Our EYFS Implementation

IMPLEMENTATION: How Do We Teach What We Teach?

Our curriculum provides a play-based and experiential learning environment, combined with focussed teaching, to ensure children make rapid progress before moving into Year 1. The children in all three EY provisions: Caterpillars (2-3 Years), Butterflies (3-4 Years) and Reception are provided with rich first hand opportunities to widen experiences, awe and wonderment and develop vocabulary (BSL is used as Sign Supported English to consolidate this and facilitate communicate for all pupils). New vocabulary and concepts are planned to excite and engage in a meaningful way, using our T4W approach, whilst exploratory learning and thinking creatively ensures that our pupils benefit from sustained shared thinking.

We do this by:

• Seeing parents/carers as partners and meeting regularly to ensure our children’s transition through the EYFS is happy and allows them to reach their potential with the support needed.  This includes: workshops, TLC home tasks, stay and play, stay for a story, Class Dojo (reception), parent meetings, videos sessions online, observing lessons, observing T4W and an open door policy every day.

• We have an authentic curriculum that is child-centred and based upon WOW experiences. Progress is also non-linear and ‘broad’ as the experiences, teaching and provision enable the curriculum to be ‘owned’ by the child, so that they can use knowledges and skills confidently and expertly to support ideas, fascinations and self-motivated threads of thinking, communication and expression.

• We model active learning to motivate and interest our pupils and take the time needed to get to know every child intimately and as a unique individual.

• All areas of the EYFS curriculum are followed. It is ambitious, broad, balanced and progressive.  However, it is also designed to be fluid, responsive, flexible and adaptable so that unique interests and needs are supported.  Our children will learn new skills, acquire new knowledge and demonstrate understanding through the seven areas in the EYFS curriculum: Personal, Social and Emotional Development, Physical Development, Communication and Language, Literacy, Mathematics, Understanding the World, Expressive Arts and Design. Development Matters is used to shape our thinking and refine the trajectories of our children’s progress.  Interventions include: Intensive Interactions, Early Writing Intervention, Elklan, Funky Fingers, Dough Gym and Phonics.

• Staff in the EYFS make regular observations of the children’s learning to ensure their next steps are met. These are collected in each child’s Learning Journal.  Practitioners at The Acorns, regularly assess where the children are using the Development Matters. Planning, adult interactions and learning environments are then carefully organised to motivate children to reach their next steps by using their specific interests.

• Our Characteristic of Effective Learning ‘Super Learners’ are observed and developed in both Butterfly Class and Reception (staff in Caterpillar Class also focus on children’s schematics preferences). The attributes and learning associated to each Super Learner directly links to metacognition and to developing pupils’ knowledge of how they learn: their knowledge of themselves as a learner, of strategies, and of the processes they have used. We ensure activities support the Characteristics of Effective Learning so pupils can access schemas from their long-term memory and self-regulate and motivate themselves when they are stuck. 

• Staff support transition into Key Stage 1 referring constantly to our Transition guidance document. Preparing children for Year 1 with visits to their new class, meeting the teacher, class trips with new teachers, story times and ensuring the environments are similar at the end of Reception and the start of Year 1. We see transition as a process not an event.