Foundation Curriculum | Wath C of E Website

Welcome to Foundation

Foundation is where the children start their school learning journey, continuing to build on the skills and knowledge that they have already developed either at home or in a variety of settings. We aim to make sure that the children are happy and settled and ready to move on with their learning in all areas of their development, at whatever stage they join us. We provide a wonderful range of learning experiences both indoor and out. We offer a good balance of both adult-led activities and opportunities for the children to develop their own ideas in self-directed learning and play, whilst always offering the appropriate level of support and challenge to extend their learning.

At Wath C of E we have a fantastic team of staff who are excited to play a part in your child’s learning journey and share their achievements at every stage of their development.

EYFS Curriculum

We plan a curriculum which is broad and balanced, offering opportunities across all areas of learning. This is based on the 7 areas of learning outlined in the EYFS curriculum and the non-statutory guidance offered in Development Matters. Children’s progress and attainment at the end of the EYFS is assessed using the Early Learning Goals.

We provide a wide range of learning experiences both indoor and out which offer a good balance of both adult-led activities and opportunities for the children to develop their own ideas in self-directed learning and play, whilst always providing the appropriate level of support and challenge to extend their learning. This balance also means that children are appropriately challenged and well prepared for Year 1. Our environments are well resourced and provide exciting and engaging opportunities for learning and play.

Learning projects and themes are exciting and motivating, taking account of and building on children’s previous experiences and interests whilst also working to create new areas of interest. We offer a wide range of planned opportunities for play to allow the children to build basic skills and broaden their life experiences.

Focused learning is clearly planned, allowing children to build on their knowledge and experiences and make connections with their previous learning in a meaningful way.

All learning has clear intentions and staff are aware of what the children are learning, allowing them to engage with the children to challenge and support them in their learning and play, through questioning and a strong emphasis on language development and vocabulary. The children thrive on quality interactions to support them in their development and language is key to the children making good progress in their learning. Strong skills in oracy are essential to our children being able to communicate effectively and supports their learning in all areas of development.

Early Reading, Writing and Maths

Mathematics

Our Mathematics curriculum is carefully planned and structured and built around mastery so that our children gain breadth and depth of understanding before moving into Key Stage 1. Whole class learning sessions take place in Maths and include a daily ‘Maths Meeting’ session which focuses on maths fluency. By incorporating ‘Mastering Number’ in our maths teaching, our children gain a deep understanding of numbers to 10, through their experience of using a variety of manipulatives and visuals, and have regular practice in developing their fast retrieval of number facts. Our maths curriculum also includes learning in pattern, shape, space and measures and offers the children practical opportunities to grasp mathematical language and concepts in a meaningful way. Stem sentences are used to allow the children to practice using the correct vocabulary to explain their understanding of mathematical concepts.

Early Reading and Writing

Whole class learning sessions take place in Literacy with a strong emphasis on extending children’s oracy skills. These sessions are planned around our learning projects and themes and support the development of the children’s knowledge and understanding of the world. Carefully selected stories and texts form the basis of the children’s learning, allowing them to broaden their communication, language and vocabulary across the whole curriculum. We recognise that stories are already embedded in children’s experience and are a key way in which they both begin to understand the world around them and represent and communicate their own ideas, knowledge and feelings. Stories can play an important part in helping children to make meaning and form their understanding of themselves, others and the world around them. We aim to foster a love for reading in the EYFS and bring stories to life through exciting activities.

Phonics

Our Phonics curriculum begins in F1 where children are taught pre-phonic skills in readiness to continue their learning in F2. They are taught to listen to and discriminate different sounds and understand rhyme and rhythm before they move on to oral blending. In F2, children are taught daily discreet phonics lessons through the Little Wandle programme which teaches children to read and spell in a carefully planned and systematic way, whilst also incorporating correct letter formation. Progress is carefully tracked and informs any interventions and keep-up sessions.

Fluency and reading comprehension are developed through regular reading practice sessions through the Little Wandle reading scheme.

