Boughton-Under-Blean & Dunkirk Methodist Primary School

BOUGHTON-UNDER-BLEAN & DUNKIRK METHODIST PRIMARY SCHOOL

Early Years Foundation Stage policy

February 2016

Review: 2018

‘Dream, Believe, Achieve Together’

We aspire for all our children to become confident, happy and caring individuals who achieve personal success and develop a love of learning and a life built upon our school values.

Boughton-under-Blean & Dunkirk is a Methodist Primary School and our Methodist values are at the heart of everything we do.

• Forgiveness
• Friendship
• Trust
• Justice
• Perseverance

These are then underpinned by our learning values.

• Communication
• Independence
• Aspiration
• Engagement

Our whole school ethos is built upon and guided by them. Every school policy is written with this in mind.

Our aims

It is every child’s right to grow up safe, healthy, enjoying and achieving, making a positive

contribution and with economic well-being. We aim to provide a broad, balanced, rich and stimulating curriculum and environment which will enable each child to develop personally, socially, emotionally, spiritually, physically, creatively and intellectually to his/her full potential.

Each child is valued as an individual and teaching and learning is based on the understanding that children develop at different rates.

At BoughtonUnderBlean and Dunkirk Methodist Primary we aim to:

• provide a safe, challenging, stimulating, caring and sharing environment which is
• be sensitive to the needs of the child, including children with additional needs
• provide a broad, balanced, relevant and creative curriculum that will set in place firm

foundations for future learning and development in Key Stage 1 and beyond

• provide opportunities for children to learn through planned, purposeful play in all areas oflearning and development
• use and value what each child can do, assessing their individual needs and helping eachchild to progress
• enable choice and decision-making, fostering independence and self confidence
• work in partnership with parents/guardians and value their contributions
• ensure that all children, irrespective of ethnicity, culture, religion, home language, family, background, learning difficulties, disabilities, gender or ability, have the opportunity toexperience a challenging and enjoyable programme of learning and development
• provide experiences for all children, whatever their needs, which are inclusive

The Early Years Foundation Stage extends from birth to five years of age. The final year of theEYFS is referred to as the reception year.

Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) covers children’s education in all childcare settings. The new framework incorporates three previous documents:

-Development Matters

- Birth to Three Matters framework and

- Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage.

The EYFS is important in its own right, and also in preparing children for later schooling. The

EYFS principles which guide the work of all practitioners are grouped into four distinct but complementary themes:

A Unique Child- every child is a competent learner from birth who can be resilient,

capable, confident and self-assured. The commitments are focused around development; inclusion; safety; and health and well-being.

Positive Relationships- how children learn to be strong and independent from a base of loving and secure relationships with parents and/or a key person. The commitments are focused around respect, partnership with parents, supporting learningand the role of the key person.

Enabling Environments– states that the environment plays a key role in supporting and extending children’s development and learning. The commitments are focused around observation, assessment and planning; support for every child; the learning environment; and the wider context –transitions, continuity, and multi-agency working.

Learning and Development- recognises that children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates; and that all areas of learning and development are equally important and inter-connected (see curriculum).

Children joining our school have already learnt a great deal. Many have been learning in one of the various educational settings that exist in our community. The early years education we offer our children is based on these principles and seeks to:

build on what children already know,ensure that no child is excluded or disadvantaged,

offer a structure for learning that has a range of starting points, include content that matches the need of young children, and activities that provide opportunities for learning, both indoors and outdoors,provide a rich and stimulating environment and

ensure partnership with parents and other agencies.

Curriculum

* A carefully structured curriculum based on the ‘Early Years Foundation Stage’ will offer provision which takes account of the differing starting points of the children in the Early Years across the seven areas of learning.

*The Development Statements provide a progression through to the end of EYFS2

* Children are provided with activities and experiences that allow them to achieve

their full developmental potential. Activities are designed to challenge and extend

their skills and knowledge.

• The curriculum is based around Prime and Specific areas of learning, where the

three prime areas underpin all of a child’s learning experiences.

The teaching within the Early Years takes into account the learning styles- the

‘characteristics of learning’ of individual learners to ensure that they are supported

and taught in ways that suit them best.

