How we learn in Early Years at Lakeview School

Aims

• To provide a safe, nurturing and stimulating environment which supports the growth of independence, resilience, collaboration and a love of learning.
• To provide an excellent and enriched education where each child is valued and encouraged to lead their own learning in order to achieve the highest possible outcomes.
• To value and develop a close partnership with families to facilitate close links in children’s learning and wellbeing between home and school.
• To promote children knowing that they are unique and to be confident and comfortable in their own skin. We value children respecting each other as well as respecting themselves.

Intent

We are aspirational at Lakeview and strive for our children to achieve their full potential. We believe that every child is unique and we are committed to delivering the best for every child. Our priorities are to ensure that your child feels safe, is happy and learns when they are at school.  

There are 7 areas of learning within the Foundation Stage Curriculum.

The prime areas begin to develop quickly in response to relationships and experiences, and run through and support learning in all other areas. The prime areas continue to be fundamental throughout the rest of their lives.

Prime aspects of learning are:

Area: Personal, Social and Emotional Development

Aspects: Making relationships, Self-confidence and Self-awareness, Managing Feelings and Behaviour

This relates to the development of your child’s sense of self. Developing skills to support their independence and confidence. Supporting them to build good relationships, to enjoy sharing as part of a group and understand the many different emotions they experience and face as their maturity develops. Children understand how to behave and how to solve problems they are faced with.

Area: Physical Development

Aspects: Moving and Handling, Health and Self-care

This relates to being active and improving control and co-ordination of the body while learning to handle and manipulate equipment accurately and safely. It also focuses on children being independent and taking care of themselves when eating and dressing; including making healthy food choices.

Area: Communication and Language

Aspects: Listening and attention, Understanding and Speaking
This involves giving children opportunities to speak and listen in a range of situations and to develop their confidence and skills in expressing themselves. This also includes children being exposed to new language.

The specific areas include essential skills and knowledge. They build upon the prime areas, and provide important contexts for learning.

Specific aspects of learning are:

Area: Mathematics

Aspects: Numbers and Shape, Space and Measure
This involves the development of your child’s understanding of numbers, counting and addition and subtraction problems. Children also explore and use the correct vocabulary for shape, space and measure.

Area: Literacy

Aspects: Reading and Writing

• This involves encouraging children to read and write, both through listening to others reading, and being encouraged to begin to read and write themselves. Children are exposed to a wide range of reading materials such as books, poems, and other written materials to ignite their interest.

Area: Understanding of the World

Aspects: People and Communities, The World and Technology
This area relates to the exploration of the environment around the children through the use of all the senses. It also involves the development of the child’s understanding of technology as well as the concept of time, relating to past and present.

Area: Expressive Arts and Design

Aspects: Exploring and Using Media and Materials and Being Imaginative

• This area involves finding ways to communicate by using colour, shape, sound, texture, movements and stories. It also focuses on the child’s use of their imagination and creativity.

Implementation

We follow the Statutory framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage which set outs the areas of learning for the children.  This is a link to the framework  https://bit.ly/36vt0Xr

During Nursery and Reception the children experience all of these areas of learning through ways that are highly engaging. We place a large emphasis on developing confident, independent learners who learn through fun, practical and challenging activities. These activities take place through structured and child-initiated play as well as teacher led sessions.

The children are introduced to a broad theme they have either shown interest in or one that the practitioners wish to expose them to; we also use a variety of texts to support the theme.

Our aim is to deepen their knowledge and enhance their skills, despite how broad or limited their life experiences may be. The children also contribute to their own learning by demonstrating their interests when choosing their own learning.

We recognise that reading is fundamental to all other aspects of learning.  Whole class phonics is taught each day, using Sounds-Write.  In addition, we instil a love of reading through story telling and sharing our love of books.l.  We encourage parents to read with their child and to recognise the importance of reading to their child to promote an enjoyment and love of reading.  We also recognise that children need a vast range of vocabulary in order to succeed in life. 

Our partnerships with parents is key; we keep parents informed. We also meet regularly with them to ensure children’s transition through the Early Years and into school is happy allowing them to reach their potential. Individualised support and next steps are shared between parents and practitioners.  This includes transition days, home visits, stay and play sessions, parent workshops, learning journeys, questionnaires, reports and parent consultations as well as more frequent informal communication. Parents are encouraged to share their child’s success at home through using the ‘Proud Clouds’ and in Reception, the children have Home Challenges and Achievements books.

Impact

Practitioners continually assess the children’s outcomes and progress both formally (during adult focused learning) and informally (through observations of children choosing their learning) so that we can move their learning forward. Children’s next steps are identified, reviewed and incorporated into planning. By the end of Reception we aim for children to achieve a Good Level of Development which is the national expectation for children at this age.

Children are prepared for the next stage of their school journey and information is shared with Year 1 teachers to aid a smooth transition.  Children have developed the necessary skills to be motivated and well-rounded learners and citizens who make positive contributions to their own lives and to the lives of others.