Early Years Curriculum
Building Strong Foundations for Learning
At Norbury Manor Primary School, our Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) includes children in Nursery and Reception.
We believe that the early years provide the foundations for children's future learning and development. Our curriculum provides children with a balance of carefully planned teaching, purposeful play, exploration and practical experiences that encourage them to become confident, curious and increasingly independent learners.
We recognise that children enter the Early Years with different experiences, strengths and starting points. Our curriculum is therefore designed to be ambitious, inclusive and responsive to individual needs, while ensuring that every child has opportunities to develop the knowledge, language and skills they need for the next stage of their education.
The Four Principles of the EYFS
Our Early Years provision is shaped by the four guiding principles of the Early Years Foundation Stage.
A Unique Child
Every child is unique. We want children to become resilient, capable, confident and self-assured learners.
We recognise children's individual starting points, interests and needs and provide appropriate challenge and support to enable them to make progress.
Positive Relationships
Children learn to be strong and independent through positive, secure and caring relationships.
We value close partnerships between children, parents and carers, key people and the wider school community. These relationships help children feel safe, valued and ready to learn.
Enabling Environments
Children learn and develop well within stimulating and well-organised environments that respond to their interests and needs.
Our indoor and outdoor learning environments provide opportunities for children to explore, investigate, communicate, create, solve problems and develop independence.
Learning and Development
Children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates.
Our practitioners carefully consider what children already know and can do and use this information to plan appropriate teaching, experiences, interactions and opportunities for purposeful play.
How Children Learn
Young children learn through a combination of direct teaching, adult interaction, purposeful play, exploration and first-hand experiences.
Our adults play an important role in children's learning. They model language and skills, introduce new knowledge and vocabulary, ask questions, demonstrate, provide appropriate support and recognise opportunities to extend children's thinking.
Children are also given time and opportunities to explore ideas, practise what they have learned and develop independence.
Characteristics of Effective Teaching and Learning
The EYFS identifies three characteristics that describe how children engage with their learning:
Playing and Exploring – Engagement
Children investigate and experience things and are encouraged to have a go.
Active Learning – Motivation
Children develop concentration, keep trying when they encounter difficulties and enjoy achieving what they set out to do.
Creating and Thinking Critically – Thinking
Children develop their own ideas, make connections between ideas and develop strategies for doing things.
These characteristics help children develop the confidence, curiosity and independence that support learning throughout school.
The Seven Areas of Learning and Development
The EYFS curriculum is organised into seven interconnected areas of learning and development.
Three are known as the Prime Areas because they provide particularly important foundations for children's learning and development.
Prime Areas
Communication and Language
Children develop their ability to listen, understand and communicate.
Through conversations, stories, songs, rhymes, role play and interactions with adults and other children, they develop their vocabulary and confidence in expressing ideas.
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
Children learn to understand themselves and others, build positive relationships and manage their emotions and behaviour.
They develop confidence, independence, resilience and an understanding of how to keep themselves healthy and safe.
Our Early Years provision also begins children's journey with our RESPECT values and Skills Builder essential skills.
Physical Development
Children develop their gross and fine motor skills, coordination, strength and control through a wide range of indoor and outdoor experiences.
They also develop the physical skills needed for increasing independence, including the foundations required for writing.
Specific Areas
The four Specific Areas build upon the foundations developed through the Prime Areas.
Literacy
Children develop a love of stories, books, rhymes and language while beginning to become readers and writers.
In Reception, our systematic approach to early reading is supported by Read Write Inc. Phonics.
Mathematics
Children develop a secure foundation in number and numerical patterns through practical experiences, mathematical talk, exploration and carefully planned teaching.
Children learn to notice patterns and relationships, compare quantities, develop their understanding of number and use mathematical ideas within meaningful situations.
Understanding the World
Children develop their knowledge and understanding of the physical world and their community.
They explore the natural world, learn about people and communities, notice similarities and differences, explore the past and begin developing their understanding of the wider world.
Expressive Arts and Design
Children have opportunities to imagine, create and express themselves through art, music, movement, dance, role play and imaginative experiences.
They explore different materials, techniques and ways of representing their ideas.
Learning Through Our Environment
Our Early Years environment is an important part of the curriculum.
Children have opportunities to learn through both indoor and outdoor provision, with carefully selected resources and experiences designed to promote communication, exploration, creativity, physical development, problem solving and independence.
Adults enhance children's learning by introducing new vocabulary, modelling, questioning and helping children make connections between their experiences and the knowledge being taught.
The environment provides opportunities for children to revisit, practise and apply their learning in different contexts.
An Inclusive Early Years
We want every child to participate, belong and succeed.
Children arrive in our Early Years with different experiences and at different stages of development. Practitioners observe and assess children's learning so that teaching, interactions, resources and support can be adapted appropriately.
For children who speak English as an additional language, we value and recognise their home languages while providing rich opportunities to develop their understanding and use of English.
Children with SEND or emerging additional needs are supported through early identification, appropriate adaptations and close partnership with families and other professionals where required.
Our expectations remain ambitious while recognising that children may need different routes and different levels of support to achieve success.
Assessment in the Early Years
Assessment is an ongoing part of teaching and learning.
Practitioners build their understanding of children through observation, interaction, discussion and children's responses during adult-led and child-initiated learning.
This helps adults understand what children know and can do, identify their next steps and adapt provision accordingly.
Assessment should support children's learning rather than interrupt it, so much of our assessment happens naturally as adults talk, play, teach and interact with children.
In Reception, children's learning and development is considered against the Early Learning Goals at the end of the EYFS.
Preparing for the Next Stage
Throughout Nursery and Reception, we progressively build the knowledge, language, skills, independence and learning behaviours children need to be successful as they move through school.
Our Early Years curriculum is the beginning of the Norbury Manor curriculum journey, rather than a separate experience from the rest of the school.
Children begin developing our RESPECT values and Skills Builder essential skills, learn how to work with others, communicate their ideas, solve problems, persevere and become increasingly independent learners.
Explore What We Teach
For further information about what children learn throughout Nursery and Reception, please visit our Curriculum Maps page.
For further information about our Early Years provision, please contact the school office, who will direct your enquiry to the appropriate member of staff.