In our Foundation Stage Unit our FS1 (Nursery) and FS2 (Reception) children work alongside each other. We split across two carpets areas for our morning prayer, disco dough, and welcome song.  We then have phonics in groups so we can focus our learning on phase 1 and phase 2 and phase 3 activities.  In the EYFS we focus on learning through play.  

The EYFS framework is was first made statutory in September 2012.   This has been revised and the new EYFS Framework became statutory in September 2021.  As a school, we have used the Birth to 5 and The Development Matters documents, as well as our vast experience in the EYFS to produce our own curriculum of expectations and progression from entering nursery, all the way through reception where they will then be assessed against the statutory Early Learning Goals from the EYFS framework.   We believe this curriculum will best prepare the children to achieving the ELG at the end of the EYFS. Our timetable is a balance of adult led and Child Initiated activities covering all 7 areas of development;

• Personal Social and Emotional Development

• Communication and Language
• Physical Development
• Literacy, Mathematics
• Understanding of the World
• Expressive Arts and Design 

As a ‘unit’ we have our daily routine of things we do each day.  These include:

• Our ‘Daily Mile’ which is a great way to keep us fit and healthy
• ‘Disco Dough’ to help develop our fine motor skills
• Daily ‘Collective/Child Led Worship’ were we listen to stories from the bible, and celebrate God with some worship songs 
• Planned ‘Adult focus’ and ‘Independent’ group activities
• ‘Snack Station’ during Child Initiated Learning time. We encourage the children to access their healthy snack independently and sit together while they eat 
• ‘Child Initiated Learning’ where the children have time to select resources independently and embed all the learning they have been doing.
• Daily Phonics.  This is a big part of EYFS and we mainly cover Phase 1 phonics in FS1. This concentrates on developing the children’s listening skills.  The aspects covered are: General sound discrimination, Rhythm and rhyme, Alliteration, Voice sounds, Oral blending and segmenting.  When children are secure in Phase 1 we move on to learning the letter sounds in Phase 2
• Story and song time. 

Phonics

We develop the children’s phonic skills by focusing on Phase 1 activities. These are designed to raise children’s awareness of the sounds and to develop their listening skills and build the skills needed before they are ready to move on to linking sounds to letters and then reading. The aspects of Phase 1 are:

• Aspect 1 – General sound discrimination – environmental
• Aspect 2 – General sound discrimination – instrumental sounds
• Aspect 3 – General sound discrimination – body percussion
• Aspect 4 – Rhythm and rhyme
• Aspect 5 – Alliteration
• Aspect 6 – Voice sounds
• Aspect 7 – Oral blending and segmenting

Topics

Our half termly topics are linked to the interests of the children in our class and often will focus on a book or books around that theme.  It also changes based on incidental opportunities that arise such as having some snow!  Although we try to plan some topics in to the curriculum in advance, these may not always be followed, so the EYFS Newsletter is the best way to keep up to date with current topics.

The topics planned so far are:

Autumn Term 

• Magical Me, Harvest and Autumn, Fireworks, traditional Stories,  Remembrance Day, Christmas
• Stories will include – God made me this way, leaf hunt, Gingerbread man, Three little Pigs, Dear Santa, 

RE Topics

• Myself, Welcome (Baptism), Birthdays (Christmas)

Spring Term

• Kings and Queens, Winter, Spring, Travel, Easter 
• Stories will include – the Queens Knickers, The Journey,  The Train ride 

RE Topics

• Celebrating, Gathering, Growing

Summer Term 

• Water, Summer, Our world 
• Stories will include – 10 tiny tadpoles, Commotion in the ocean, who sank the boat

RE Topics

• Good News, Friends, Our World

These may change as the year goes on and as the children show interests in different areas.

Below you can find a link to our yearly overview for EYFS and our basic learning that we will cover over the year