In our Foundation Stage Unit our FS1 (Nursery) and FS2 (Reception) children work alongside each other. We join together for things including Busy Fingers, Collective Worship, RE and PE and then have our own time as a class for various Adult Led learning activities.  We have our separate phonic sessions in our classes where FS1 focus on Phase 1 phonics, and FS2 move through phase 2, 3 and 4.  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 

In FS1 we have our daily routine of things we do each day.  These include:

• ‘Busy Fingers’ where we work to build our fine motor skills daily through a range of fun activitie
• Our  ‘Daily Mile’  which is a great way to keep us fit and healthy 
• ‘Disco Dough’ / ‘Squiggle while you Wiggle’ / ‘Pen Disco’ 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. these activities cover all areas of our curriculum 
• ‘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:
  • 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  
• Story and song time 

Topics

Our half termly topics are linked to our RE curriculum, as well as the interests of the children in our class.  Each week will often focus on a book or books around that theme.  It also changes based on incidental opportunities that arise such as having some snow!