Welcome to the Early Years Foundation Stage 2020 - 2021
.png?width=1920&height=1080&scale=LIMIT_MAXSIZE "Welcome to EYFS(3)")
Introduction
Miss Kershaw would like to welcome you to EYFS (Early Years Foundation Stage).
This year will begin with a whole school topic based on the book 'Here We Are'. This is specifically aimed to support children in re-connecting with each other and school. It aims to help them make sense of their world and their role in it.
Each class will explore the key themes of:
- Earth’s place in the wider universe
- The Earth’s environment
- Our place on the planet as humans
- How we, as humans, relate to each other
- Other species and our responsibility towards them
- Belonging and community
- Our responsibility as world citizens
During the rest of the year, topics will be planned in response to the wants and interests of the children.
PE lessons will take place on Mondays. This year we would like the children to come to school in their PE kits on the day that they have their PE lesson.
Reading
We would like the children to read at home with an adult for 10 minutes each day.
To begin with the children will be sent home with picture books to help develop their communication, language and literacy. Please look through these with your children and encourage them to discuss what is happening in each picture and the story the pictures are telling.
Fully decodable books will be given out as we progress through phase 2 phonic teaching. This will really help the children to practise the sounds they have been learning in school and to become more confident with blending these sounds to read.
New books will be introduced to the children as the new sounds are taught. It is important to practise the sounds within each book more than once and to revisit the story to aid fluency and understanding.
In the front or back pages of the book, you will also find some questions and activities that will support your child further with their reading. We would appreciate it, if a date and comment could be written in the reading record each time your child reads with an adult and if the reading record could be signed by the adult who has supported the reading at home.
Book changing days will be Tuesdays and Fridays. All books returned to school to be changed will be quarantined for 24 hours before they move to a new household. Please ensure hands are washed before each reading session at home.
Siena Class - Miss Kershaw
Classroom Learning
In Early Years the current guidance does not require the children to social distance from each other or sit at tables, in rows facing the front. Safety measures have been put in place to keep the children as safe as possible during their time in class. Bottles of hand gel have been placed around the classroom for the children to access easily and children are required to gel their hands before they start each new activity. Resources used will be cleaned regularly. Regular handwashing at the start of the day, before eating, after using the toilet and before going home will also be taking place, supervised by an adult.
Key Dates
Wednesday 30th September and Thursday 1st October - Parents' Evenings
Monday 19th October - Art Week
HALF TERM (22/10/20 - 01/11/20)
Monday 16th November - Anti-Bullying Week
Useful Documents
Our Vision
At St Catherine’s we believe that your child is unique and will bring a wide range of different experiences, skills and interests when they join school. Through our planning, resources and environment we aim to ensure that learning for your child is a rewarding and enjoyable experience. There will be plenty of opportunities to explore, investigate, discover, create, practice, rehearse, repeat, and consolidate their developing knowledge, skills, understanding and attitudes. We have high expectations of all children, within a secure, caring and respectful environment.
The Early Years Foundation Stage encompasses the period of education from birth to the end of their Reception Year. This is a critical and very exciting time in a child’s development. At St Catherine’s we follow the government guidelines for learning, development and care for children. This is called the ‘Statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage’ and has at its core 4 overarching principles. These are: that every child is a unique child; that children learn through positive relationships; that they develop best in an enabling environment and that all children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates.
The Curriculum
The Foundation Stage is organised into seven areas of learning:
- Personal, social and emotional development
- Communication and Language
- Physical Development
- Literacy
- Mathematical Development
- Understanding the World
- Expressive arts and Design
Personal, social and emotional development includes developing self-confidence and self-awareness, managing feelings and behaviour and making relationships.
This area of learning is vital for your child in all aspects of their life and it gives them the best opportunity for success in other areas of learning. At St. Catherine’s we aim to provide the support and experiences which enable your child to develop a positive sense of themselves and their respect for others. We actively use praise and encouragement to promote good behaviour and encourage all children in their efforts. A positive approach to discipline is paramount. Further information about our approach to behaviour can be found in St Catherine’s Behaviour Policy.
Communication and language
This includes speaking, listening, attention and understanding. Developing effective speaking and listening skills is fundamental to all aspects of your child’s learning and development. The children will be encouraged to talk confidently and clearly, answer how and why questions in response to their experiences and develop their own narratives and explanations by connecting ideas or events.
Physical Development involves moving and handling and health and self-care.
We aim to improve skills of confidence, co-ordination, control, manipulation and movement. Physical development also helps the children gain confidence and self-esteem in what they are able to do. In our outdoor area children have the opportunity to explore and play with equipment on a larger scale, with a continuous focus on all seven areas of learning. Within Physical Development there is a focus on how we keep ourselves healthy and the importance of exercise as well as fine motor development associated with cutting, mark making and threading.
Literacy
This area covers reading and writing. Children learn the letter sounds to read and understand simple sentences as well as using their knowledge of phonics to decode unfamiliar words. They also learn irregular words which they can then read by sight. They attempt to write simple sentences and are encouraged to use their knowledge of sounds to spell unfamiliar words.
Mathematical Development
This area is divided into numbers and shape, space and measures. This includes counting, sorting, matching, seeking patterns and calculating, along with exploring shape, space and measures. We use rhymes, songs and stories to encourage learning. Emphasis is also put on developing their ideas and methods to solve practical problems. It is essential that children’s experiences in this area are enjoyable meaningful and purposeful.
Understanding the World
This involves helping your child make sense of the world they live in. This forms the foundations for later work on geography, history, science, design and technology, and computing. Our activities are based on first hand experiences, which encourage interest and curiosity. Children will learn to investigate, be curious, to show enthusiasm and experiment. Areas of learning are based around people and communities, the world and technology.
Creative Development
This involves exploring and using media and materials and being imaginative. Children are encouraged to use their imagination and creativity through a range of activities including role play, music and art. At St. Catherine’s we aim to provide a stimulating environment in which creativity, originality and expressiveness are valued.
Assessment
Assessment is ongoing throughout the EYFS, but the official EYFS Profile for each child is completed in the final term of Reception. The assessment takes place through teacher observation of children’s learning and development as they take part in everyday activities, and planned observations, where teachers spend time on a specific task with an individual child or small group.
The activities are usually based around a topic or theme. Within the Foundation Stage, play is at the heart of the curriculum. Well-planned play, both indoor and outdoor, enables children to learn by experience, to interact with one another and to learn with enjoyment and challenge.
There are three separate achievement levels within each Development Matters age band:
· Emerging: your child is working below the expected level
· Expected: your child is working at the expected level for their age
· Exceeding: your child is working above the expected level
Your child's teacher will award one of these levels for each of the seven EYFS areas of learning.
On leaving the Foundation Stage at the end of Reception, your child will be assessed against the 17 Early Learning Goals and their progress will be shared with you. A child is considered to have a 'good level of development' if they have achieved at least the expected level in the Early Learning Goals in all aspects of Personal, Social and Emotional development, Physical development, Communication and language, Literacy and Mathematics.
