St Mary's Pre-School Yate
Curriculum
We work closely with our families to observe, evaluate and support the children in our cares learning and provide opportunities for our children to develop their knowledge and interests through play.
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OUR CURRICULUM
We want our children to develop a love of learning.
We want our children to be curious and inquisitive,
We want our children to have a positive disposition and believe in themselves, like we do them.
We want our children to be kind, courteous humans
We want our children to be able to manage their own emotions, regulate themselves and be resilient
We want our children to know they matter, Their opinions matter and we value their ideas.
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How do we teach our curriculum ?, We base our curriculum by following the EYFS and Development Matters. We look at what the children all ready know, what they are interested and motivated by and how they learn, we teach each child uniquely, considering the cultural capital, their current developmental needs and combining a mixture of different ethos's
We use the government birth- five matters, EYFS as well as taking aspects from renowned theorists, such as Montessori, Stiner, Reggio Emilio, High Scope, Te Whariki, In the moment planning to name a few.
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The Early Years Foundation stage framework is the government’s curriculum for 0-5 year olds in England. All schools/nurseries/childminders which are registered with Ofsted must follow the EYFS. The EYFS framework encourages an integrated approach to early years learning and care. It provides common principles and a set of commitments to deliver quality experiences and care in children’s early years.
There are five outcomes of the EYFS - EVERY CHILD MATTERS -
Be Healthy, Stay Safe, Enjoy and Acheive, Make a positive contribution and achieve economic well being
EYFS Framework
The EYFS is a statutory framework which outlines the learning and development along with the safeguarding and welfare requirements that all early years providers must abide to, too ensure that all children learn and develop well and are kept healthy and safe (Dfes:2012). The EYFS starts from birth to the end of the first school year (Reception in England.) The Framework was updated in September 20019 and is now known as The Education Inspection framework. We are inspected by Ofsted. The Revised Early Years Foundation Stage comes into force from September 2021.
The EYFS has four themes:
A Unique Child
Positive Relationships
Enabling Environments
Learning & Development
Furthermore, the EYFS has seven learning and development goals that shape the curriculum. These consist of three prime areas:
Communication & Language
Physical Development
Physical Development
Personal, Social & Emotional Development
and four specific areas:
Literacy
Mathematics
Learning & Development
Understanding the World
Expressive Arts & Design
The prime areas are vital for children to develop well. The relationships and experiences that children have will be able to build the foundations in which the prime areas develop, as children progress they will acquire skills in the specific areas of the EYFS.
‘Children are born ready, able and eager to learn’ (Dfes:2012:2).
When observing children and carrying out assessments in the EYFS, Teachers/Practitioners/Health Visitors and other professionals look for signs of children being motivated, engaged and thinking during their play. These signs are known as the:
‘Characteristics of Effective Learning’.
'Playing and Exploring – engagement'
'Active Learning – motivation'
'Creating and Thinking Critically – thinking'
When children show curiosity about their environment by engaging in open ended activities, children can explore and create their own ways of thinking and solving problems. Children are then able to make links and test out ideas through their play and emerging knowledge and understanding of life.
Your child will be allocated a key person who will support your child and family during their time at St. Mary’s Pre-School, the Key worker is your main port of contact during your child’s time at pre-school and is responsible for ‘promoting teaching and learning to ensure children’s school readiness and give children the broad range of knowledge and skills that provide the right foundation for good future progress through school and life (Dfes:2012).
The Key person will along with the child and child’s family work together to provide an insight into your child’s approach to learning and development during their time in the Early Years, this information will be collated and recorded in your child's on line learning journal (Famly).
For further information please look at the government website: https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/improving-the-quality-and-range-of-education-and-childcare-from-birth-to-5-years/supporting-pages/early-years-foundation-stage
Informative website for parents: http://www.foundationyears.org.uk/eyfs-statutory-framework/
To record children’s progress in the EYFS during their time at St. Marys Pre-School Ltd, We take regular observations of the children in our care, which includes photographs and narrative observations , with these observations next steps can be planned along with assessing our children’s development . We use on line learning journal called Famly for our children.
Click the below word document to look at our development plan