Early Years
At Woolhampton CE Primary School we believe that every child deserves the best possible start in life and the most effective way to provide this is through a mix of planned activities and purposeful play, both outdoors and in. This enables us to develop a wide range of skills and knowledge to promote physical, intellectual, linguistic, emotional, and behavioural and social development. We encourage children to explore, investigate, recreate and develop their understanding of their world. The exploration of the outdoors is also promoted through Forest School.
We deliver learning for all 17 areas of the Early Years Curriculum through purposeful play and learning experiences, with a balance of adult-led and child-initiated activities. We follow the Early Years Foundation Stage Framework, which sets out statutory guidance on the standards that schools and childcare providers must meet for the learning, development and care of children under 5.
See our Early Reading and Phonics page for details of how we teach this vital curriculum area.
The EYFS Team
Our full team meet together once a week to plan and discuss what we have noticed and for whom and which skills need to be developed and extended. We discuss our assessment judgements.
- On a daily basis we are talking about observations we have made on the children and provision for the next steps in their learning.
- The planning for the year F and Year 1 takes into account the half-termly topic. The Long Term Plan is outlined by the lead teacher who shares her ideas with staff and children. Their ideas are fed into the planning.
- The weekly plans are often based on a mini topic or story for that week.
- Together we review our balance of ‘free flow’ and ‘adult led’ activities to ensure opportunities for inspired play and for staff to teach skills where and when appropriate.
Assessment
At our school we use an online assessment system called ‘Tapestry’ to record children’s learning. The ‘Learning Journey’ includes photos, observations and comments, in line with the Early Years Foundation Stage. Over time this builds up a record of a child’s experiences during their time with us in the Foundation Stage. Having this Learning Journey online provides an excellent opportunity for us to share information about a child's learning and achievements and for parents to share their child’s achievements and interests at home with us. At the end of the year we will send you a PDF of your child’s complete Learning Journal.
Tapestry is hosted in the UK on secure servers. Each Tapestry account has its own database and the code itself is developed using hack-resistant techniques. Filenames are encoded for uploaded videos and images, making Tapestry a safe and secure on-line Learning Journey tool.
For more information on the Department of Education's EYFS Profile, click here.