Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum
(Nursery and Reception)
At St Joseph’s, we are committed to developing wonderful young people, driven by the virtues that we teach and live by. With Christ at the centre of all we do, we will offer a school that allows children to succeed, develop friendships and come to know God and themselves. We believe that school should be a safe, exciting place - the best days of your life!
Our Mission
“Believing in God, ourselves and others"
Intent
First and foremost, the intent of our EYFS curriculum is to ensure that all children develop a love of school and a love of learning. We aim to provide rich, memorable experiences that are hands on and help every child develop a true curiosity about the world around them. Awe and wonder #BestDaysOfTheirLives
It is also our intent that our children develop the necessary skills, knowledge and attitude towards learning that allows them to achieve and live fulfilling lives.
The EYFS is the start of the children’s school journey and we want it to be the best it can be for each and every child, regardless of their starting points. Inclusion is at the heart of everything that we do.
In the early years we see every member of the class as part of a class family - we learn together - we help each other and we celebrate together and we learn from our mistakes together.
We want each and every child who leaves Early Years to :
Be kind and caring to each other.
Be a confident communicator.
Learn through hands on experiences and play.
Learn how to read and write and be ready for the adventures that await in KS1.
Be fluent in counting, recognising numbers comparing numbers and problem solving.
Be creative and share a love for everything in God’s world, no matter how big or how small.
Implementation
To devise this curriculum we use Development Matters (2023).
Learning to read is a high priority at St Joseph's and a skill we want every child to achieve by the end of the Reception year, to do this we teach phonics daily in both Nursery and Reception, following the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Phonics Scheme.
Being fluent and confident with numbers is of equal importance. We aim to equip all children with a deep, secure and adaptable understanding of mathematical concepts. To do this we teach daily math in Reception and weekly math in Nursery. In addition to this we are always promoting and supporting children to develop math skills through meaningful play experiences on a daily basis. The scheme we follow is NCETM Mastering Number Math.
In order to develop an enticing creative curriculum, we plan and teach a variety of topics throughout the year. This introduces the children to new knowledge and allows them the opportunity to discover new interests. We ensure that these topics are progressive but equally that they offer a solid foundation of knowledge and skills that can then be built upon as the children transition throughout our school.
In addition, we are committed to enhancing our provision and other areas of learning based upon children's current interests. This is gathered through daily observations, interactions with the children and conversations with parents. We feel that children who are fully engaged in learning are much more interested in and begin to apply skills which have been taught through child-initiated play.
Finally we have devised an Experience Curriculum which ensures that every child gets to experience specific life enhancing activities before they leave our Early Years Foundation Stage. This includes regular walks in our local community, baking and creating foods on a regular basis, visits out in to the wider world such as the pumpkin farm or even to the zoo. You can find a copy of this and our creative curriculum below.
If you have any further questions about our curriculum, please don't hesitate to contact the school office and speak to our Early Years Leader, Mrs. Blenkarn.
Impact
The biggest impact of our curriculum intent is that our children love coming to school and settle well. This is one of our biggest achievements. When children are happy in a suitable environment with the support of positive role models progress is much more likely to occur.
Our curriculum needs to meet the needs of our children, including our disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND, so we spend time looking at and evaluating how children are learning. We do this through talking to children, looking at their work, observing their learning experiences and analysing data and checking the progress of each class, as well as that of each individual.
Every member of staff uses ongoing observational assessment to identify children’s starting points and plan suitable experiences which ensure progress. We use this information on a weekly basis to plan learning experiences and next steps so that knowledge and skills are built upon cumulatively. During each assessment window, teachers use their own professional judgement alongside Development Matters to update the progress children have made onto our own internal tracking system. This allows us to assess the impact of teaching and identify individual and group strengths and areas to develop.
Our curriculum and its delivery ensure that children make good progress. Children in our early years, on average, arrive well below their age-related expectations. During their time in our EYFS, children make good progress toward their age-related expectations before transitioning into Year One.
We believe that this is due to a combination of our high standards, the enriched play-based opportunities that we provide daily as well as the nurturing relationships that are fostered throughout the early years . A rich diet of balanced learning experiences is undoubtedly the best way to develop happy and curious children.
The impact of this carefully constructed curriculum is that in 2024 - 69% of children left our Early Years Foundation Stage with a good level of development (2022).
Key Documents