Early Years Foundation Stage at William Penn
At William Penn Primary School, we are committed to providing every child with the very best start in life, laying strong foundations that they can build upon throughout their entire school journey and beyond. We strive to nurture confident, resilient and independent learners.
Our EYFS curriculum is carefully designed to provide a broad, balanced and play-based education that meets the needs of all pupils. Through a rich and stimulating environment, we support children in developing the prime areas of learning – communication and language, physical development and personal, social, and emotional development – alongside the specific areas of literacy, mathematics, understanding the world, and expressive arts and design. These seven areas are used to plan children’s learning and activities. We believe that continuous and enhanced provision within the learning environment encourages independence and consolidation of skills and knowledge previously learnt.
Our EYFS classroom provides a well-organised and inviting indoor environment alongside a spacious outdoor area. We develop children’s knowledge, skills and understanding through a combination of both play-based learning and focused teacher led sessions. Pupils daily activities involve child-initiated learning that they explore during continuous provision, known as ‘Explore and Learn’ time where children are encouraged to explore their own learning and interests.
Central to our approach are the Characteristics of Effective Learning. We encourage children to play and explore, developing their curiosity and willingness to ‘have a go’; to actively engage in their learning, showing motivation and resilience; and to think critically, developing their own ideas, making links and solving problems.
Our curriculum is enriched through the use of our beautiful grounds promoting child-centred learning, exploration and purposeful play opportunities for children such as outdoor learning, nature-based learning and Forest School. Trips, visitors and hands on learning opportunities are used to extend learning.
We place a strong emphasis on the development of communication and language, recognising it as the foundation for all learning. We prioritise early language skills through the implementation of the NELI (Nuffield Early Language Intervention) programme, which enables us to identify and support children. Our ‘talk through play’ approach underpins daily practice, creating rich opportunities for children to develop language and oracy through meaningful interactions. We develop language across all areas of provision through high-quality adult-child interactions and shared conversations. New vocabulary is introduced and embedded through high-quality texts, Drawing Club and consistently modelled within continuous provision, ensuring children are exposed to and to use a wide range of language in context
We aim to ensure that all children make strong progress from their starting points and are well-prepared for the next stage of their education. Our carefully planned curriculum ensures that essential knowledge and skills are embedded so children have broad foundations to build their learning on. Our subject documents show links between the areas of learning in EYFS and the National Curriculum. Through meaningful experiences, observations and high-quality interactions we are able to develop an understanding of a child’s ability and their next steps in each area of their learning. This supports us in making accurate judgements on their Early Learning Goals at the end of the Foundation Stage and is key to transition talks as children progress to Year 1.
Parent involvement and Community
We work in partnership with families to encourage happy leaners who thrive in school. Parents are actively involved in their child’s learning journey. We offer a range of opportunities to engage parents with our school community such as:
- Welcome meeting for our new parents in the summer term before their children start school
- Google classroom – news about our learning at school and how they can help their child
- Hold workshops to support parents in areas such as Reading and Phonics
- Invite parents in for reading mornings – share a book morning
- Meet the teacher/Nursery visits/transition events
- Mystery Reader – Parents invited in to read a story to the class
- Proud Clouds to share learning from home