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Early Years
Early Years
Intent
At Rowde C of E Primary Academy, we provide our children with a curriculum that is designed to be flexible, engaging and exciting so that their unique needs, passions and interests are embraced. We recognise that their earliest school experiences are amongst the most important and, as such, ensure that we inspire our children to become accomplished, happy individuals, ready to reach their full potential in an ever-changing world.
Every child is an exceptional individual and we celebrate and respect differences within our school community. The ability to learn is underpinned by the teaching of basic skills, knowledge and values that equips our children for their future successes. All of our curriculum subjects and areas of study in Key Stage 1 and Key Stage start in the Early Years - the foundations they build in their knowledge, skills and vocabulary are crucial to their subsequent learning.
Implementation
Here at Rowde, we follow the Early Years Statutory Framework, as laid out by the Department for Education (DfE). This framework requires Early Years settings to focus on Prime Areas and Specific Areas of Learning.
The Prime Areas:
- Personal, Social and Emotional Development,
- Communication and Language, and
- Physical Development
The Specific Areas:
- Literacy,
- Maths,
- Understanding the World, and
- Expressive Art and Design.
We use these 7 areas to plan activities to develop the children’s learning guided by the DfE's early years curriculum 'Development Matters', however, we are flexible so we can meet the needs of the children. We promote active learning and strive to develop learning characteristics that are vital to support good learning behaviours. These Characteristics of Effective Learning include:
- Playing and Exploring – Children investigate and experience things, and ‘have a go’.
- Active Learning – Children concentrate and persevere when they encounter difficulties, and enjoy achievements.
- Creating and Thinking Critically – Children have and develop their own ideas, make links between ideas, and develop strategies for doing things.
Children engage in child initiated learning tasks as well as taking part in adult guided sessions. There are lots of opportunities for them through the day to work independently, with others or with an adult. Through the adult guided sessions we are able track each individual child, and ensure we are implementing the correct next steps to help move their learning on. We want our children to be curious and confident about the world they live in. We support this by asking questions to provoke their thoughts and ideas to help them develop their independence, creativity and problem solving skills. We aspire to lead the children in Early Years to make at least good progress from their individual starting points. We believe it is important to get to know the children for who they are both academically and personally. Therefore, we greatly encourage the whole family to immerse themselves in our school environment and share with us a partnership which enables us as educators to support the child in all aspects of their learning journey.
Impact
Being engaged in enriching activities, children make significant strides in physical, social, emotional and cognitive development. The learning in early years paves the way for success in school. It not only prepares children for reading, writing, and arithmetic, it also builds confidence and embeds positive attitudes towards school and learning as they leave Early Years and enter Key Stage 1.
