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Early Years
Curriculum in Nursery, Preschool & Reception
At Kenyngton Manor School we recognise that the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) of education for children has a distinct identity and is fundamental in providing an essential base both academically and socially in a child’s education.
It is also the foundation upon which the rest of the curriculum will be built. The curriculum in Years 1 to 6 is rooted in the knowledge and skills learnt in the Early Years.
We aim to:
- Provide a well-planned, carefully structured and resourced curriculum, in partnership with parents and carers, to take children’s learning forwards and to provide opportunities for all children to succeed in an atmosphere of care where they feel valued.
- Provide a welcoming environment for children and their families.
- Ensure that all children feel included, secure and valued.
- Establish positive relationships with parents.
- Keep parents well informed about the curriculum and their child’s progress.
- Build on what children already know and can do and to celebrate achievement.
- Help children make links in their learning.
- Stimulate positive attitudes and dispositions to learning.
- Encourage independence.
- Value children’s interests, providing a balance of direct teaching and child-initiated activities.
- Help children build friendships and learn to co-operate with each other.
- Provide a solid foundation in the six areas of learning through well planned, rich and stimulating experiences.
- Make careful observations to support and extend children’s learning appropriately.
- To ensure that children with special educational needs are identified and receive appropriate support.
There are seven areas of learning and development that shape educational programs in the Foundation Stage. All areas of learning and development are important and interconnected. Three areas are particularly crucial for igniting children’s curiosity and enthusiasm for learning, and for building their capacity to learn, form relationships and thrive.
The 7 Areas of Learning:
Prime Areas of Learning:
- Communication and language (CL);
- Physical Development (PD); and
- Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PSED)
Specific Areas of Learning:
- Literacy (L);
- Mathematics (M);
- Understanding the World (UtW); and
- Expressive Arts and Design (EAD).
We recognise that children learn best through play accompanied with direct adult teaching.
The learning environments (indoors and outdoors) across the EYFS are designed to reflect the seven areas of learning. Each has a writing/mark making area, role play area, maths area, a creative area, a small world area, a construction area and sand and water areas.
Free flow between the indoor and outdoor environments is encouraged. The children enjoy a wide range of playful experiences, learning through whole-class inputs, group work and one-to-one focused learning activities. There are continuous opportunities for adult-initiated and child-initiated provision.
Our outdoor environment is accessible from the classrooms. In all types of weather, children enjoy a large range of physical activities, as well as a mud kitchen, a digging area, a static climbing frame, a music area and a wildlife garden. The children enjoy observing the environment outside change, watching the leaves fall, animals, birds, and insects emerge. We take care to protect and respect our natural environment, finding ways to nurture and encourage the animals and plant life.
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
This area of learning involves helping children to develop a positive sense of themselves and others, to form positive relationships and develop respect for others.
To develop social skills and learn how to manage their feelings; to understand appropriate behaviour in groups; and to have confidence in their own abilities. PSED development feeds into all subjects of the national curriculum. We ensure that the fundamental British values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, mutual respect and tolerance for those with different faiths and beliefs are already implicitly embedded in our practice. An example of this is when the children share views on what the theme of their role-play area could be with a show of hands; this is democracy in action.
Physical Development
This area of learning involves providing opportunities for young children to be active and interactive, and to develop their coordination, control, and movement.
We have an extensive outside area for the children to develop physically through large movements. The children will also develop their fine motor control so that they are able to hold a pen/pencil and use it to form recognisable letters. They will understand how their bodies feel when they exercise and will begin to gain more control when using different P.E. equipment.
Communication and Language
This area of learning involves giving children opportunities to experience a rich language environment, develop their confidence and skills in expressing themselves, and speak and listen in a range of situations. We give the children opportunities to talk and listen to each other in a variety of situations, both inside and outside, and we encourage good communication skills through clear modelling.
Literacy
Literacy involves encouraging children to link sounds and letters to blend and segment words, and then to form letters correctly so that they can have the best start for reading and writing.
We provide writing resources for both indoor and outdoor play, enabling a range of opportunities to make marks and practise writing.
Children are given access to a wide range of reading materials (books, poems, and other written materials) to ignite their interest. We have a language-rich environment to enable print to be seen inside and outside. In Reception, we provide daily systematic synthetic phonics sessions using the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds programme.
Maths
Maths is everywhere! It involves providing children with opportunities to develop and improve their skills in counting, understanding and using numbers, calculating simple addition and subtraction problems, and describing shapes, spaces, and measures. The children have opportunities to explore number, shape, space and measure inside and outside. In Reception we use the NCETM Mastering Number programme.
Spatial awareness and reasoning is a key part of our pupils development. Opportunities to move, climb, stretch, turn, alongside constructing, de-constructing, imagining shapes, and using language to describe shapes, position and measures are key ingredients in the provision.
We have been working with the University of Surrey as part of their Spatial Reasoning Research.
Understanding the World
Understanding the world involves guiding children to make sense of their physical world and their community through opportunities to explore, observe and learn about people, places, technology and the environment.
Expressive Arts and Design
Expressive arts and design enable children to explore and play with a wide range of media and materials. They also provide opportunities and encouragement for sharing their thoughts, ideas and feelings through a variety of activities in art, music, movement, dance, role-play, and design and technology.