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Plains Farm Academy

Plains Farm Academy is the heart of the Plains Farm community and offers a safe, secure and nurturing environment to learn.

Early Years

Intent

Our goal at Plains Farm Academy is to create a learning environment and develop relationships that, regardless of a child's; needs, circumstances, or background, will support, enhance, and invite their curiosity and individual competency to flourish. We endeavour to make sure the children are happy and in a safe and secure environment. We aim to provide pupils with the cultural capital they require in order to grow into self-assured adults and expand their horizons. This will provide pupils with the greatest possible start in life as well as the assistance they need to reach their full potential and succeed in the future. In order to support learning, expand vocabulary, consolidate and deepen knowledge, and make sure our children are prepared for their next steps, we teach the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum using a topic-based approach. Both indoor and outdoor provisions aim to provide a vocabulary-rich environment that promotes learning, in all areas. Our curriculum is intentional and progressive, giving pupils the knowledge and abilities they need to succeed in Key Stages 1 and 2, which will benefit them in their future school life.

 

Implementation

Plains Farm Academy follows the EYFS curriculum for both teaching and learning, so we can guarantee a progressive curriculum and a wide, well-balanced learning environment. We do this through the seven areas of the curriculum: Personal Social Education, Physical Development, Communication and Language, Literacy, Maths Understanding the World and Expressive Arts and Design. Within EYFS, we ensure the needs and interests of the children come first when creating long-term planning and weekly planning. The curriculum is created using a topic-based approach that values and considers the interests of the pupils in order to prepare children before entering Year 1. The curriculum combines focused teaching, fundamental skills, and an experiential, play-based learning environment. Both our indoor and outdoor spaces offer plenty of opportunities for the children in Nursery and Reception. The seven EYFS learning and development areas are connected to the learning experiences in our Early Years provision, these areas are divided into four specific areas and three prime areas. The three prime areas are those which we aim for the children to develop first, as these considered most essential for the healthy development and future learning of our children.

The three prime areas include:

  • Personal, Social and Emotional Development – involves providing opportunities for young children to be active and interactive; and to develop their co-ordination, control, and movement. Children must also be helped to understand the importance of physical activity, and to make healthy choices in relation to food.
  • Communication and Language – involves giving children opportunities to experience a rich language environment; to develop their confidence and skills in expressing themselves; and to speak and listen in a range of situations.
  • Physical Development – involves helping children to develop a positive sense of themselves, and others; to form positive relationships and develop respect for others; to develop social skills and learn how to manage their feelings; to understand appropriate behaviour in groups; and to have confidence in their own abilities.

 

As children grow and make progress in the prime areas, this will help them to naturally develop skills within the four specific areas.

These are:

  • Literacy – the early teaching of literacy involves encouraging children to link sounds and letters and to begin to read and write. Children are given access to a wide range of reading materials (books, poems, and other written materials) to ignite their interest.
  • Mathematics – the early teaching of mathematics involves providing children with opportunities to develop and improve their skills in counting, understanding and using numbers, calculating simple addition and subtraction problems; and describing shapes, spaces, and measures.
  • Understanding the World – this involves guiding children to make sense of their physical world and their community through opportunities to explore, observe and find out about people, places, technology and the environment.
  • Expressive Arts and Design – this involves enabling children to explore and play with a wide range of media and materials, as well as providing opportunities and encouragement for sharing their thoughts, ideas and feelings through a variety of activities in art, music, movement, dance, role-play, and design and technology.

 

There is daily teacher led phonics and maths sessions planned to meet the children’s needs and to develop the next steps in their learning. Children’s groups and reading books reflect their phonic ability. Our timetables are designed to create balance between whole class tasks, child initiated and adult-led play based learning.  We aim to give the children enough time to engage and be involved in their learning. We conduct home visits to make sure we gather as much information about the child as possible before they start at Plains Farm Academy and to make sure they have a positive transition. We frequently have parents' evenings, stay-and-play sessions, home-school learning diaries, wow moments, and certificates to keep parents and caregivers updated. Many of the pupils at Plains Farm Academy have low language proficiency when they first start school. Because of this, we make the most of their opportunities to expand their vocabulary through core book sessions, weekly themes, intervention, and encouraging conversation with friends and staff. We are continuing to create a vocabulary-rich environment where children are exposed to new words and motivated to use them appropriately. The children also often arrive with poor levels of social and personal skills, and physical skills, such as not having completed their toilet training. As such, priority is given to these areas. Staff within EYFS work closely with parents to help them foster their child’s self-care abilities. The staff will help our children to develop their social skills by encouraging them to talk to each other, share resources with their friends, and learn how to play together. The role of the adult is key within the EYFS setting at Plains Farm Academy. Adults are organised to observe and manage all learning and behaviour within the indoor and outdoor provision. They support learning through a mixture of direct teaching and supporting play. Through observation, direct teaching, quality interactions, questioning and modelling the adult will create an ‘enabling’ environment in which children can progress. As part of our EYFS practice ongoing formative assessment is carried out by all members of staff in the setting. In all subject areas, the EYFS practitioners at Plains Farm Academy strive to involve and engage children during their play-based activities to facilitate this. Through observation and discussion, areas of need and next steps are identified for all children to ensure that at least good progress is made. EYFS staff play a pivotal role in supporting children’s transition into Key Stage 1. We prepare children for Year 1 with visits to their new class, meeting the teacher.

 

Impact

We work hard to make sure that, despite their diverse beginnings, the children at Plains Farm Academy make good progress across the EYFS curriculum. In addition, we aim for pupils to meet National Expectations and the Early Learning Goals by the end of Reception. The impact of the EYFS curriculum is reflected in having well rounded, happy and confident children transitioning into Year 1.  Throughout the year, the EY leads from our Trust schools collaborate to support best practices and teamwork to ensure accurate judgements are made. Through the use of Development Matters, summative assessments compare children's achievement to age-related expectations. Children’s progress is monitored in order to make sure that all children, including those in vulnerable groups, such as those with Special Educational Needs (SEN), are making at least good progress rates. We endeavour for pupils to be Key Stage 1 ready and have an understanding of our school rules and values by the time they leave EYFS.