EYFS
Early Years is a Key stage and at Handale Primary School this begins with our 2 year olds in Pre-Nursery, includes our 3 and 4 year olds in Nursery and also our 4 and 5 year olds in Reception. Children can attend our Pre-Nursery on a 15 hour funded place (if eligible) or a 6 hour place for all children. Children can attend nursery on a 15 hour place (taken daily or flexibly) or a 30 hour place (if eligible).
We know how important this early learning is and how crucial it is to a child’s development, education and future success.
Individuals:
At Handale we recognise all children as individuals. We therefore don’t follow set topics, we follow children’s interests and development levels.
Play:
We believe that children learn best through play led and directed by themselves. Play is fun for children and all the skills they need to develop can be taught through their play.
Environment:
Our environments are extremely important in Early Years. We make sure our environments are appropriate for each age group and develop from the Pre-Nursery room up into the Reception classroom. Our environments are not static they develop over time linking to children’s interests and skills. Our resources are carefully chosen to develop skills in a fun and interesting way. We ensure that skills are developed in a variety of ways throughout our environments both indoors and outdoors.
Practitioners:
All our practitioners are highly skilled in working with Early Years children. They are knowledgeable in child development and through careful observation they use this knowledge to move children forward. Practitioners will use observations and assessments to plan experiences for children and to record some sequences of learning in children’s Early Years Books. All Early Years children are allocated a Key Person helping them become more settled, happy and safe. A child’s key person is responsible for their care, development and learning.
Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS):
We follow the EYFS guidance and ensure children’s learning is planned through the following ways: in Prime Areas (children mostly develop these areas first) and Specific Areas (prime areas help children develop skills in specific areas).
Prime areas:
- Personal, Social and Emotional Development
- Physical Development
- Communication and Language
Specific areas:
- Literacy
- Mathematics
- Understanding the World
- Expressive Arts and Design
Handale Early Years Curriculum – We have developed our own curriculum which includes all of the areas above. We have linked the prime and specific areas into 6 areas in our curriculum (Early Reading, Early Writing, Mathematics, Personal, Social and Emotional Development, Understanding the World and Expressive Arts and Design). We have set out all the things a child would need to know/be able to do in these areas from joining us at pre-nursery until the end of reception. The curriculum has built in Observation Checkpoints for us to assess that all children are where they should be. We can quickly see where a child needs support to ensure that no child is left behind. Our curriculum has been designed to ensure that we can still follow children’s interests throughout.
Characteristics of Effective Learning (CoETL):
At Handale we allow children to develop by encouraging CoETL. They are:
- Playing and Exploring
- Active Learning
- Creating and thinking critically
Find out more about our Early Years:
Pre-Nursery Provision
Click to find out more information about our Pre-Nursery provision: Pre-nursery
Nursery Provision
Click to find out more information about our Nursery provision: Nursery
Reception Provision
Click to find out more information about our Reception provision: Reception
Early Years Documentation you might find useful:
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