Intent

At Petham Primary School we strive to create an engaging and flexible Early Years Curriculum which fosters our young children’s natural curiosity, builds upon their prior experiences and allows them to flourish whilst in our care. Our intent is to create a rich and stimulating environment where children flourish emotionally, socially, and academically. We recognise the significance of play-based learning in fostering creativity, independence, and critical thinking skills. Therefore, in Robins Class we learn through a mixture of adult led activities and play with the support of our caring and skilled staff who develop our children’s ideas and link learning to their play and exploration right from the start. Our children are encouraged to be resilient learners, independent thinkers and good communicators. We work closely with our parents so that we can develop your child’s education together in partnership. Our main aim is to ensure our children are happy and have a positive and exciting learning experience at our school.  We are very fortunate to have beautiful grounds at Petham and we actively encourage our children to regularly explore their own ideas in a safe environment both indoors and outdoors all year round.

Our curriculum design is underpinned by the EYFS framework, ensuring that the seven areas of learning are interconnected, enabling children to develop in a holistic manner whilst also linking to our school values of leadership, organisation, resilience, initiative and communication.

Implementation

Prior to children starting school at Petham, the class teacher spends time communicating to the child’s parents and previous settings, alongside effective transition sessions in the term before children begin school to gain an understanding of each child and build early relationships. During the children’s first term in Reception, all staff use ongoing observations and assessments to identify starting points for each child across all areas of learning.  We use this information to monitor the progress of each child and put in place additional support for those children who may be at risk of not meeting the age expected standards (Early Learning Goals) by the end of their reception year. 

Each half term, EYFS staff introduce a new theme to inspire our children to discover and learn about the world around them, whilst still allowing for children to follow their own interests and ideas. At the beginning of each term, new vocabulary will be introduced and continually revisited throughout which the children will hear and be encouraged to use within their learning. Resources are diverse, inclusive, and accessible, facilitating children's independent inquiry and collaborative learning experiences.

We champion a language-rich environment, embedding opportunities for communication and language development across all areas of learning. We celebrate diversity and promote cultural awareness through a curriculum that reflects the lived experiences of our children and embraces a range of perspectives.

Our children learn through a balance of child-initiated and adult-directed activities which have been carefully planned and are progressive to ensure all children’s needs are met. Continuous provision not only supports the children’s next steps but embeds teacher directed learning, allowing children to use their initiative to practise and apply their growing knowledge and skills. Our outside learning environment is planned to support the term’s theme which reflects and embeds learning that takes place within the classroom. Children are encouraged to take leadership over their learning, work cooperatively, to challenge themselves and be reflective about their learning. Each day at Petham, our children are given time and space to work independently to support the development of their resilience, self-regulation and organisation skills, as well as working collaboratively with their new friends and teachers.

Each child has an online learning journal (Tapestry) where we share our learning journey throughout the year and celebrate progress with children’s parent’s.  Successes at home are equally celebrated in school using this portal. 

Additionally, we conduct the RBA (Statutory Reception Baseline Assessment) in the children’s first six weeks of starting school.  This assessment focuses on ‘Language, Communication and Literacy,’ and ‘Mathematics.’  The purpose of this assessment is to show progress from Reception to the end of Key Stage 2.

Impact

The impact of our EYFS provision is evidenced through the remarkable progress and achievements of our pupils. Children demonstrate a strong sense of belonging, confidence, and self-esteem, setting a firm foundation for their future learning journey. Our rigorous approach to assessment enables us to track children's development effectively, identify areas for further support, and celebrate their accomplishments. Additionally, the impact of our curriculum is shown every day when we see the sheer joy of children recognising their successes and achievements.  

By fostering a love for learning and nurturing environment our children in EYFS develop the skills they need to become curious, life-long learners which a great foundation upon which they can continue to build throughout the rest of their time at our school.