Intent

At Fleet Infant School we provide a curriculum that is flexible and engaging and equips the children with new skills and knowledge they need to support progress through their learning journey in and beyond the Early Years Foundation Stage.

We recognise children’s prior knowledge and experiences and build upon these by challenging the children’s thought processes from their individual starting points. This allows each child to demonstrate what knowledge has been acquired and how connections have been made to secure deeper learning in their long-term memory. The approach of the children being actively involved explores and embeds the Characteristics of Effective Learning which demonstrates the need to reflect on the development of the children and adjust our practice accordingly.

Implementation

Using a half-termly, overarching theme to our learning allows the children to make links across different areas of learning. Placing a high importance on the development of the acquisition of language, the children explore a wide range of songs, poems and texts within this theme and these are then woven into their play. The children are given time to explore, observe and demonstrate their knowledge and understanding within the indoor and outdoor classrooms. In addition to this, daily free-flow time, regardless of the weather, allows the children to select their preferred learning environment where they can learn best.

During child-initiated learning time, the adults work skillfully with the children to follow their needs and interests. This supports them to develop their knowledge and skills in preparation for the next stage of their learning journey, throughout their time in Early Years before moving onto Key Stage 1.

Inclusion

The Early Years curriculum is perfect for allowing all children to develop and progress at their own rate. From their starting points in the Autumn term we take each child on their own personal and unique learning journey, using their interests and learning styles to support them in their development. By observing and interacting with children during child-initiated learning time we can find out and explore a children's knowledge, understanding and skills and support them in making progress across all areas of learning. Planned adult activities allow us to target specific areas of learning for individual children, therefore ensuring all children make great progress from their starting points. Our termly checkpoints support us in tracking and monitoring the progress of children and we support the differing needs of each individual by providing specific resources, interventions and challenges where appropriate.

Impact

Working closely with the children allows the adults to observe, interact and make assessments about the progress of each individual child. Children's progress is monitored continuously and measured against our checkpoints. This allows us to work with individual children to provide further opportunities, additional support and new challenges as appropriate to ensure they achieve their potential and are prepared for the transition into Year 1.

At the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage each child is assessed against 17 Early Learning Goals and this is reported to parents in their annual report in July.

"You get to do craft, colouring, read lots of books at snack time. It's very fun - sometimes more fun than home!"

Z - Year R

"There's loads of different things. Different areas to go too. My favourite areas are the bikes and the slide!"

A - Year R

"I loved making the jellyfish with an empty yoghurt pot and tissue paper. I still have it at home!"

J - Year 1

"I liked washing the side of the building! I got wet! You don't have to stay dry in Year R - it's fun!!"

L - Year 1

"We made ice lollies - we got to squish fruit, freeze them, lick them and eat them!"

R - Year 2

"I remember going to Hogmoor and making the animal houses. It was fun finding the right place for mole to live"

A - Year 2