Our Early Years Curriculum

Our curriculum has clearly defined links with the whole school curriculum and there is clarity in what we want children to learn, both in knowledge and skills.

The curriculum is designed to provide a range of opportunities to add to children’s early understanding of the world around them, to add to their developing cultural capital and to enable quick progress in their academic knowledge. Moreover, independence is sought and the same high expectations of the children’s abilities are held in Early Years, as are held throughout the school.

Every interaction and element of provision has purpose: Why this, why now? This sequenced, contextualised curriculum then continues through to Key Stage One.

The Early Years Curriculum is focused on developing children against the below areas of learning and development, supporting them to work towards the Early Learning Goals:

The 3 Prime Areas

• communication and language
• physical development
• personal, social and emotional development

The 4 specific areas:

• literacy
• mathematics
• understanding the world
• expressive arts and design

At Rucstall, we also want to secure in our pupils the Characteristics of Effective Teaching and Learning:

• playing and exploring – children investigate and experience things and ‘have a go’
• active learning – children concentrate and keep on trying if they encounter difficulties, and enjoy achievements
• creating and thinking critically – children have and develop their own ideas, make links between ideas, and develop strategies for doing things

How our Early Years curriculum is implemented 

Our Early Years Curriculum is focused on enabling the children to develop identified knowledge and skills against the areas of learning and educational programmes. This supports children's progress towards our Early Years curriculum aspirations and milestones. 

Practitioners employ secure subject knowledge, and understand individual pupils and their circumstances. Practitioners display excellent empathy skills, to ensure that delivery of the curriculum in Early Years is first class. Provision is carefully planned and sequenced, facilitating meaningful learning both indoors and out. Observation and discussion with pupils leads to some areas and learning opportunities developed from their interests. The curriculum is reviewed annually, alongside conducting the Reception Baseline Assessment. Further adjustment can take place across the year to ensure that the curriculum takes account of each group of learners and any new starters.

Drawing upon the Early Years Reforms, our Early Years practitioners have developed security in their approach and their focus, to raise attainment in reading, writing and mathematics. Pupils are encouraged to fully engage with all learning experiences and to become curious about the world around them. In consequence, pupils become motivated and interested in their learning. Successful learning attributes and characteristics of learning underpin teaching and learning across all areas of the curriculum in a way that is meaningful for the pupils. Teacher modelling of these attributes supports pupils to understand and apply these independently.

Communication and language is a priority, with adults modelling accurate language and the use of stories and poems in place to aid development. Language interventions are completed for a number of pupils and speech and language sessions are delivered for individuals and groups of pupils, across the early years. The mathematics curriculum produces a sound understanding of number and number sense, so that pupils can more easily access and understand subsequent learning in mathematics. Phonics is also systematically taught to pupils on a daily basis beginning on day one of the children’s learning journey with us; these skills underpin subsequent learning in phonics.

The Early Years curriculum is well taught and very effectively supports pupils’ academic and personal development. As a result, children make excellent progress and are ready for Year One. High quality of interaction between children and adults in the room supports this rapid progress. The systematic teaching of synthetic phonics is a strength of the school and children leave reception with good phonic decoding skills.

We adopt learning through play, with increasing explicit instruction across the year. All children, across the year, are entitled to times of free play (play that they start, is unstructured and unguided), as well as accompanied play (building and reinforcing learning). 

Assessment

We collate examples of children’s learning across the year in their learning journeys. Practitioners use this information with ongoing observation to plan next steps for learning on a daily and weekly basis. Parent views are taken into account and comments both verbally and through ‘wow moments’ are used to inform next steps for the children and encourage home-school learning links. Practitioners have a clear understanding of where children’s development needs to be throughout the reception year and particular focus is given to pupils identified as ‘not on track’. These children are discussed in greater detail and Early Years practitioners focus on how to scaffold their progress and bring them on track. The continuous focus is on what children know and they need to learn next, alongside the reflection ‘Why this? Why now?’.

Working with other stakeholders

Before children join our school, we engage with preschools, nurseries, Homestart practitioners, school nurses and other agencies providing individual family support. These professional links enable us to support children successfully from the start of their primary journey. 

Our most valuable relationship is with parents and carers, who we welcome as part of our community from their expression of interest in Rucstall as the primary school for their child. Before children start at the school, parents/carers have a number of opportunities to familarise themselves with the school, as well as build relationships with the key school staff who will provide care and education for their child. From this, our Early Years practitioners continue to communicate with parents/carers about children's progress so that we can work together to support their emotional and academic development. 

During the children's time in Early Years, we continue to engage with external agencies and professionals, as required.