Streethouse Primary School

Early Years Foundation Stage:

Streethouse Primary School Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum.

At Streethouse Primary school we follow the Early Years Foundation Stage. Learning is planned around quality texts and the children’s interests. It is linked closely to the areas of learning below.

Communication and Language.

Communication and language is one of the three prime areas within the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). Each prime area is divided into early learning goals, for communication and language these are:

Listening and attention - these skills support language learning and include the ability to discriminate sounds and maintain and monitor attention in a shared context e.g. reading a story.

Understanding - young children gradually develop the ability to understand words in context, beginning with single words and building on this with phrases and more and more complex sentences.

Speaking - this allows children to express their feelings, needs and wants, their thoughts and ideas and be able to talk about what has happened and about creative or imaginative event.

Physical Development

Physical development is one of the three prime areas within the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). The Early Learning Goals, for physical development are:

Moving and handling - skills enabling children to show good control and coordination in large and small movements. Children are able to handle equipment and tools effectively, including pencils for writing.

Health and self-care - children knowing the importance of good health, which includes physical exercise and a healthy diet. Children are able to manage their own basic hygiene and personal needs successfully, including dressing and going to the toilet independently.

Personal Emotional Development

PSED is one of the three prime areas within the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). Each prime area is divided into early learning goals, for PSED these are:

Self confidence and self awareness - children are confident to try new activities, and say why they like some activities more than others. They are confident to speak in a familiar group, will talk about their ideas, and will choose the resources they need for their chosen activities. They say when they do or don't need help.

Managing feelings and behaviour - children talk about how they and others show feelings, talk about their own and others behaviour, and its consequences, and know that some behaviour is unacceptable. They work as part of a group or class, and understand and follow the rules. They adjust their behaviour to different situations, and take changes of routine in their stride.

Making relationships - children play cooperatively, taking turns with others. They take account of one another's ideas about how to organise their activity. They show sensitivity to others' needs and feelings, and form positive relationships with adults and other children.

Personal, social and emotional development (PSED) supports children to learn to get on with others and make friends, understand and talk about feelings, learn about 'right' and 'wrong', develop independence and ultimately feel good about themselves.

Children's early PSED has a huge impact on their later well-being, learning achievement and economic success too.

Literacy

Reading and writing makes up literacy, two the four specific areas of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS).

In foundation stage, we aim to develop children’s skills to become readers and writers. It is crucial that we provide opportunities so that they are ready to start reading, writing, and have a variety of skills in place in order to do this.

In Foundation Stage, we will develop early reading skills such as matching, rhyming, awareness of phonics and the skills associated with language development such as listening, attention, alliteration and sound discrimination. These skills are developed through daily activities such as memory games and listening to a wide range of stories and rhymes.

At Streethouse we recognise that learning to be a writer is a complex process and requires the right foundations to be in place. Young children need to develop the physical skills to write. In school we will provide children with the opportunities to develop their gross motor and fine motor skills. For example children will have opportunities outside to paint with large brushes and they will also have opportunity to play with playdough to develop strength in their fingers. These sorts of activities will all build a good foundation for children to develop the strength to hold a pencil and make marks. The children in Foundation Stage follow the Read Write Inc programme and will learn to form letters correctly. They will also have opportunities to develop their writing in the classroom through their own play and also within shared writing sessions.

Mathematics

Maths is one of the four specific areas within the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). Each specific area is divided into Early Learning Goals, for maths these are:

Numbers - children learn to count and the value of numbers, higher and lower. These skills support them to solve problems, use money and calculate more or less.

Shape, Space and Measure - these skills support children to understand size, weight, capacity, position, distance, time and money and compare quantities, objects and solve problems.

In Foundation Stage children learn about maths through play and their daily experiences. The more meaningful to them and hands on it is, the better. The classroom environment (both indoors and out) is full of mathematical opportunities and has exciting things for children to explore, sort, compare, count, calculate and describe. We aim to provide opportunities for them to be creative, critical thinkers, problem solvers and to have a go at solving problems in real life situations.

Expressive Arts and Design

Expressive arts and design is one of the four specific areas within the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). For expressive arts and design the early learning goals are:

Exploring and using media and materials - children sing songs, make music and dance, and experiment with ways of changing them. They safely use and explore a variety of materials, tools and techniques, experimenting with colour, design, texture, form and function.

Being imaginative - children use what they have learnt about media and materials in original ways, thinking about uses and purposes. They represent their own ideas, thoughts and feelings through singing, dancing and art.

Understanding of the World.

Understanding the World is one of the four specific areas of learning in the EYFS framework. It 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.