Early Years at Christopher Hatton (EYFS)
Intent
The Christopher Hatton aim of creating children who are informed, articulate and empowered starts from our pupils’ first days in the EYFS.
Informed
- We follow the revised EYFS curriculum and careful sequencing helps children to build their learning over the time they are with us, from entry in to Nursery until the end of Reception.
- We know that young children’s learning is often driven by their interests and adapt our planning to take this into account.
- Through our strong emphasis on the characteristics of effective learning: playing and exploring, active learning, creating and thinking critically, we aim to give children the skills to become successful learners.
- We put great emphasis on early reading and early maths skills. Adults share and talk about books with the children, aiming to develop a lifelong love of reading. There are frequent opportunities to develop reasoning skills in maths.
Articulate
- Christopher Hatton is a “talk rich” school all the way from EYFS up to Y6 with a strong emphasis on communication and language. Through our high quality provision and staff knowledge, we ensure that children get the best start on their journey to become confident in their speaking and listening skills.
- The children experience a language rich environment, engage actively with frequent stories and are encouraged to share their ideas.
- Children are taught new vocabulary to support their learning. Sentence stems are taught to enable children to articulate their ideas and explain their learning.
Empowered
- Our environment and curriculum reflect the diversity of our community enabling pupils to see positive role models. This supports their belief that they too can achieve.
- We teach all children to have a growth mind-set, empowering them with the confidence to have a go, to learn from mistakes and to keep trying and improving.
- Regular visits from and to the Foundling Museum as well as our trips to theatres and galleries enrich our curriculum. These experiences are often new to our families and give them the knowledge and confidence to make the most of the resources available.
- In the EYFS our environments are planned to enable pupils to develop independence. The resources are labelled clearly and accessible to the children, so that they are able to make choices and plan their own learning.
- Children’s special educational needs are identified quickly and all children receive any extra help they need to progress well in their learning.
Implementation
We follow the EYFS curriculum in both nursery and reception. This curriculum is informed by 4 guiding principles:
- every child is a ‘Unique Child’ who is constantly learning and can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured
- children learn to be strong and independent through ‘Positive Relationships’
- children learn and develop well in ‘Enabling Environments’, in which their experiences respond to their individual needs and there is a strong partnership between practitioners and parents and/or carers. We listen to parents and parents are kept informed about their child’s progress and activities through Tapestry, an online assessment system. This also allows parents to contribute to their child’s assessment. There are regular sessions for parents to learn more about how their child is learning.
- We put a great focus on language development, which is central to self-regulation. This includes oracy in maths and hoop groups for speaking and listening activities. Imaginary play gives many opportunities for children to be imaginative and interact with others.
- Open ended and problem solving activities provide opportunities for children to focus their thinking, persist and plan ahead.
- We understand that children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates. Our curriculum covers the education and care of all children in early years’ provision, including children with special educational needs and disabilities.
- We use a mix of different approaches to help the children to learn. Children learn through play, by adults modelling, by observing each other, and through guided learning and direct teaching. The amount of direct teaching and guided learning increases as the children get older in Reception.
Impact
- Children in EYFS at Christopher Hatton are able to express their needs and have the language needed to access the curriculum.
- Children develop independence; they are willing to take risks and try new things
- By the end of EYFS, the children have the early reading and maths skills needed to be ready to progress to the next level of their learning.
- All groups including those with special educational needs and disabilities make excellent progress from their starting points in the Early Years Foundation Stage
Nursery Admissions
Children can be registered for Christopher Hatton Nursery from their third birthday. Admissions forms are available from the school office. Parents are contacted 8 weeks before their child’s start date. The nursery has 26 places these can be full or part time.
