Early years foundation stage (EYFS)

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In the Castledown EYFS setting we provide a safe, nurturing and stimulating environment which supports the growth of independence, resilience, collaboration and reflects the learning for life values. At Ark Castledown we place a high value on vocabulary and experiences which prepare children for the rest of their school journey. Community is a high priority at Ark Castledown which is why we value and enable close relationships with children and families to ensure the well-being of the children in our care both at home and at school enabling them to achieve the highest possible outcomes for individuals.

To ensure a strong start to a child’s education we firmly believe that the experience we offer and provide at Ark Castledown in the Early Years is vital. Whether they begin in our Nursery or join Reception the experience we provide and the learning that happens impacts greatly on a child’s school journey.

We support each child’s learning through numerous ways of teaching and supporting including direct teaching, high quality provision in both the classroom and outside, enhancing the provision and responding to the children’s learning in the moment through quality questioning and adult engagement.

Children choose from a wide range of stimulating and relevant activities which engage them fully in their learning and allow them to effectively demonstrate the characteristics of effective learning. The classrooms and the outdoor areas are highly stimulating and organised to enable children to make progress in all areas of learning whilst developing their own ideas.

Our curriculum is designed to create high levels of engagement, through quality teaching and learning. Provision that supports children to achieve their full potential through developmentally appropriate activities and experiences.

Vocabulary plays a fundamental role in the development of our children’s reading and speaking. We focus on introducing new vocabulary weekly and providing opportunities to use it. We choose high quality texts in our teaching but also in our reading for pleasure.

We have developed a curriculum which looks forward; to learning covered further up the school specifically Key Stage 1, and further to Key Stage 2- to ensure that children have been given the knowledge and skills to build upon. We provide this through hands on experiences such as visits to local areas, interacting with living things and teach specific related vocabulary to allow them to fully access the learning opportunities later in their education.

Pupils progress is shared with parents using Seesaw, and progress is analytically tracked using Smartgrade.  This tool is used collect evidence to build the wholistic picture of every child. This supports us to make accurate judgements on the children’s development. 

The best outcomes for children’s learning occur when a mixture of learning opportunities are provided during the school day: Child-initiated play, guided play actively supported by adults and Adult focus-led learning.   

In nursery we place a strong emphasis on ‘In the Moment Planning’ in order to enhance children’s interests in addition to the above. This approach is shown to: 

• develop children’s confidence, being part of a group, learning to take turns and share fairly 
• give opportunities to become strong and independent from a base of loving and secure relationships with parents and Key Adults 
• provide chances to develop imagination in recreating roles and guided experiences 
• enhance communication with others as they investigate or solve problems 
• offer exploration opportunities, develop and represent learning experiences that help them to make sense of the world. 
• allow children a safe space to take risks, make and learn from mistakes 
• develop resilience through giving time for practise, building up their own ideas, concepts and skills 

Staff within the setting support children to do this by: 

• being flexible, adaptable and spontaneous. Listening to children’s ideas and interests 
• positive reinforcement and enthusiasm about indoor/outdoor play. Adults are confident and knowledgeable about the benefits of learning in the outdoor area 
• supporting and encouraging children to take risks and explore; and helping children make sense of the world around them 
• adopting a problem-solving and investigational approach where possible 
• providing opportunities for meaningful conversations between groups of children, and between adults and children 
• understanding that children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates.  As well as understanding that development in all areas of learning is equally important and inter-connected 
• observing and being reflective on children’s spontaneous play; monitoring their development in all areas of the curriculum, and using this to inform future planning 

Communication and Language plays a huge part in the development of children as part of the three prime areas. Ark Castledown understand the priority within this and therefore have a dedicated speech and language specialist work with children most in need of support. In addition, paired partner talk is carefully planned to allow children to access and learn language from peers. Staff also use contingent talk within the setting to model play and develop language and critical thinking, which will continue to be developed over the next year.