F2 have daily writing sessions with emphasis on oral composition and transcriptional elements of writing with a guided approach. These sessions reflect our phonics learning and the children are taught to apply the phonic knowledge they have learnt in their writing. This builds the children’s confidence to transfer these skills in their own independent writing.

Adults engage and interact with children to support them in all areas of learning, providing appropriate scaffolds, to develop and extend their learning. Children requiring support are also targeted in planned interventions on a daily basis.

Characteristics of effective learning

There is a strong emphasis on children’s ‘characteristics of effective learning’:

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.

These are developed with an emphasis on resilience, challenge and independence which is evident in daily classroom life and the language children use.

Outdoor Learning

Our EYFS curriculum is extended and enriched through a wide range of outdoor learning opportunities. Our outdoor area is well resourced and offers opportunities for the children to develop physically but also contributes to and enhances their learning across the whole curriculum. We recognise the positive benefits and impact of the outdoor environment on children’s confidence, social skills, communication, motivation, physical skills and knowledge and understanding, whilst also being encouraged to experience challenge and risk. There are also opportunities for children to extend their learning in Maths and Literacy in a more practical way.

PSHE

In school we express ourselves using the zones of regulation. This tool supports our learning, helping us to talk about, manage and regulate our feelings and emotions. The children’s personal, social and emotional development is also supported using the Jigsaw programme.

Intent (What we want to do)

The National Curriculum states the legal requirement that:

Every state-funded school must offer a curriculum which is balanced and broadly based, and which:

• Promotes the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils at the school and of society.

• Prepares pupils at the school for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of later life.

At Wath C of E each child receives a high standard of education that is broad, challenging, exciting and inspires creative thinking. We aim to encourage children to be safe, independent and respectful towards others and make a positive and meaningful contribution to the community of which they are a part and to develop the skills they need to respond to and meet the challenges of an ever-changing world and global society.

In RE pupils will be taught an increasing knowledge and understanding of religions and world views through a curriculum which allows them to systematically review and build on their learning. They will gain and use the skills needed to engage seriously with religions and world views, whilst learning to express and communicate ideas and insights about their nature, significance and impact.

All children will have access to the RE curriculum through quality-first, inclusive teaching and any barriers to pupils participating in all RE learning will be and minimised and where possible removed.

Summary

• Know about and understand religions and world views.

• Express ideas and insights into religious and world views.

• Use and deploy the skills for learning from religious world views.

Our intent is that this quality education, along with high expectations, will ensure that our children are appropriately challenged and supported to reach their full potential and achieve the expected level of development in all areas, including in their personal, social and emotional development.

Implementation (How we will do it)

Curriculum

We plan a curriculum which is broad and balanced, offering opportunities across all areas of learning. This is based on the 7 areas of learning outlined in the EYFS curriculum and the non-statutory guidance offered in Development Matters. Children’s progress and attainment at the end of the EYFS is assessed using the Early Learning Goals.

We provide a wide range of learning experiences both indoor and out which offer a good balance of both adult-led activities and opportunities for the children to develop their own ideas in self-directed learning and play, whilst always providing the appropriate level of support and challenge to extend their learning. This balance also means that children are appropriately challenged and well prepared for Year 1. Our environments are well resourced and provide exciting and engaging opportunities for learning and play.

Learning projects and themes are exciting and motivating, taking account of and building on children’s previous experiences and interests whilst also working to create new areas of interest. We offer a wide range of planned opportunities for play to allow the children to build basic skills and broaden their life experiences.

Focused learning is clearly planned, allowing children to build on their knowledge and experiences and make connections with their previous learning in a meaningful way.

All learning has clear intentions and staff are aware of what the children are learning, allowing them to engage with the children to challenge and support them in their learning and play, through questioning and a strong emphasis on language development and vocabulary. The children thrive on quality interactions to support them in their development and language is key to the children making good progress in their learning. Strong skills in oracy are essential to our children being able to communicate effectively and supports their learning in all areas of development.

Early Reading, Writing and Maths

• Children have daily phonics lessons, using the Little Wandle phonics scheme.

• Fluency and reading comprehension are developed through regular reading practice sessions through the Little Wandle reading scheme.

