EYFS
Year R Curriculum
Rosemellin’s Early Years Foundation Stage consists of two classes, Crantock and Fistral. Each class Teacher is supported by a full time Teaching Assistant, with additional support throughout the week engaging the children in conversation and helping them to achieve their full potential in Communication and Language skills. It is this particular area of learning that is so key in achieving success in all other aspects of the curriculum.
Our aim is for our children to achieve a Good Level of Development at the end of their Foundation Year, possessing all the skills necessary to make a successful transition into Year One and the next key stage of their learning journeys. Real life experiences are at the heart of everything we do.
We work closely with our parents during transition into school, and throughout the year, to ensure that we know our children really well and are supporting their individual well-being, happiness, and skills to become independent learners. Our home-school communication platform is ‘Class Dojo’. As well as providing School and Class information, the children have Portfolios reflecting their personal learning journeys and it is here that we share and work together on individual ‘next steps’.
Our indoor and outdoor environments are carefully considered to provide communication friendly spaces. Each area of provision has been developed with ‘Early Excellence’ in mind. Resources are chosen that provide the maximum potential to support differentiation and independence, with enhancements to promote thinking skills and reflect the children’s interests.
The EYFS framework has 7 learning areas:
The 3 Prime areas are Communication and Language; Physical Development; and Personal, Social and Emotional Development.
The 4 specific areas are Literacy; Mathematics; Understanding the World; and Expressive Arts and Design.
Pupils in the EYFS learn by playing and exploring, being active, and through creative and critical thinking which takes place indoors and outdoors.
| Characteristics of Effective Learning
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When planning and guiding what the children learn, we reflect on the different rates at which they are developing and adjust our practice appropriately. Three characteristics of effective teaching and learning are:
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. At Rosemellin we use the popular ‘Paw Patrol’ characters to help the children relate to these characteristics: |
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| ‘Chase’
Explore and Play |
‘Chase’
Have a go! |
‘Marshall’
Focus |
‘Marshall’
Don’t Give Up! |
‘Ryder’
Think! Make a Link. |
‘Ryder’
Show What You Know |
| Communication and Language
Intent and Implementation |
The number and quality of conversations children have with adults and peers throughout the day in a language rich environment is crucial. Experiences to promote conversation will include those that are planned, in response to interest and spontaneous. Our curriculum to develop our children’s communication skills includes ‘Articulation’, ‘Rhyme Time’ and ‘Ted Talk’. A weekly story focus, chosen from The Literacy Tree and our own ‘Foundation Favourites’, provides a natural link for role play, non-fiction texts, discussions and vocabulary development: | ||||
| Owl Babies
Farmer Duck We’re Going on a Bear Hunt A Squash and a Squeeze Where The Wild Things Are Bringing The Rain to Kapiti Plain |
The 3 Little Pigs
Goldilocks and the 3 Bears The 3 Billy Goats Gruff I am Henry Finch Look Up!
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The Gingerbread Man
Cinderella The Enormous Turnip The Magic Paintbrush Super Milly and the Super School Day |
Farmer Duck
Handa’s Surprise The Runaway Pancake The Tiny Seed I Will Not Ever Never Eat a Tomato |
Jack and the Beanstalk
Shhh!
Hairy Maclary from Donaldson’s Dairy
The Night Pirates |
This is Our House
What the Ladybird Heard
So Much
Oi! Frog! |
| Impact ~ We support our children to be engaging well and communicating with others… | …Listening to, and talking about, familiar stories… | …Speaking in sentences… | …Describing events in some detail… | …Using talk to problem solve, organise and explain… | …Engaging in conversations with relevant questions, comments and actions. |
| Personal, Social and Emotional Development
Intent and Implementation |
Our children are supported to manage emotions, develop a positive sense of self, set themselves simple goals and have confidence in their own abilities. We work hard to develop close home/school links to agree, share and support the children’s next steps. We closely monitor the children’s well-being and involvement. Time to talk and play to build constructive and respectful relationships is paramount. The children are supported through our daily routines, identifying emotions, golden rules and additional pastoral support where needed. Focused topics for discussion across the year include: | ||||
| Gentle Hands and Hearts
Planting Our Food Cities, Towns, Land Sea |
Taking Good Care of Myself
Being Curious Managing Feelings |
Sleep
The Great Outdoors Trusted Adults |
Animals
Fire Safety Water Safety |
Follow My Lead
Making Mistakes Road Safety |
Sharing
Sounds, Music and Noise Technology |
| Impact ~ Our children will be developing self-confidence and engaging with peers positively. | Learning to express feelings and consider the feelings of others. | Learning to show resilience and perseverance in the face of challenge. | Learning to identify and moderate feelings ourselves. | Learning to think about the perspective of others. | Managing their own needs, self- care and healthy choices.
