Intent

At St. Alban’s we nurture children to become secure, communicative, curious individuals, who are ready for their next stage of learning.  Parents are supported to be active partners in their child's education, through the sharing of information and building of an honest and collaborative home-school partnership. Staff build strong, respectful relationships, provide high-quality, play-based education and ensure that all children can thrive within a positive environment. 

We encourage children to develop their fundamental skills and knowledge and to become inquisitive, happy, and confident learners, through a variety of discovery opportunities.  Learning is linked to stories and topics, such as space, or animals around the world. We instil a love of learning through collaborative play, small group work and challenges that encourage perseverance, problem-solving and team-work.

Implementation

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum includes seven areas of learning, split into ‘Prime Areas’ and ‘Specific Areas’. 

The three Prime Areas of Learning are:

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

The Prime Areas of learning underpin all the other areas and form a significant part of the daily learning, especially at the start of the Reception year.

The four Specific Areas of Learning are:

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

Communication and language

This Prime Area involves giving children opportunities to experience a rich language environment, to develop their oracy skills, confidence, ability to express themselves, and to speak and listen in a range of situations. Within Reception the planned learning opportunities develop a pupils’ ability to communicate effectively and interact positively.

Physical development

This Prime Area involves providing opportunities for children to be active and to develop their coordination, control, and movement with both their gross and fine motor skills. Children are also taught to understand the importance of physical activity and to make healthy choices in relation to food and exercise.

Personal, Social and Emotional Development

This Prime Area involves helping children to: develop a positive sense of themselves and others; form positive relationships and develop respect for others; develop social skills and learn how to identify and manage their feelings; understand appropriate behaviour in groups; and have confidence in their own abilities.

Literacy

This involves encouraging children to develop a love of reading through exposure to a range of fiction and non-fiction texts and poetry.  We teach children to link sounds and letters and to begin to read and write through the Read, Write Inc. phonics scheme. Children are also taught the fundamental building blocks for writing, through transcription (linked to Physical Development by developing fine motor skills for letter formation and handwriting) and composition (linked to Communication and Language by developing oracy skills).

Mathematics

This involves providing children with opportunities to develop and improve their skills in counting, understanding and using numbers, calculating simple addition and subtraction problems, understanding patterns and describing shapes, spaces, and measure. Maths is taught explicitly, using the Power Maths scheme and filters into many continuous provision opportunities within the indoor and outdoor classroom environments.

Understanding the World

This involves guiding children to make sense of their physical world and their community through opportunities to explore, observe and find out about people, places, technology and the environment.  They will also begin to develop their understanding of places and of past and present.

Expressive Arts and Design

This involves enabling children to explore and play with a wide range of media and materials, as well as providing 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.

Religious Education

In addition to the seven statutory Areas of Learning, RE also forms an integral part of our EYFS curriculum, as we teach Catholic values support children in Reception to participate in the religious life of the school.

Using the Religious Education Curriculum Directory (RECD) to engage the children with the teachings and life of Jesus, we begin with the story of Creation and go through the key events in Jesus’ life.  We learn how we can respond to His teaching’s and ‘Lead the Way’ for others, living out our mission statement.

What learning looks like in EYFS

At St. Alban’s we facilitate learning in four small Focus Groups within the year group, targeting key weekly objectives through tailored activities and continuous discovery and practice opportunities. An example of a week’s objectives from the autumn term would be:

• Maths – To be able to count to 5 using manipulatives and to match an amount to numerals.
• Group Reading – We’re Going on a Bear Hunt – to be able to join in with the story using expression and intonation.  To be able to retell and sequence the story. To be able to answer comprehension style questions about the story, using full sentences.
• Art – Using the story Colours, Colours Everywhere, by Julia Donaldson, as our inspiration – To be able to mix primary colours and explore and be able to talk about the new colours that have been made.
• RE – To be able to retell the Creation story through a variety of activities, such as role-play, small-world play and art. 

Weekly Focus Group activities include elements of each of the Areas of Learning and include Reading, writing, maths, RE, art/ Understanding the World or Personal, Social and Emotional Development and Physical Development.

The benefits of learning in Focus Groups are:

• It fosters stronger teacher-pupil relationships, boosting children's confidence and trust.
• Collaborative group work encourages turn-taking, listening, empathy, and cooperation.
• Smaller groups help children stay focused and more actively involved in their learning.
• Key skills are taught explicitly, enabling children to practice and develop them during their child-initiated, independent learning and play.
• The adults will change groups each week so that by the end of a 4-weekly cycle, each adult has worked with each child.  This enables the whole EYFS team to develop a positive relationship with each and every child and have a holistic understanding of them as individuals.

Impact

Children’s development levels are consistently tracked by:

• A comprehensive handover from nursery and pre-school settings
• Detailed questionnaires completed by parents, including information on premature births and developmental milestones
• On entry assessments
• Statutory Baseline Assessment in the first half-term of Reception
• Focus Group activities
• Observations and skilled questioning
• Following children’s interests and experiences to inform planning
• Effective communication across the EYFS team and with parents
• Read Write Inc. Phonics assessments
• Targeted interventions e.g. speech and language, nurture
• Parent-teacher meetings to discuss each child’s progress and development
• Early identification and support for children with specific needs, including regular communication with parents
• Summative assessment in the final term directly related to Early Years Foundation Stage Profile
• During the final term in Reception, the EYFS Profile is completed for each child. The Profile provides a well-rounded picture of a child’s knowledge, understanding and abilities, their progress against expected levels, and their readiness for Year 1.

What is a Good Level of Development in EYFS?

GLD stands for 'Good Level of Development'. This refers to a summative assessment judgement which is made for each EYFS child at the end of the Reception year. It is a measure of attainment, not progress. Achieving a good level of development will help a child to make a good start in Year 1.

How is GLD (Good Level of Development in Children) Defined?

Children are defined as having reached a Good Level of Development at the end of the EYFS if they have achieved at least the 'expected' level within:

• Prime Area: Personal, Social & Emotional Development (PSED)
• Prime Area: Physical Development (PD)
• Prime Area: Communication and Language (CL)
• Specific Area: Literacy (L)
• Specific Area: Mathematics (M)

The two further areas, Expressive Arts & Design and Understanding the World are evaluated in the EYFS Profile but are not required to achieve a GLD.