• Whole class learning sessions take place in Maths and Literacy and also daily Maths Meetings focusing on maths fluency using ‘Mastering Number’. Our maths teaching allows our children to have a deep understanding of number and to develop fast retrieval of number facts.

Adults engage and interact with children to support them, providing appropriate scaffolds, to develop and extend their learning. Children requiring support are also targeted in planned interventions on a daily basis.

Characteristics of effective learning

There is a strong emphasis on children’s ‘characteristics of effective learning’:

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.

These are developed with an emphasis on resilience, challenge and independence which is evident in daily classroom life and the language children use.

In school we express ourselves using the zones of regulation. This tool supports our learning, helping us to talk about our feelings and emotions which are important to show.

In summary:

A successful balance of both adult-led focused activities and opportunities for the children to develop their own ideas and learning in self-directed activities is key to our children being successful learners and achieving our aim.

Early writing and maths are key elements of our curriculum, with a strong emphasis on oracy skills and language development in all areas of learning.

Both focused adult-led and self-directed learning opportunities (through continuous provision) are planned carefully, with clear learning intentions which are shared with all staff, allowing careful questioning and scaffolds to support and challenge learning. Targeted support, through interventions, also takes place on a daily basis.

Impact (What impact will it have?)

The impact of our curriculum is seen in the good progress achieved by our children throughout their EYFS journey and, over time, their learning reflects our intended curriculum.

Progress is planned through long term progression maps, medium term and weekly plans. Development Matters is used as a tool for planning and to track progress throughout the year.

The impact of our Early Years curriculum and children’s progress is monitored through ongoing assessment and planned assessments at key points throughout the year.

Individual progress is tracked regularly and pupil progress meeting take place to identify children who need targeted intervention. Gaps in learning are identified and acted on as appropriate through intervention, additional support and quality first teaching.

Moderation of assessments takes place internally between staff and externally with F2 teachers attending the Local Authority moderation meetings.

By the end of Foundation 2, the children achieve Good Level of Development consistently above the national average.

In summary:

The impact of our well-planned EYFS curriculum, which includes quality first teaching and carefully targeted support, is seen in the positive effects of our EYFS curriculum on our children’s development in all areas of learning. Our children are happy in school and engage with the curriculum with interest and enthusiasm and a willingness to learn. They EYFS data shows that our children achieve a Good Level of Development consistently above National Average.

This impact is monitored throughout the year through on-going and planned assessments at key points. This allows careful tracking to take place and ensures that children are quickly identified who need targeted intervention to fill gaps in learning.

Summary of Intent, Implementation and Impact

Intent

In summary:

Our aim is that all children are offered a quality education which is proven to be key to them being successful in later life.

This is underpinned by our vision of children being and becoming brave, resilient, positive and inclusive and our 3 behaviours which encourage our children to be safe, respectful and independent.

Our intent is that this quality education, along with high expectations, will ensure that our children are appropriately challenged and supported to reach their full potential and achieve the expected level of development in all areas, including in their personal, social and emotional development.

Implementation

In summary:

A successful balance of both adult-led focused activities and opportunities for the children to develop their own ideas and learning in self-directed activities is key to our children being successful learners and achieving our aim.

Early writing and maths are key elements of our curriculum, with a strong emphasis on oracy skills and language development in all areas of learning.

Both focused adult-led and self-directed learning opportunities (through continuous provision) are planned carefully, with clear learning intentions which are shared with all staff, allowing careful questioning and scaffolds to support and challenge learning. Targeted support, through interventions, also takes place on a daily basis.

Impact

In summary:

The impact of our well-planned EYFS curriculum, which includes quality first teaching and carefully targeted support is seen in the positive effects of our EYFS curriculum on our children’s development in all areas of learning. Our children are happy in school and engage with the curriculum with interest and enthusiasm and a willingness to learn. They EYFS data shows that our children achieve a Good Level of Development consistently above National Average (2023 - 24 – 71%) (NA 67%)

This impact is monitored throughout the year through on-going and planned assessments at key points. This allows careful tracking to take place and ensures that children are quickly identified who need targeted intervention to fill gaps in learning.

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