EARLY YEARS CURRICULUM AT OAK GREEN SCHOOL

Why do we teach what we teach? (Our intent)

At Oak Green, our Early Years Curriculum (EYFS) has been specifically and carefully developed to provide every child with a secure foundation to be truly successful throughout their time at school. This bespoke curriculum develops their knowledge and skills by evolving children to launch their love of learning. At Oak Green, we provide children with the essential qualities of being independent and curious learners. We nurture their inquisitive nature and provide a challenging and stimulating learning environment for the children, which allows children to be ambitious by exploring and questioning the world around them.

Our curriculum is not only developed from the Early Years Foundation Stage guidance, but it also has been created to ensure Oak Green children have a bespoke curriculum to meet their specific interests and needs. Through our ‘I can…’ curriculum statements and our 10 promises, we ensure that through the seven areas of learning and development, children are challenged and evolve across their education.

“Every child deserves the best possible start in life and the support that enables them to fulfil their potential. Children develop quickly in the early years and a child’s experiences between birth and age five have a major impact on their future life chances. A secure, safe and happy childhood is important in its own right. Good parenting and high-quality early learning together provide the foundation children need to make the most of their abilities and talents as they grow up”. (DfE 2021)

How do we teach it? (Our implementation)

To ensure children access this curriculum to its fullest potential, we ensure that it is delivered through the STAIRS and ShREC approach and the Characteristics of Effective Learning. Practitioners provide high quality teaching, deep interactions and conversations through adult-led and child-initiated activities. 

At Oak Green, practitioners understand the diversity of need and ensure that they are skilled in supporting through adaptations of an engaging curriculum within a language rich environment and a myriad of supportive strategies. By providing real-life experiences for purposeful play and child-initiated learning, practitioners are able to navigate what learning has been achieved so they can develop a child’s understanding, knowledge and skills. 

We know how important developing and nurturing positive relationships with parents, carers and other professionals is so that not only best practice can be shared to support children both at home and at school, but to model to children how to interact with others and be part of a community. 

Children develop their self-confidence, resilience and independence through PSED approaches and initiatives, as part of our adult-led groups and practitioners modelling deep and meaningful interactions. Adults embed and encourage different forms of play and communication throughout the day across our EY provision. Communication and language being at the heart of every form of learning for our children.

Our EYFS is based upon the four overarching principles taken from the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage 2021. A Unique Child + Positive Relationships + Enabling Environments = Learning and Development.

Characteristics of Effective Learning:

Playing and Exploring – Engagement

Through play, children develop, extend and reinforce their learning. Exploration is supported and nurtured and the provision and resources are carefully planned and monitored to extend and consolidate learning.

Active Learning - Motivation

An environment that motivates and takes into consideration the children’s interests. To encourage and challenge pupils which is personalised to the individualised needs of the children. In turn, this support is provided to stimulate children to develop their knowledge and skills across all areas. Children are engaged in many different activities and begin to actively connect different strands of learning.

Creating and Thinking Critically - Thinking

Staff support pupils in making connections between different experiences and environments. This assists them to develop an awareness of their own thinking and learning. At Oak Green, we ensure that all children learn through adult-led input and child-initiated activities during Early Years. 

“Children develop and learn at different rates… The framework covers the education and care of all children in early years provision, including children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).” (DfE 2021).

What is the difference that this makes? (Our impact)

By the end of Early Years, our children have an integral love of learning and become learners who are resilient, inquisitive, resourceful and self-sufficient. Every child’s experiences will be memorable, meaningful and challenging. They will be independent and proud of all of their achievements. They will have developed meaningful relationships with their peers and feel a sense of belonging within our school community.

Children will have succeeded our bespoke curriculum and have developed their knowledge and skills within the seven areas of learning. At Oak Green, we use assessment tools, which are a mixture of formative and summative methods. These inform us of what our children do well and also, informs our practitioners for both future planning and areas to develop. Our assessment processes enable us to observe the impact of our curriculum and it is clear that children make progress to enable them to become ready for their next step through their education.

“Ongoing assessment (also known as formative assessment) is an integral part of the learning and development process” (DfE, 2021)