Archbishop Sumner

Core Elements of our EYFS Curriculum

EYFS Characteristics of Effective Learning

 Playing and Exploring - Exploraptor  

Hello! I am an Exploraptor.
I am always exploring what I already know and I like to discover new things. My special strength is asking questions to find out more.

Active Learning - Tryceratops

Hello! I am Tryceratops. I am always willing to have a go and I keep trying until I succeed. My special strength is concentrating when I am learning.

Creating and Thinking Critically - Thinkosaurus

Hello! I am Thinkosaurus. I am always using and sharing my own ideas but I also listen to the ideas of others. I always make plans to help me solve problems too. My special strength is spotting patterns in my learning.

Children in the Foundation Stage have access to all areas of the curriculum simultaneously throughout the day. They can learn both in the classroom and in their own outdoor area.  We provide a stimulating environment in which they can discover and learn about the world around them via their own exploration. There are also adult-led group activities and whole-class carpet times.

Personal, Social and Emotional Development

PSED is a key area of the Foundation Stage curriculum. We aim to ensure that the children feel secure and valued so that they can develop confidence in themselves and form secure and constructive relationships with others. We also encourage the children to make independent informed choices in both their actions and their learning. Children are encouraged to use feeling basket to express their feelings.

 Physical Development

Physical Development is a prime area of the Early Years Curriculum. The children have access to the outside area throughout the whole day. The children will have the opportunity to develop a range of gross motor skills, ranging from climbing skills to team games.

To have a holistic approach to physical development and writing development we use the following activities:

• Dough disco
• Funky fingers activities (to develop fine motor skills)
• A variety of writing resources 
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Communication and Language Development

Children’s communication and language is a high priority in our setting. The staff are skilled at developing children’s language through stories, songs, modelling and carefully planned learning activities.

To support children's language development, we use helicopter stories, story basket and teaching PE and music through stories.

The use of familiar stories, role play, dedicated Phonics time, songs and rhymes also supports the children’s development in their speech and language.

Literacy

An important part of our approach to the development of reading and writing is the use of our whole school phonics scheme, Little Wandle. The Reception children have a dedicated daily phonics session which covers all of the essential skills that are needed to read. This includes learning the graphemes, segmenting the phonemes found in words, blending phonemes to make a word and explicit teaching of high frequency words.

Our Literacy lessons normally centre around ‘a book of the week’. The EYFS follows the high quality texts from the Literacy tree curriculum that are consistent with their phonic knowledge. The literacy tree activities focus on group and whole class activities e.g story retelling, role play, writing lists, letters, instructions and making posters.

Mathematics

 We are passionate about Maths being taught across the whole curriculum. In the Foundation Stage the children are given a wide range of practical opportunities where children use concrete objects to develop their mathematical knowledge. We want children to draw on their experiences of number, shape,  space and measure. This may be through a daily calendar, talking about their birthday, days and months.

The Maths curriculum in Reception is taught through daily carpet sessions. Within these sessions the children are developing skills needed to achieve the Mathematics Early Learning Goals. We follow White Rose and also have a dedicated Mastering Number session. Mastering Number teaches the foundation skills such as subitising, cardinality, number composition and using operations such as addition and subtraction. Mathematical concepts are taught through the introduction of each Number block. The blocks themselves teach children about putting numbers in order, addition, subtraction, more than and fewer than. This step by step journey supports children in having a  solid understanding of numbers. More information on Number Blocks can be found here: Number Blocks

Understanding the World

Understanding the World is one of the specific areas within the EYFS Curriculum. It is split into three aspects:

1. Past and Present
2. People, Cultures and Communities
3. The Natural World

Understanding the world involves guiding children to make sense of their physical world and their community. At ABS, we approach this area through Science, History, Geography and RE. Children learn about past and present through comparing their present and past photos, toys, images and technology.

During the year the children learn about key celebrations and historical events which teaches them about different cultures and beliefs. Children explore Diwali, Christmas, Easter, Eid, Remembrance day and Black history month through art, role play and stories. Parents and Carers are welcomed to come and speak to the children about events, celebrations and their vocations across the Foundation Stage.

Learning about the wider world and looking at different countries is key learning at our school. We focus on exploring  the natural world including humans and animals. The children take on a key role in planting various plants, herbs and fruits in the outside spaces which supports them to observe changes and learn about growth. Children learn to draw and read simple maps. They talk about the seasons and daily weather and really enjoy making weekly weather maps. 

Expressive Arts and Design

Expressive Arts and Design is the development of children’s artistic and cultural awareness and supports their imagination and creativity. At our school, children are encouraged to be creative and independent with their media choices. Our classroom has a dedicated Creative Area with a supply of different media for children to access. The children are encouraged to explore 2D and 3D compositions. Guided activities are also planned, which will focus on developing key skills such as drawing, colour mixing, glueing, sticking and scissor skills. Children enjoy to make seasonal and festive crafts.

Reception class is introduced to different Artists and their work. These Artists are linked to relevant themes and topics. This includes  Alma Thomas, Wassily Kandinsky, Yayoi Kusama, Henri Matisse and James Rizzi. Musical Exploration is taught through the use of songs, rhymes and using musical instruments. The children will explore how sounds are made, changed and how to change tempo.

Outdoor Learning

Outdoor Learning at our school allows children time and space to explore and develop their learning styles. It lets our children develop a relationship with the outdoor environment, through frequent, and relevant experiences. Our aim is to encourage independence, and raise self-esteem within our children. It offers opportunities to develop thinking, speaking and problem solving skills through small achievable tasks such as scavenger hunting, making leaf patterns and den building. We are lucky to have our own Eco Garden which is a great resource for autumn walks, seasonal scavenger hunts, sensory walk, acting out stories and exploring nature. 

A focus on teaching children how to learn empowers them to become confident, creative lifelong learners who are motivated to succeed and to show a curiosity towards the world they live in.

In EYFS, we use the characteristics of effective learning to support children in developing the skills to learn how to learn. These characteristics are: playing and exploring; active learning; and creating and thinking critically. Here at ABS, we have made these characteristics more child friendly by choosing a dinosaur character to represent each one.

Trips & Extra Curricular Opportunities 

The Reception curriculum is further enhanced through visits, trips and workshops. We welcome parental contributions too and have had several parents share their skills (e.g. art, music, gardening) with the class.

An example of some of educational visits include:

•  Kennington Park
• Science Museum
• Tate
• Brixton Windmill
• Horniman Museum