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| Physical Development Intent and Implementation | We want our children to be Happy Healthy and Active. Gross Motor Skill play supports the development of core strength, stability, balance and spatial awareness. Together with Fine Motor Skill play developing eye/hand coordination, dexterity and hand strength, these are crucial skills needed for writing. Activities support control of shoulder, elbow and wrist pivots. We have daily dance, mini-yo, balancing and climbing, games, equipment and ‘fiddly finger’ activities. Our aim is for everyone to learn how to ride a bike, use a pair of scissors effectively and ultimately have good pencil control. | ||||
| Learning to ride a bike
Gross/fine motor skills. Scissor Control Scissor grip and snipping PE Hall sessions Walking |
Learning to ride a bike
Balancing skills Scissor Control Straight lines PE Hall sessions Hands |
Learning to ride a bike
Ride a balance bike Scissor Control Curved lines PE Hall sessions High, low, over, under |
Learning to ride a bike
Pedals Scissor Control Wavy and zig zag lines PE Hall sessions Nursery Rhymes |
Learning to ride a bike
Ride a pedal bike Scissor Control Cut out simple objects PE Hall sessions Feet |
Learning to ride a bike
‘I can’ challenges Scissor Control Cut and assemble PE Hall sessions Games |
| Impact for handwriting ~ Comfortable pencil grip to draw lines and anticlockwise circles. | Emerging letter formation. | Correct letter formation, (start, direction, finish). | Accurate letter formation and orientation. | Accurate letter formation (size and height. | Also, an improved ‘Personal Best’ Track Time! |
| Literacy
Intent and Implementation |
Language Comprehension develops when adults talk with children about the world around them and the books they read with them, and enjoy rhymes, poems and songs together. Please see our chosen story texts as outlined under Language and Communication.
Word Reading involves the speedy working out…of unfamiliar words and speedy recognition of familiar words. We use a daily phonics programme, RWI, to teach our children to read. (‘Phonics with Fred!’) To write, our children need to be able to spell (‘have a go with the sounds you know’) and be able to write the letter shapes. They also need to be able to compose what they want to write, remembering and saying the words aloud before writing. Daily ‘Sentence Skills’ sessions teach our children how to write with ‘Fred Talk’ ‘Fred Fingers’ and – most important of all – interesting reasons to want to write. |
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| Impact for Reading ~
Know the Set 1 Sounds. |
Oral blending,
‘Fred Talk’. |
Read simple Ditty’s, Green Words up to 1.5 and Set 1 Special Friends. | Reading at Red level, Green Words 1.6 and Set 2 Special Friends for Writing. | Reading at Green level, Green Words 1.7 and Red words 1a and 1b. | Reading at Green/Purple level, all Green words and Red words 1c and 1d. |
| Impact for Writing ~
A comfortable pencil grip, able to write own name. |
Correct letter formation. | Writing in response to letter sound, Fred Finger spelling, Rhyming words and simple labels. | Sentence skills. Think! ‘Hold the sentence’, ‘Say the sentence’, ‘Next word?’
Spell, Read and Check. |
Spelling, Handwriting and Composition. | Spelling, Handwriting and Composition of simple sentences that can be read by others. |
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| Mathematics
Intent and Implementation |
Children should be able to count confidently, develop a deep understanding (mastery) of the numbers to 10, the relationships between them and patterns within those numbers. We aim to develop positive attitudes to maths, a willingness to have a go and not be afraid to make mistakes. We follow the National Centre for Excellence in Teaching Mathematics (NCETM) Mastering Number programme and use resources from the White Rose scheme to support our teaching of Shape, Space and Measure. Our Maths puppet Ned and his friends the Numberblocks, together with related stories and rhymes, support our daily Maths Meetings whether they be whole class, small group or 1:1 sessions as needed. The teaching of Subitising, Cardinality, Ordinality and Counting, Composition and Comparison is ongoing and progressive throughout the year. Our teaching of Shape Space and Measure topics is as follows: | ||||
| Shape Space Measure
Positional Language Comparing size, mass and capacity |
Shape Space Measure
Circles and Triangles Positional Language Shapes with 4 sides Time |
Shape Space Measure
Compare Mass Compare Capacity Length and Height |
Shape Space Measure
3d shapes Spatial awareness Patterns |
Shape Space Measure
Spatial Reasoning Match, Rotate, Manipulate Compose and Decompose |
Shape Space Measure
Spatial Reasoning Visualise and Build Mapping |
| Impact e.g., for Composition ~
See that all numbers can be made of 1’s. Compose own collections within 4. |
Able to explore the concept of ‘wholes’ and ‘parts’ and explore the composition of number within 5. | Able to explore the composition of 6, linking this to familiar patterns. Begin to see that numbers within 10 can be composed of 5 and a bit. | Able to explore the composition of odd and even numbers, link even numbers to doubles. | Able to explore the composition of numbers within 10. | Able to apply previous learning to a variety of contexts and with different numbers. |
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| Understanding the World
Intent and Implementation |
Understanding the World involves guiding children to make sense of their physical world and their community. Personal experiences increase that knowledge and sense. Enriching and widening children’s vocabulary supports later reading comprehension. We use First hand experiences, visits, visitors, our garden, the weather, ‘where in the world’, seasonal events throughout the year and vocabulary linked to key themes to support our children’s understanding. For example, we plant and eat our own vegetables, hatch butterflies for our garden and grow flowers to attract them. Ongoing and central to all our work in this Area of Learning is the Primary Science Teaching Trust’s ‘I See, I Notice, I Wonder…’ | ||||
| Sense of Place
Me and my family Our Classroom, Garden and Playground Games old and new
Trip to Tehidy Woods for a sensory walk.
