Early Years

  • Mrs Rachel Sizer

    Early Years Lead

  • Mrs Toni Dixon

    High Level Teaching Assistant

  • Mrs Jayne Narraway

    EYFS Link Governor

At Newchurch Community Primary School, we have high expectations for all children.  We believe that the Early Years Foundation Stage Is vital in preparing our Newchurch robins to fly throughout their time in education, their everyday life and beyond. We aim to develop life-long learners who thrive in a happy and purposeful environment which facilitates communication and allows children to engage in a range of active, enjoyable and multi-sensory experiences across all areas of the early years curriculum.

The Characteristics of Effective Learning describe behaviours children use in order to learn. To learn well, children must approach opportunities with curiosity, energy and enthusiasm. Effective learning must be meaningful to a child, so that they are able to use what they have learned and apply it in new situations. These abilities and attitudes of strong learners will support them to learn well and make good progress in all the Areas of Learning and Development.

The Characteristics of Effective Learning are:

Playing and Exploring (Engagement):

  •          Finding out and exploring
  •          Playing with that they know
  •          Being willing to ‘have a go’

Active Learning (Motivation):

  •          Being involved and concentrating
  •          Keep trying
  •          Enjoying achieving what they set out to do

Creative and Critical Thinking (Thinking):

  •          Having their own ideas
  •          Making links
  •          Working with ideas

The EYFS is made up of seven areas of learning:

Prime areas

  • Personal, Social and Emotional Development
  • Physical Development
  • Communication & Language

Specific areas

  • Literacy
  • Mathematics
  • Understanding the World
  • Expressive Arts and Design

These areas are delivered throughout the topic and linked closely together. They are equally important and interdependent.

The EYFS is based upon four principles:

  • every child is a unique child, who is constantly learning and can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured;
  • children learn to be strong and independent through positive relationships;
  • children learn and develop well in enabling environments, in which their experiences respond to their individual needs and there is a strong partnership between practitioners and parents and/or carers;
  • children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates.

Our Early Years curriculum is carefully designed and sequenced to ensure key skills and knowledge are being taught across all areas of learning; allowing deeper learning and enabling our Newchurch robins to achieve the early learning goals at the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage.

A passion for reading and literature is fostered in the early years.  Quality texts (fiction and non-fiction) including the learning of rhymes and poems enrich a broad and balanced curriculum.

Early reading underpins the philosophy of our early year’s curriculum and every opportunity is taken to help children to apply their reading skills to maximise their learning and extend their interests and passions.

Our inviting indoor reading area and outdoor reading wigwam provides our Newchurch robins with access to quality children’s literature, poems and rhymes. Other areas of continuous provision, both indoors and outdoors, are supported with quality texts linked to learning.

A themed small world table and quality indoor and outdoor role-play areas promote story language, communication, language and literacy opportunities, application of number, shape, space and measure as well as developing the children’s creativity, imagination and vocabulary.

A well-resourced and engaging outdoor music area provides rich opportunities for children to compose their own music in response to a range of stimuli and supports each Newchurch robin to take their first steps in performing and music-making, a key aspect of the Newchurch curriculum offer across school.

The indoor and outdoor areas of continuous provision are very well-resourced and aligned with the Early Years curriculum allowing the children to revisit their learning in different contexts.  These resources allow the children to develop their skills of enquiry when engaging in exploration, enabling them to ask questions and deepen their learning beyond the initial learning task.

In order to meet the diverse and developing needs of the children, our indoor and outdoor learning environments are continually enhanced.  Enhancements ensure that children are continually engaged and stimulated in their learning. Each area of continuous provision is planned to promote the independence and confidence of all children to enable them to access all areas of the early years curriculum, with adults available to support and challenge.

Forest School

In addition to their learning in the indoors and outdoor environments, our Early Years children experience weekly Forest School provision. See the images below to discover what they get up to each week. For more information please visit our Forest School tab on the home page.

Curriculum
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