Warwick Road Primary School

EYFS Curriculum

Every child deserves the best possible start in life and the support that enables them to fulfil their potential. Children develop quickly in the early years and a child’s experiences between birth and age five have a major impact on their future life chances. A secure, safe and happy childhood is important in its own right. Good parenting and high quality early learning together provide the foundation children need to make the most of their abilities and talents as they grow up.

The EYFS Framework sets the standards we must meet to ensure that children learn and develop well and are kept healthy and safe. It promotes teaching and learning to ensure children’s ‘school readiness’ and gives children the broad range of knowledge and skills that provide the right foundation for good future progress through school and life.

Through the EYFS Framework we seek to provide quality and consistency so that every child makes good progress and no child gets left behind; a secure foundation through learning and development opportunities which are planned around the needs and interests of each individual child and are assessed and reviewed regularly; partnership working between practitioners and with parents and/or carers; equality of opportunity and anti-discriminatory practice, ensuring that every child is included and supported.

The EYFS Framework specifies requirements for learning and development and for safeguarding children and promoting their welfare. The learning and development requirements cover the areas of learning and development which must shape activities and experiences for children; the early learning goals that we must help the children work towards (the knowledge, skills and understanding children should have at the end of the academic year in which they turn five); assessment arrangements for measuring progress (and requirements for reporting to parents and/or carers).

The safeguarding and welfare requirements cover the steps we must take to keep children safe and promote their welfare.

OVERARCHING PRINCIPLES

Four guiding principles should shape our practice. These are:

• Every child is a unique child, who is constantly learning and can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured.
• Children learn to be strong and independent through positive relationships.
• Children learn and develop well in enabling environments, in which their experiences respond to their individual needs and there is a strong partnership between practitioners and parents and/or carers.
• Children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates. The EYFS Framework covers the education and care of all children, including children with special educational needs and disabilities.

AREAS OF LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT

We will teach all statutory requirements of the curriculum.

• Communication and language involves giving children opportunities to experience a rich language environment; to develop their confidence and skills in expressing themselves; and to speak and listen in a range of situations.
• Physical development involves providing opportunities for young children to be active and interactive; and to develop their co-ordination, control, and movement. Children must also be helped to understand the importance of physical activity, and to make healthy choices in relation to food.
• Personal, social and emotional development involves helping children to develop a positive sense of themselves, and others; to form positive relationships and develop respect for others; to develop social skills and learn how to manage their feelings; to understand appropriate behaviour in groups; and to have confidence in their own abilities.
• Literacy involves encouraging children to link sounds and letters and to begin to read and write. Children must be given access to a wide range of reading materials (books, poems, and other written materials) to ignite their interest.
• Mathematics involves providing children with opportunities to develop and improve their skills in counting, understanding and using numbers, calculating simple addition and subtraction problems; and to describe shapes, spaces, and measures.
• Understanding the world involves guiding children to make sense of their physical world and their community through opportunities to explore, observe and find out about people, places, technology and the environment.
• Expressive arts and design involves enabling children to explore and play with a wide range of media and materials, as well as providing opportunities and encouragement for sharing their thoughts, ideas and feelings through a variety of activities in art, music, movement, dance, role-play, and design and technology.

In regard to non-statutory guidance we will be sensitive to the religious and cultural beliefs of all our staff and pupils. Therefore we will…

• ensure all food products are vegetarian or Halal.
• not play music during the holy month of Ramadan.
• be sensitive to the types of music the pupils experience.
• introduce dance as movement to music.

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION (YR ONLY)

The Local Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education in Kirklees and Calderdale 2014-2019 is the statutory curriculum for maintained schools in Calderdale and Kirklees. It is authorised by the Standing Advisory Councils (SACREs) in Calderdale and Kirklees for five years from 1st September 2014.

The syllabus requires us to teach about Christianity and another five world faiths: Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism. However, there is enormous diversity within these traditions and this will be recognised in curriculum planning. The syllabus also encourages us to study faiths and traditions not included in the six world religions defined in guidance. We have discretion in this and should reflect the community and context within which we work.

In addition, we are required to include other world views throughout the study of RE. This recognises that one of RE’s most important contributions to education is enabling all learners to explore questions of meaning, purpose and value. This is important from a perspective of faith or non-religious understanding and recognises that most people do not adhere to formal religious structures.  

The syllabus is supported by an extensive range of units of work which have been written by teachers from within Kirklees and Calderdale and by RE Today Services. The units of work are non-statutory and we are free to use, adapt or change these in line with our needs. Other world views is taken to mean beliefs, arguments or philosophies that approach questions of meaning and purpose without reference to belief in a deity. This may include a structured, named philosophy such as Humanism, or a more general argument or approach relevant to the questions studied. Exemplar materials are provided within the units of work.