EYFS

For most children their journey at Shaw Wood begins in our Early Years, where we recognise that every child is unique and individual.

Within our nursery and reception, we provide highly effective teaching and learning that promotes challenge, nurture and support.

We motivate and equip our children in Early Years to reach their full potential and go on to achieve success within the National Curriculum and beyond becoming lifelong learners.

At Shaw Wood our EYFS curriculum enables the children to be:

• Happy and confident
• Interested and curious
• Skilful communicators
• Resilient and critical thinkers
• Creative
• Independent

We build on the children’s prior knowledge and individual interests and provide first hand experiences.

We develop the children’s communication and interpersonal skills and their ability to challenge themselves.

We follow the Early years foundation stage statutory framework, in this document there are seven areas of learning and development that set out what we teach. All areas of learning and development are important and inter-connected.

Three prime areas are particularly important for learning and forming relationships. These build a foundation for children to thrive and provide the basis for learning in all areas.

The Prime areas are:

There are four specific areas, which help strengthen and develop the three prime areas, and ignite children’s curiosity and enthusiasm.

The specific areas are:

 Our Curriculum

At Shaw Wood we plan an exciting, engaging and challenging curriculum through themes and key skills linked to key texts.

It is implemented within a safe and stimulating environment.

• It happens within a play based learning environment that allows the children time to investigate, experiment and practise new skills and discover new learning both indoor and outdoors
• Fosters and supports independence
• Focuses on what we want the children to learn and the teaching of basic skills
• Has planned, focused activities to include opportunities for communication, shared thinking, physical challenge and build on existing skills as well as self- initiated activities
• Includes a range of assessment strategies to check what the children have learned to inform future planning
• Supports emotional wellbeing through a thrive approach
• Recognize that learning can take place at all times of the day through direct teaching and play activities inside and out

The adults will:

• Question and respond to questions and engage the children in extended conversations
• Extend vocabulary, knowledge and skills
• Encourage independence
• Add resources that stimulate, motivate and encourage prior learning and discovery of new
• Help children to see links in their learning
• Redirect play when necessary
• Support children’s choices
• Help children to negotiate and resolve conflict
• Work in partnership with parents and careers to ensure that every child is supported in the best way possible

Early Language and Reading

We utilise a Speech and Language Program called Wellcomm.

Foundations for phonics in Nursery

We provide a balance of child-led and adult-led experiences for all children that meet the curriculum expectations for ‘Communication and language’ and ‘Literacy’.

These include:

• sharing high-quality stories and poems
• learning a range of nursery rhymes and action rhymes
• activities that develop focused listening and attention, including oral blending
• attention to high-quality language

We ensure Nursery children are well prepared to begin learning grapheme-phoneme correspondences (GPCs) and blending in Reception. 

Daily phonics in Reception

In Reception  we teach whole class phonics daily.  Starting in Reception, we build from 10-minute lessons to the full-length lesson as quickly as possible. Each Friday, we review the week’s teaching to help children become fluent readers.

Children make a strong start in Reception: teaching begins in Week 2 of the Autumn term

We follow the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised expectations of progress:

Children in Reception are taught to read and spell words using Phase 2 and 3 GPCs, and words with adjacent consonants (Phase 4) with fluency and accuracy.

Reading

We teach children to read through reading practice sessions at least three times a week.

These:

• are taught by a fully trained adult to small groups of children
• use books matched to the children’s secure phonic knowledge using the Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised assessments and book matching grids
• are monitored by the class teacher, who rotates and works with each group on a regular basis

• Each reading practice session has a clear focus, so that the demands of the session do not overload the children’s working memory. The reading practice sessions have been designed to focus on three key reading skills:
  • decoding
  • prosody: teaching children to read with understanding and expression
  • comprehension: teaching children to understand the text.

In Reception these sessions start in Week 4.

Children who are not yet decoding have daily additional blending practice in small groups, so that they quickly learn to blend and can begin to read books.

 Physical Development

We have recently developed our outdoor areas for both Nursery and Reception children. These amazing spaces provide opportunities for the children to climb, balance, ride bikes, and practise skills and develop strength and dexterity in many different ways. They also provide opportunities to develop skills in the wider curriculum.

 Over the course of the year we also introduce the children to focused PE lessons, in Reception. We follow the Your PE Scheme which is implemented throughout the school. 

Mathematics in Reception

We follow the White Rose Maths Scheme in Reception ensuring progression and coverage throughout the year.  https://whiteroseeducation.com/resources?year=reception&subject=maths