The seven areas of learning support, foster, promote and develop children’s well beingand development around

Personal, Social and Emotional Development-

This is crucial for all aspects of life which will give the children the best opportunity for

success in all other areas of learning. Each child needs a positive sense of him/herself and

respect for others. The school uses the SEAL’s curriculum to support our teaching of PSE.

Communication and Language Development-

The key skills will develop confidence in communication, teaching speaking, listening and

understanding in a variety of settings and purposes.

Physical Development –

We will improve the skills of co-ordination, control, manipulation and movement. It helps

children to gain confidence and feel positive about being healthy and active. This promotes a positive feeling of well being.

Literacy-

Learners will have a wide range of books read to them and will read simple texts for

themselves. Familiar books will help learners rehearse phrases and interesting vocabulary

that will become part of their own speech and ultimately writing. They will also be providedwith a range of opportunities for writing for a variety of purposes. The

school uses the Letters and Sounds document to support our teaching of phonics.

Maths -

We will develop confidence and competence in learning and using key skills. This includes

counting, sorting, matching, seeking patterns, making connections, recognising

relationships and working with numbers, shapes, space and measures.

Understanding of the World–

We will develop crucial skills of problem solving, exploring and understanding will help them to makesense of the world. Foundations are developed for the later teaching of Science, Design and Technology, History, Geography and I.C.T.

Expressive and Creative Arts-

Creativity is fundamental to successful learning. It enables children to make connections

and extend their thoughts, feelings and understanding. It will include art, music, dance,

role-play and imaginative activities.

Outdoor Learning

“Outdoor learning makes a major contribution to children’s development. Young children will be missing out on important learning opportunities if quality outdoor provision is not available to them regularly.”THE GREAT OUTDOORS by MARGARET EDGINGTON

At Boughton under Blean and Dunkirk Methodist Primary we recognise the importance of outside play and we aim to create an outdoor area which is stimulating, exciting, takes account of the children’s interests and is used throughout the year as a learning environment.

We will;

• use the outdoor space as a natural resource for learning,
• include the outdoor area when planning for continuous provision,
• include children when planning for learning outdoors,
• provide the opportunity for children to access the outdoor area on a daily basis,
• ensure that the outdoor area offers children the opportunity to investigate and explore, problem solve, use their imagination and creativity,
• ensure the outdoors offers children the opportunity to develop their gross motor skills,
• encourage the children to respect the outdoor environment and care for living things,
• give children the opportunity to manage and use the space and freedom afforded by the outdoors,
• give children the opportunity to work alone or in collaboration with peers or adults,
• teach the children to use tools safely and appropriate.

Assessment

Assessments are made to inform staff of the needs of individual pupils and the needs of

the class as a whole. This information is used to plan appropriate activities that match

specific needs in order to ensure all children progress.

*Monitoring of each child will take place through regular observations, discussion,

photographs within the children’s learning journeys and planned assessments.

*Baseline assessments of all children are carried out quickly after they start school and are completed within the first term.

*Children in EYFS1 are assessed according to the appropriate Development Statements

and their progress is tracked termly.

*Early Years Foundation Stage data is updated and completed by the end of June and

the LEA is given a summary of each child’s achievement profile using the terms 1 which means entering, 2 expected or 3 exceeding the Early Learning Goals. An end of year report summarising the achievements from the Foundation Stage Profile is sent to parents.

*Assessment from Reception Class to Key Stage 1- during the final term in Reception, the EYFS Profile is completed for each child. The Profile provides parents and carers, staff and teachers with a well-rounded picture of a child’s knowledge, understanding and abilities, their progress against expected levels, and their readiness for Year 1. The Profile includes on-going observation, all relevant records held by the setting, discussions with parents and carers, and any other adults whom the teacher, parent or carer judges can offer a useful contribution. Each child’s level of development is assessed against the Early Learning Goals. The profile indicates whether children are meeting expected levels of development, or if they are exceeding expected levels, or not yet reaching expected levels (‘emerging’). Year 1 teachers are given a copy of the Profile report together with verbal feedback on each child’s skills and abilities in relation to the three key characteristics of effective learning. This informs the dialogue between Reception and Year 1 teachers about each child’s stage of development and learning needs and assists with the planning of activities in Year 1.

