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Overview of the Foundation Stage Curriculum

Early Years at Banks Road!
 
Our Early Years is made up of a Nursery (Acorns) and 2 Reception classes, Birch and Chestnut.
 
We all work towards the 'Early Learning Goals' which children are assessed against at the end of their year in Reception. We love to encourage parents and carers to be aware of the goals so that we can all work together in supporting the children to reach their full potential. 
 
The Early Years provision is so important because it helps to ensure that all children have the best possible start to their education. It provides a strong foundation for their future learning and development
 
A big focus in Early Years is to develop children's 'Characteristics of Effective Learning' as we know that these have such a huge impact on the children's progress. We would love the children to be resilient, motivated learners, who have a 'can do' spirit and positive attitude to their learning. This ties into our whole school values of Be Kind, Be Brave and Be Curious!
 
We have 7 main areas of learning in the Early Years, which we then break down further into their more targetted areas of learning:
-Communication and Language - Listening and Attention, Speaking
-Personal, Social and Emotional Development - Self regulation, Managing Self, Building Relationships.
-Physical - Gross motor, Fine motor
-Literacy - Comprehension, Word Reading, Writing
-Maths - Number, Numerical Patterns
-Understanding the world - Past and Present, People Culture and Communities,The Natural World
-Expressive Arts and Design - Creating with materials, Being Imaginative and Expressive.
 
In our Early Years classrooms we have an environment which offers Continuous Provision - this is where the children can access their own resources to facilitate their own learning and become confident, independent learners. Teachers will plan for enhancements to provision which will be put out in the environment as and when it links to specific learning or when the children's interests takes them into a new direction or learning. Children access daily carpet sessions where they are specifically taught skills/knowledge and will also have opportunities where they complete guided tasks with a teacher to support their learning. 
 
We continuously assess children's learning and understanding so that we can provide swift and timely support to ensure children do not fall behind. We set out benchmarks for each term of skills and knowledge which staff use to assess if children are on-track or not on-track.
 
On entry to FS2 staff carry out the national baseline assessment alongside our own baseline assessment so that we can quickly identify pupils strengths and areas for development.
 
If you would like further information please see the documents below.