Our Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum

Al Longford Park Primary School, we are relentless in our pursuit of excellence and have a strong, ambitious and effective interdisciplinary curriculum from Nursery to Year 6 which ensures explicit links are made between subjects. We are a research and evidence-based school, and everything in our curriculum is deliberately chosen to ensure inclusive practice is at the heart of our offer.

EYFS at Longford Park Primary School

We want our children to be engaged, motivated, creative and curious. This will enable them to become problem solvers, critical thinkers, risk takers and independent learners. We achieve this through our high-quality early years environment which is stimulating and inviting, both inside and outside, with high-quality, open-ended resources.

We provide rich learning opportunities which promote challenge and enable children to become independent and resilient learners. Our versatile resources enable children to have ownership over their learning and we create environments where children can have fun and create purposeful learning opportunities. Adults are considerate and nurturing and sensitively support children’s play, language development and thinking processes through positive relationships. This includes skilled questioning which helps to extend children’s thinking and understanding without interfering with their original ideas and thoughts.

Through the combination of our staff’s deep knowledge of child development, our environment, the planned adult-directed activities and ongoing high-quality interactions, Longford Park’s EYFS creates happy, confident children.

Through this provision, we aim to create skilled lifelong learners. Please see our Early Years Foundation Stage Policy on the main policies page: /481/policies

Learning within the Early Years Foundation Stage (Nursery and Reception)

In planning and guiding children’s learning experiences, staff in our Nursery and Reception classes reflect on the different ways that children learn and cater for these in their daily practice.

Three characteristics of effective learning in the Early Years are:

Playing and exploring - children investigate and experience things, and ‘have a go’
Active learning - children concentrate and keep on trying if 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

Learning experiences for our Nursery and Reception children are planned around the seven Prime and Specific Areas of Learning and experience. Early Learning Goals summarise the knowledge, skills and understanding that all young children should have gained by the end of the Reception year.

Playing and exploring with the willingness ‘to have a go’, alongside being an active learner engaging in ‘hands on’ experiences, develops each child’s ability to make links, share views and express ideas in a safe and supportive learning environment.

Early Years practice is developed in line with ‘best practice’ guidelines and supports the concept of continuous provision, free-flow, and a predominantly child-led learning environment both indoors and outdoors. At the heart of this is the development of communication and language skills through ShREC interactions and targeted Wellcomm interventions.

We are fully committed to the purpose and aims of the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage (September 2023): https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-foundation-stage-framework--2

As outlined in the EYFS statutory framework, our schools teach the seven areas of learning and follow progression documents which clearly outline what 2-3 year olds, 3-4 year olds and 4-5 year olds should know and be able to do in each area.

The progression documents for each area of learning can be found here:

GLF-EY-Foundational-Knowledge-Communication-and-Language.pptx

GLF-EY-Foundational-Knowledge-Literacy-Writing.pptx

GLF-EY-Foundational-Knowledge-Literacy-Reading.pptx

GLF-EY-Foundational-Knowledge-EAD-Art-and-Design-Technology.pptx

GLF-EY-Foundational-Knowledge-EAD-Music-Dance-and-Drama.pptx

GLF-EY-Foundational-Knowledge-Physical-Development.pptx

GLF-EY-Foundational-Knowledge-PSED.pptx

GLF-EY-Foundational-Knowledge-UTW-Geography-and-RS.pptx

GLF-EY-Foundational-Knowledge-UTW-History.pptx

GLF-EY-Foundational-Knowledge-UTW-Science.pptx

GLF-N1-2-3-Maths-Overview.pdf