The Early Years Foundation Stage @ Appleton Roebuck
Our Early Years Curriculum
Our Early Years curriculum is unique to Appleton Roebuck. It is planned and developed around the needs and interests of the children in our community, and covers all aspects of the statutory Early Years Foundation Stage Framework 2021 (see below). It is underpinned by first-hand experience and leads children to be inquisitive and ask questions about the world around them. Through this we develop the children’s independence, creativity, imagination and love of learning in our inside and outdoor environments. We focus on developing identified core knowledge and skills through clear end points. These are worked towards, so that they are creative and adventurous learners fully prepared for Year One, with all the tools needed to achieve and exceed in life. In order to do this, we work closely as an EY/KS1 team to prepare children for the next step in their journey of lifelong learning. This includes both collaboration in planning our learning journeys and working together to create inspirational themed days. Alongside this, we work with the subject groups to make sure that our learning underpins the whole school curriculum. We make sure that our curriculum evolves and develops with our children. We ensure that flexibility is built into our curriculum so that our children can follow their own interests and that their individual talents, interests and needs are always nurtured. Our environment is a crucial part of the curriculum and both the inside and outside spaces work together to create a workshop for the children to explore their individual learning.
The EYFS Framework 2021
The EYFS Framework 2021:
- sets the standards that all Early Year’s providers must meet to ensure that children learn and develop well
- ensures children are kept healthy and safe
- ensures that children have the knowledge and skills they need to start school
The EYFS Framework 2021 can be downloaded here.
Our Early Year 2023-2024 Long Term Planning
The Characteristics of Effective Learning
The three characteristics of effective learning describe the behaviours children use in order to learn.
Playing and exploring - children investigate and experience things, and build the resilience to ‘have a go’.
Active learning - children concentrate and keep on trying if they encounter difficulties, and enjoy achieving.
Creating and thinking critically - children have and develop their own ideas, make links between ideas, and develop strategies for doing things.
Super 6 Texts for Early Years Children
The Areas of Learning & Development
The three prime areas are particularly important for building a foundation for igniting children’s curiosity and enthusiasm for learning, forming relationships, and thriving, underpinning the specific areas of learning.
The Prime areas:
Communication and Language
Personal, social and Emotional Development
Physical Development
There are four specific areas through which the prime areas are strengthened and applied.
The specific Areas:
Literacy
Mathematics
Understanding the world
Expressive arts and design
Learning to Read & Write @ Appleton Roebuck
Phonics is taught from the very beginning of Reception through the Read Write Inc programme which is a systematic and highly effective approach used for the teaching of early reading and writing. This develops their phonetic knowledge and their ability to segment and blend. Strategies within the scheme are adopted throughout the school day to review focus sounds and make links across all areas of the curriculum. In each half term, the children will share a wide-range of whole class, high-quality reading texts, carefully selected to inspire children’s curiosities and interests.
You can find further information about our approaches to the teaching of Reading here.
Our Adults
At Appleton Roebuck our Early Years team work together to create a warm and welcoming environment, where children feel safe, secure and inspired to learn. Our dedicated team have an absolute commitment to creating an environment where children can succeed and fulfill their full potential. This is developed by getting to know the children as individuals and forming strong relationships, from this point we use these tools to inspire and plan for next steps in the children’s learning.
Our Learning Environment
Our vibrant learning environment is always a hive of activity with children accessing their learning with purpose and a natural curiosity.
We offer a beautiful, well planned learning environment at Appleton Roebuck that is calm, communication-rich and promotes a feeling of homeliness. The children develop a strong understanding of the routines and behavioural expectations, ensuring that all children feel safe and secure.
In our learning environment the indoor and outdoor spaces work together to form our hands-on curriculum. The children work in our four zones (inspiration, exploration, workshop and natural) of the language- rich environment to explore different types of learning. Each zone has been thought through carefully and has a strong purpose allowing children to reach the end points in our curriculum.
Our Partnerships
We work closely with Appleton Roebuck Pre-School to create a smooth transition. Throughout the year children are able to visit the school and become part of the school community. In the Summer term all children have regular visits to the reception class in preparation for a smooth transition into school. This helps to create strong relationships on which to build the foundations of each child’s education.
Each day the Early Years and Key Stage 1 team work closely together to ensure that all children in the environment are inspired and motivated to learn through well thought out and carefully planned activities. We also work alongside staff at Sherburn Hungate Primary School as part of our planning process.
We communicate with our parents in a variety of ways, first and foremost in person. Our Early Years staff are on the door to greet children each morning and to say goodbye each afternoon. Our staff are committed to developing and sustaining positive relationships with our families. Parents can follow their child’s steps in their learning through the class story and portfolio on Class Dojo. Each half term the parents can follow the learning journey on the school website. Throughout the year we hold open classroom sessions and parent consultation meetings allowing us to work closely and effectively with our families in our school community.