Planning

Planning is used to meet children’s needs socially and academically based uponobservations and assessments of individual learners. It is underpinned by four themes andprinciples: A Unique Child, Positive Relationships, Enabling Environments and Learningand Development and the 16 commitments that support them.

* Planning will take place on a weekly basis taking into account both the needs of the

children and their particular interests and learning styles whilst using the Development Statements as a means of continuity and progression for their learning.

*The views of the learners are sought to gather suggestions andideas of activities that would support their learning of the theme to be taught.

*The needs of the learners will be fully understood by careful observation of their play,assessment during adult led tasks and through their own self reflection.

*The learners will be given opportunities to explore and develop learningexperiences, which help them make sense of the world through structured play.

*Through planned activities children will be given the opportunity to think creatively alongside other children as well ason their own. They will communicate with others as they investigate and solve problems.

*The learning environment is planned for both indoors and outdoors to encourage apositive attitude to learning that is not exclusive to a classroom setting and providesdifferent approaches and tasks to be adapted to different learning styles. The childrenmake their own selection of the activities on offer as this encourages independent learning.

Parents as Partners

We recognise that parents are children’s first and most enduring educators and we value the contribution they make. We recognise the role that parents have played, and their future role, in educating the children. We do this through:

•talking to parents about their child before their child starts in our school e.g. making a home visit or arranging for a meeting in school before children start

•ensuringthe children have the opportunity to spend time with their teacher before starting school during transfer sessions and a transitional party in the summer term

•supportingchildren through the transition from pre-school to Reception with the children attending part time during the first two weeks. This is also to support staff and parents in getting to know each other as well as the children,

•inviting all parents to an induction meeting during the term before their child starts school and again during the first half term of the child’s Reception year in order to detail how we aim to work with their child particularly in relation to maths,reading, writing and phonics

•encouraging parents to talk to the child’s teacher if there are any concerns. There is a formal meeting for parents twice a year at which the teacher and the parent discuss the child’s progress in private with the teacher

•providing parents with a report on their child’s attainment and progress at the end of the school year

•arranging a range of activities throughout the year that encourage collaboration between child, school and parents: celebration assemblies, workshops, school visits

•providing parents an opportunity to celebrate their child’s learning and development by completing ‘rapid rockets’ and ‘memory books’, which inform planning and provision;

•ensuring that we have an open door approach where parents can seek out staff in phone, in writing or by phone

•by providing a quiet and confidential area where parents are able to discuss any concerns.

From Pre-school /Feeder settings

During the summer term prior to a child’s entry into the Reception year, the following procedures have been put into place to ensure successful transition

•Parents are invited to a meeting to welcome them to the school to share how their children will learn and how they can help at home.

•Children from all nurseries will visit the school for nurture visits in the summer term.The children are invited to two separate visits to their reception class. One of these visits involves half the class and the other visit is all of the new entrants.

•The children also visit with parents for a transitional party at the end of the summer term before they start

•The EY classteacher from Boughton under Blean and Dunkirk Methodist Primary School make visits to feeder settings

•Children from the on-site nursery Magpies, will visit for storytimes in the spring and summer terms

•Children requiring extra support will have additional visits regardless of their setting. Often these children will have been identified as requiring additional support or are part of the Common Assessment Framework (CAF) process

Equal Opportunities

All members of the school are treated as individuals. We aim to meet the needs of all, taking account of gender, ability, ethnicity, culture, religion, language, sexual orientation, age, special educational needs, disability, and social circumstances. All staff are aware of the need for the curriculum to reflect cultural diversity and the need to prepare pupils for life in a diverse and multi-faith society.

Health and Safety

At Boughton under Blean and Dunkirk Methodist Primary School, there are clear procedures for assessing risk (see whole school risk assessment policy) which includes procedures for keeping children safe during outings and for any aspects of the environment or provision that may require a further risk assessment. In addition to this, an annual risk assessment is conducted of the EYFS (see EYFS risk assessment) and in the staff handbook, safeguarding and child protection polices, there is detailed information and procedures to ensure the safety of the children. The EYFS risk assessment must be read in conjunction with other relevant whole school polices (see EYFS risk assessment). In line with the EYFS statutory framework 2012, at Boughton under Blean and Dunkirk Methodist Primary School we undertaketo ensure: