EYFS

At Woodmansterne, we deliver a sequential EYFS curriculum in line with the Government's Early Years Foundation Stage and Development Matters. The curriculum is based on seven different areas of learning, which are implemented through planned discrete lessons and purposeful play.  High quality texts have been chosen to develop vocabulary and comprehension, encourage curiosity with the world, and inspire children’s imagination. The EYFS curriculum has been sequenced to give children a solid foundation of knowledge ready to be built upon in Year 1. 

Personal, Social and Emotional Development – Children’s personal, social and emotional development (PSED) is crucial for children to lead healthy and happy lives and is fundamental to their cognitive development. This area concentrates on children developing a positive respect for themselves and others; building self-confidence, making new friends, interacting with adults, understanding their own and others’ feelings, managing emotions, being healthy and gaining a positive disposition to learn. 

Communication and Language – The development of children’s spoken language underpins all seven areas of learning and development. This covers important aspects of language development; communicating, speaking and listening. 

Physical Development – Physical activity is vital in children’s all-round development, enabling them to pursue happy, healthy and active lives. This area concentrates on developing gross motor skills; physical control, mobility, special awareness, and fine motor skills: including use of pencil, scissors and other tools. 

Literacy – It is crucial for children to develop a life-long love of reading. Reading includes language comprehension and word reading. Writing involves transcription (spelling and handwriting) and composition (articulating ideas and structuring them in speech, before writing). We use ‘Essential Letter and Sounds’ (ELS) phonics programme. All children in EYFS, and KS1 have daily explicit phonics lessons.   

Mathematics – Developing a strong grounding in number is essential so that all children develop the necessary building blocks to excel mathematically. This includes number, counting, shape, space and measure as well as looking for patterns and relationships between numbers and developing reasoning skills. In EYFS, children follow the whole school White Rose Math's programme. The have daily lessons as well as experiencing opportunities to practice what they have been taught within the provision. 

Understanding the World – Understanding the world involves guiding children to make sense of their physical world and their community. This area concentrates on developing knowledge and understanding of the environment, other people and cultures; and features of the natural world. It provides the foundation for Religious, historical, geographical, scientific and technological learning. 

Expressive arts and design - The development of children’s artistic and cultural awareness supports their imagination and creativity. This area develops the children’s imagination and their ability to communicate and to express ideas and feelings in creative ways including through music, drama, art and role play. 

Throughout the year, children explore, make friends, develop and learn in all areas of the curriculum. Our highly skilled staff support children through explicit teaching and high-quality interactions, to further children’s learning. We encourage children to be independent, take measured risks and develop their independence and confidence, so they are ready to take on new challenges throughout their school life.  

We use an online program ‘Tapestry’ to record individual children’s significant learning. Parents have access to their child’s online learning journey and are encouraged to upload observations of their learning from home.