Curriculum / Early Years
'Play is the work of the child'
'Maria Montessori'
At The Leys Primary and Nursery School, we are committed to providing a high quality early years’ education, which gives children a secure and confident start to their school life. We are passionate about children being happy, well rounded individuals with a lifelong love of learning. We strive to ensure that all of our children are independent, resilient and confident in themselves and with others.
Our curriculum follows the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) which is the statutory framework for children from birth to five in England.
The four guiding principles help to shape our approach:
Every child is a unique child, who is constantly learning and can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured
Children learn to be strong and independent through positive relationships
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/or carers
The learning and development of each child will be different as they develop and learn at different rates.
We support the children in developing the ‘Characteristics of Effective learning’ and acknowledge these are an important part of how children play and learn.
playing and exploring – children investigate and experience things, and ‘have ago’
active learning – children concentrate and keep on trying if they encounter difficulties, and enjoy achievements
creating and thinking critically – children have and develop their own ideas, make links between ideas, and develop strategies for doing things
The EYFS covers seven different areas of learning that shape our practice. We believe children learn best through play, first- hand experiences and talk. Staff plan engaging activities based on the children’s developmental needs and interests.
We acknowledge that learning is holistic, so different areas naturally overlap and flow into one another.
To read the full Statutory Early Years Framework click on the link below:
Link
At The Leys, we believe that the Early Years Foundation Stage is crucial in securing solid foundations. We believe that all children deserve to be valued as an individual and we are passionate about allowing all children to achieve their full potential. We begin each new year by looking at the individual needs of our children, we then carefully develop our Curriculum to follow the interests and needs of the children. Our curriculum is broad and ambitious and is designed to encourage independent, inquisitive and happy learners.
We have developed the following curriculum goals that are unique to our school and reflect the needs of our children:
Early Years Building Blocks
Explore familiar and unfamiliar roles and experiences
Communicate in a two way conversation
Understand my feelings and respond to the feelings of others.
Solve problems independently with resilience
Care for myself, others and the world
click on the squares below to view worksheets
We aim to deliver our broad and rich curriculum through planned, purposeful play and present new concepts in meaningful contexts that enable the children to build on what they already know. We strive to provide an attractive, challenging learning environment that offers high quality opportunities for the children to learn through play, both indoors and outdoors. We build positive relationships with our children to ensure high quality interactions take place in order to effectively move children on with their learning. In the Early Years we strive to build positive relationships with parents and carers as we believe that children benefit from a strong partnership between practitioners and parents.
At The Leys we implement our EY curriculum by :
- creating an attractive, welcoming and stimulating learning environment which will encourage children to explore, investigate and learn through first hand experience.
- a range of whole class teaching , group work and play based activities.
- using ‘in the moment’ planning to move learning on with high quality interactions and purposeful questioning
- teaching a broad range of topics that follow children’s interests and fascinations
- using some schemes of work in Early Years to ensure good curriculum coverage.
These are as follows:
Talk for Writing in Reception - High quality texts chosen as our ‘Story of the week’ to support communication and language, develop key vocabulary and promote a love of reading
The Leys Letters phonics scheme - phonics is taught as a discrete phonics lesson
White Rose Maths to ensure that children develop sequentially mathematical skills, building a depth of understanding as they progress.
Makaton sign language to support communication and language and SEND learners
A rhyme of the week in Nursery - a wide range of Nursery songs and rhymes are introduced to children in Nursery throughout the year
Early Talk Boost interventions to support children with delayed language skills in Nursery
Wellcomm Toolkit used to screen children and intervention used to support those who need extra support with language development
Daily Busy Fingers activities to develop hand-eye coordination and fine motor control
WOW moments from home are shared with class, children share their experiences and others ask questions
The Zones of Regulation are introduced in Reception and used throughout school to support children in understanding and managing their emotions. A selection of calming toys are provided in the Calm Area which children can access at any time and which will be used with children when needed
Weekly PE lessons with qualified PE teachers develop a wide range of physical skills
Weekly EY assembly
Weekly cooking opportunities to develop understanding of healthy lifestyles in Nursery
Weekend with Fred the bear in Nursery
Show & Tell
Nursery Library
Trips to local parks
Regular visits to the school's meadow
Children become confident speakers who are able to express their needs ,feelings and ideas and are able to listen to and attend to what others are saying. Children become more independent and are able to manage their own personal needs. Children learn to identify and express their feelings and consider the feelings of others. Children develop and become aware of their characteristics of learning and are able to apply their knowledge to a range of situations making links and explaining their ideas and understanding. Children show resilience and perseverance in the face of challenges. They are confident to take risks and discuss their successes and failures with peers and adults drawing on their experiences to improve or adjust what they are doing. Children begin to understand the need to respect and care for the natural environment and all living things.
We believe our high standards are due to our carefully planned environment, enriched play-based curriculum, quality first teaching and the rigour of assessment ensuring we know the needs, next steps and developmental stages of all children at all times.
At The Leys Primary and Nursery School, we are committed to providing a high quality early years’ education, which gives all children a secure and confident start to their school life and nurtures a lifelong love of learning. Our curriculum and its delivery ensure that children, from their own starting points, make good progress towards the national expectation for a good level of development at the end of the Reception year. Pupils also make good progress toward their age-related expectations both academically and socially, developing a sense of themselves before transitioning into Year One.
I love playing with the small bears. Charlie in Reception
My favourite time is when I play with the animals in Murphy class. Olivia in Reception
like drawing and painting in Reception. Rose in Reception
I like playing with my friends. My best friend is Rose. Ise in Reception
I like to build sandcastles in the sand pit. Archie in Reception
I like playing with pasta and rice. I like playing with Fred the bear. Amelia in Nursery