At Sherwell Primary School, our nursery and reception classes follow the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework.  The curriculum is based upon four themes and principles:

• Unique Child – Every child is a unique child who is constantly learning and can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured.
• Positive Relationships – Children learn to be strong and independent through positive relationships.
• Enabling Environments – 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 carers.
• Learning and Development – Children develop and learn in different ways.  The framework covers the education and care of all children in early years provision, including children with special educational needs and disabilities.

The Curriculum

There are 3 prime areas and 4 specific areas of learning in the Foundation Stage framework curriculum – Development Matters.

Prime Areas

• Personal, Social and Emotional Development
• Communication and Language
• Physical Development

Specific Areas

• Literacy
• Mathematics
• Understanding of the World
• Expressive Arts and Design

In the Foundation Stage, the children continue to build on their home and nursery experiences and learning. There continues to be a strong emphasis on developing children’s skills in the 3 Prime Areas. As these areas of learning become fully embedded, there is a further focus on the Specific Areas of Learning, including reading, writing and maths.

Our EYFS building has a classroom and outside area for all of our pre-school and reception children.   The classroom and outside areas are excellently equipped with both age and developmentally appropriate resources to meet the individual children’s needs.  We strive to ensure that all our children receive their entitlement to a free-flow-enabling environment that supports both indoor and outdoor learning through both adult-led and child-initiated activities.

What sort of things will children learn during the Foundation Stage?

In the Prime Areas, children will learn to:-

• Share, take turns and develop respect for each other.
• Make friends and become confident, independent learners.
• Behave appropriately when playing with others.
• Listen to others and understand spoken language.
• Learn new words rapidly and use them in conversations.
• Join in conversations with adults and children.
• Develop control of their bodies using both large scale movements such as running and jumping, and small scale movements such as holding pencils and using scissors.

In the Specific areas, children will learn to:-

• Enjoy sharing books and stories with adults and friends.
• Read words and simple sentences (Reception children).
• Draw, make marks, write letters and words.
• Count groups of objects accurately and recognise numerals.
• Add, subtract and problem solve during practical activities.
• Use everyday language to talk about size, weight, capacity, distance, time and money.
• Look closely at how things work, why things happen, living things and the natural world.
• Be imaginative, sing songs, dance and create fantastic models, drawings and paintings.