area, large scale play with sand, water, mud kitchen, bikes, balance planks, crates, stage, balls, skipping ropes and space to run, dance and skip! This alongside the daily use of the school’s adventure playground helps to develop children’s core muscles so they are ready to develop those finer motor skills involved in sitting, writing and manipulating small objects

Our Curriculum is taught through a global theme which is then broken down into our own topics based on the children’s needs and interests. These are enhanced with trips, visitors, cooking opportunities and interesting objects. All topics are supported by quality texts which help to develop children’s vocabulary, language and communication skills.

Foundation Long Term plan.pdf

We understand the importance of parental engagement and know that they are key to children’s education and enjoyment of school. We work hard to create a strong partnership between home and school. Parents receive termly letters about our topics and how they can support this learning. They use WOW moments to record learning at home and send in weekly learning at home. We post photos on our class webpage and parents are invited to attend assemblies or shows  Staff are readily available for quick chats at the beginning and end of the day and time is also made available for longer discussions or meetings when requested.

Impact

Children are assessed in relation to their progress towards the Development Matters statements and Early learning Goals. These judgements are based on the knowledge of the child, informal observations and assessments of the child throughout the year. There is no requirement to gather lots of evidence, but we record what we feel is needed to help inform planning and next steps in our teaching.  We then make a judgement at the end of the year to state whether the child is working at the expected level of development or not. This is shared with parents and Year 1 Teacher so discussions about next steps and readiness for Year 1 can be formulated.

Early Years and Key Stage 1 Bridge.pdf