EYFS Curriculum

The Early Years Curriculum

The EYFS year is a year to provide foundations for the children and get them ready for learning by the National Curriculum in Year 1. There are 7 areas of learning and development within the statutory framework for early years foundation stage (EYFS)

All of the areas are important as they are all interconnected. The 7 areas are used by early years settings to shape the children’s education and determine what children should learn and how children’s learning and development will be supported through each of these 7 areas.

The 7 areas are split into two categories: the prime areas and the specific areas.

The Prime Areas

The prime areas lay the foundations upon which all further learning can develop. The prime areas are also extremely important for ‘igniting children’s curiosity and enthusiasm for learning, forming relationships and thriving’, as stated in the statutory framework for the early years foundation stage. The three prime areas are:

The Specific Areas

Our Early years setting also supports children’s learning and development in the specific areas. The four specific areas are intended to also strengthen learning and development within the prime areas, hence why the 7 areas are seen as being interconnected. The four specific areas are:

Learning and Experiences at Summerlea

Autumn Term

We have lots of exciting experiences for the children in their first term of school. As well as learning their new school routines and adapting to life at Summerlea, they will develop many skills through play with their new friends. Our two big questions for this term are; Who am I? and What will you wish for? We will be exploring feelings, sharing books such as ‘The Colour Monster’ and ‘The Colour Monster goes to school’ and get to know each other by sharing our own treasure boxes from home. We will have a ‘Colour Day’ which provides the children with exciting experiences including preparing and tasting exotic fruits, exploring with colour and a variety of science investigations. The children will become confident exploring our inside and vast outside area and will learn how the resources will support their learning and allow their imaginations to lead and take their learning on further. We will go on Autumn walks, collecting leaves, conker and fir cones and talk about the changes that we will experience as Summer turns to Autumn and then to Winter. After half term there will be many opportunities to explore our outdoor area with more natural changes, such as exploring ice play and keeping warm by den building and experiencing stories around the fire pit in our very own Forest School called Sapling Sessions. We will also be preparing for our Christmas Nativity ready to share with you all, to get you in the Christmas spirit.

Spring Term

The children will explore the big questions Why do words matter? and What’s the story? this term. We will be reading the ‘Oi’ range of books by Kes Gray and also experience going on a bear hunt after reading the famous story by Michael Rosen. We will also enjoy fairy tales; The Gingerbread Man and Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The children will learn all about instructions and design and make Gingerbread men and they will become investigators and detectives when they are faced with a porridge crime scene at school one morning. In this term we will also be inviting the company ‘Little City’ to school where they will set up our school hall with many role play experiences for the children to discover. We will also be walking the children to Rustington Library for their first school trip and they will learn how to select and take out a book to enjoy. Sapling sessions, our forest school in our outside area will continue to develop children’s skills and provide opportunities for using tools such as peelers, hammers and saws.

Summer Term

This term our two big questions are; Where will you take me? and How do things change? The children will explore many different vehicles and non-fiction texts about them through our transport topic and we’ll have a visit from the fire brigade, the police and the ambulance service and they will all bring their vehicles and the children will learn how the emergency services help us. Our class caterpillars will arrive and this will kick start our ‘changes’ topic where we will be looking at the story ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’ and ‘The Tiny Seed’ by Eric Carle. The children will utilise our Sensory Garden a lot this term and will get to harvest the tomatoes and peppers we would be planting with the children previously in the year. We will also measure our sunflowers and enjoy encouraging insect visitors to our outside area and go on many mini-beast hunts. In Summer two we will also be taking the children on a school trip to Crimsham Farm. This will be a great hands-on experience for all of the children and they will take part in workshops and learn about caring for animals. We will also get to see many baby animals and this will spark many discussions about changes and growing up. Forest School this term will continue to develop skills using tools, joining materials, preparing food and making structures. We will also prepare the children for Year One by experiencing stories with their new teacher and visiting their new classroom for learning opportunities too.

Throughout the year we will share learning and observations with you about your child via Tapestry. Also keep an eye out for dates where we will invite you in for Phonics and Reading and Maths workshops as well as our termly celebration of learning sessions where you can come in and see your child’s work.