Thornton Hough Primary School

                               “Learning for life”

Early Years Curriculum

Intent:

At Thornton Hough Primary School our intention is to provide a learning environment and build relationships which support, enhance and ignite a child’s curiosity, confidence and individual competency to flourish regardless of backgrounds, circumstances or needs.  We work collaboratively with parents and carers to encourage independent, enthusiastic learners who thrive and reach their full potential.  It is our intent that the children who enter our EYFS develop physically, verbally, cognitively and emotionally, whilst embedding a positive attitude to school and a lifelong love of learning.  Our curriculum is carefully planned based on the needs of all our children.  It is designed to give our children, particularly the most disadvantaged, the knowledge, self-belief and cultural capital they need to succeed in life.

We live in an ever-changing world and we intend to equip our children with the skills and emotional resilience to contribute and thrive in the wider world.  Activities that promote qualities and skills such as problem solving, critical thinking, resilience, flexibility, creativity and competency in ICT are at the heart of our curriculum.

Thornton Hough is a small village located in the centre of the Wirral Peninsula. Whilst it is an area of low social deprivation, the school accepts pupils from a wider catchment where levels of deprivation may be higher.  Practitioners always take this into account when planning the EYFS curriculum to ensure that the needs of all pupils are acknowledged and met.

We are proud of our school and its wonderful location and use it at every opportunity to support and enhance our curriculum. 

Implementation

At Thornton Hough Primary School we meet the welfare requirements laid down in the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage and actively safeguard and promote the welfare of all of our children. 

We follow the Early Years Foundation Stage framework.  This is made up of four overriding principles upon which we base our Foundation 2 curriculum:

• Unique Child – Every child is a unique child who is constantly learning and can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured.
• Positive Relationships – Children learn to be strong and independent through positive relationships.
• Enabling Environments – Children learn and develop well in enabling environments, in which their experiences respond to their individual needs and there is a strong partnership between practitioners and parents and carers.
• Learning and Development – Children develop and learn in different ways.  The framework covers the education and care of all children in early years’ provision, including children with special educational needs and disabilities.

We use a number of different teaching approaches to deliver our curriculum to the children in our Foundation 2 setting.  We understand that children learn most effectively when they are engaged in meaningful play experiences which is why open-ended, child initiated play features prominently in our setting.  All children have dedicated time for sustained learning through their play where they reach deep levels of engagement and are able to practise and develop many essential skills including negotiation, problem solving, teamwork, flexibility and compromise etc.  Within our provision we provide a range of open-ended resources (pipes, cable reels, tyres, boxes etc.) to encourage the children’s creativity and symbolic play.

Whole class or small group, adult led teaching sessions are timetabled daily into our provision.  Phonics and mathematics are taught daily and other such sessions include input for topic work, PSED, art and creative activities.  All these sessions take into account the children’s age and ability to sit and concentrate.  As the year progresses the duration of these sessions increases to reflect the children’s development.

We are proud of the progress that the children at Thornton Hough Primary School make with their reading and we begin that journey as soon as the children join us in Foundation 2.  All children are read to by an adult at least twice a day during their time with us.  Quality texts are chosen carefully to provide the children with a wealth of wonderful literary experiences as well as introducing interesting and exciting vocabulary.  Non- fiction texts are used regularly to underpin topic work or to support the interests of individual children.  Reading is taught discretely in small groups or 1:1 depending on the needs of the child.  All children take home 2 reading books per week, 1 that aligns with the phonics teaching they have had and another from our wider reading scheme which helps to teach other concepts of reading as well as the non-phonological key words.

When children are not working directly with an adult, as well as child initiated play, they are encouraged to access the continuous provision activities that we plan into both our indoor and outdoor environments.  These activities are designed to allow the children to practise and embed concepts and teaching that they have previously been introduced to.

Impact

The impact of the EYFS curriculum is reflected in having well rounded, happy and confident children transitioning into Year 1.

Children join our Foundation 2 class from many different pre-school settings so our phased start allows us to get to know each child and to form a secure baseline across all 7 areas of learning.  From this point we strive to ensure that all children make good progress and at least reach the Early Learning Goals at the end of Reception.

Progress is monitored and measured through both formative and summative assessments in our Foundation 2 class:

• Planned for and incidental observations of the children during child initiated play and continuous provision
• Individual Learning Journey books/maths books/writing books contain evidence supporting all 7 areas of the EYFS curriculum
• Home/School Learning Journey book ensures regular dialogue with our parents/carers
• Half-termly phonics and key word checklist
• Termly up-date of individual EYFS tracking grids
• Assessment judgements are moderated in school amongst our early years team and externally with other schools through regular cluster meetings
• Early years staff attend statutory moderation meetings to validate school judgements
• Daily conversations and information sharing between all members of our team

Our curriculum is reviewed annually to ensure relevance and to ensure the voices of our pupils, parents, staff and governors are heard.