RE Amazing Me! |
Sense of Place
Our School Archy the Cornish Hedgehog
Funnybones! Fireworks Night Remembrance Day
Trip to Heartlands for a Christmas scavenger hunt. RE The First Christmas |
Sense of Place
Our Local Area Trip ‘Around the Block’ People Who Help Us
Happy New Year! The Chinese New Year The Big Garden Birdwatch
RE ‘God’ ~ a special word. |
Sense of Place
Trip ‘Into Town’ – Going Up Camborne Hill
Shrove Tuesday The Runaway Pancake St Piran’s Day Eggs and International Egg Rolling Day
RE Easter |
Sense of Place.
Trip to Carn Brea Bolster the Giant and a Bird’s Eye View
Google Earth Cornwall, England, United Kingdom… Richard Trevithick Trevithick Day RE Special Stories |
Sense of Place
Further afield… Trip to Hayle Estuary
Trip to Portreath Beach The Cornish Tea Treat Butterfly Garden Eating our own salad.
RE Special Places Trip to Centenary Church |
| Impact ~ The children can talk about their family, naming and describing who is important to them. | Exploring the natural world, able to describe what they see, smell, hear and feel whilst outside.
Can understand the effect of changing seasons on the natural world around them. |
Can draw information from a simple map. Recognise that people have different beliefs and celebrate special times in different ways. | Able to comment on images of familiar situations in the past.
Recognise some environments are different from the ones in which we live. |
Where in the World are we? Recognise some similarities and differences between life in this country and other countries. | Understand that some places are special to members of their community.
Understand our responsibility to look after our special world. |
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| Expressive Arts and Design Intent and Implementation | Our children explore and play with a wide range of media and materials across the year, supporting their imagination and creativity both indoors and outdoors. Our EAD provision particularly supports the development of Fine Motor Skills and, ultimately, good pencil control. We explore and develop ongoing key skills in the following areas: | ||||
| Drawing ~ Mark making with a variety of tools. | Investigating lines. | Investigating circles (anti-clockwise!) | Observing and drawing real objects, people and places. | Use drawings to tell a story, illustrations and imagination. | Create increasingly accurate representations. |
| Colour ~ Name colours to be found in both the indoor and outdoor environments. | Name the primary colours. | Explore mixing colours. | Use a range of tools to make the same-coloured marks. | Explore a range of media that are the same colour. | Make choices about colour for a purpose. Match the colours they see and want to represent. |
| Texture ~ Handle, manipulate and sort different materials. | Use glue sticks. | Use PVA glue and sticks. | Add texture to paint. | Simple collage. | Simple weaving. |
| Paint ~ Know how to hold and use a paintbrush, clean and store it. | Explore using different brushes and strokes with the same colour. | Explore how to make secondary colours. | Make it lighter. | Make it darker. | Create different shades. |
| Form (3D) ~ Take and Make. Explore available materials. Learn how to tear masking tape and use it for a joining technique. Join 2 objects together and pass the ‘shake and wobble’ test! | Learn joining techniques with Sellotape, parcel tape, treasury tags, split pins. | Think about what you want to make. Discuss problems as they arise and how they might be solved. | Build, shape, model and re-model. | Review and reflect. | Plan Do Review cycle. |
| Printing ~ Crayon rubbings. | Explore printing with a variety of objects. | Print with block colours. | Develop simple patterns using objects. | Use stencils to create pictures. | Combine different techniques. |
| Pattern ~Identify and discuss pattern. | Recognise and copy a simple pattern ababab | Continue a simple pattern. | Create a simple pattern. | Explore with different patterns. | Explore simple symmetry.
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| Music and Dance ~ ‘Me!’ Listen attentively and move to the music. Instruments explored, named and grouped. | ’My stories’ Think about the music, expressing feelings and responses. | Everyone’ Listen and talk about performance art. | ’Our world’ Express feelings and responses. | ’Big Bear Funk’ Sing in a group or on their own increasingly matching the pitch and following the melody… | ’Reflect, rewind and replay’ Explore and engage in music making and dance performing solo or as a group. |
For more information about EYFS, what to expect and how to support your child’s education at home, please see the document below:
The full revised Department for Education Statutory Framework for the EYFS is available here: STATUTORY FRAMEWORK