INTENT
At Whingate Primary School we understand the importance of early child development and creating a foundation for our children to become independent lifelong learners. In our Early Years Foundation Stage, our personalised curriculum (CLAUDE) provides all children with the skills, knowledge and understanding to prepare them for the transition into Year 1 where they will access the National Curriculum. Our aim for the children is for them to feel comfortable, happy, safe, and ready to learn. Knowing where the children begin, their experiences and cultural capital enables us to tailor our curriculum for their individual needs. Our demographic means children generally start below national expectations for their age. We prioritise personal, social, emotional development and understand the importance of teaching communication skills, language, and a breadth of vocabulary. High quality interactions with the children are planned in teaching sessions and through play within our resource rich provision areas. The progression of skills, curriculum and the enabling environment show the high expectations of children whatever their starting point and strive for every child to reach their full potential.
IMPLEMENTATION
The Whingate personalised curriculum (CLAUDE), Characteristics of effective learning and the EYFS profile ensure children are taught the essential skills they need. Foundation Stage supports all children’s needs with a balance of directed teaching time and play opportunities to encourage the children to become independent learners and applying what they are taught. Our inclusive approach means all children learn together alongside a range of additional interventions to support children who may have personalised needs. The organisation of our curriculum is based on cross-curricular skills that enable all aspects of the children’s development to be taught.
Characteristics of effective learning feeds through everything we do. Reading/Phonics is an integral part of our curriculum, we follow the Read Write Inc Phonics Programme from Nursery. Daily lessons are planned, and assessments carried out half termly. We also encourage a love of reading through topics which have quality texts at the heart that cover all areas of the Early Years curriculum and broadens the children’s experiences, vocabulary, and language. At Whingate we value the importance of learning outdoors, being given the opportunity to develop through first hand experiences and the space to enable physical progress.
IMPACT
As a result of high quality teaching and play opportunities, children make good progress from their starting points across the Foundation Stage. The curriculum meets the needs of all children, including our disadvantaged pupils and those with SEND. Through observation and on-going assessment, we are constantly evaluating how the children are learning and what they need to make individual progress. This is evidenced through quality interactions with the children, direct teaching, excellent modelling of areas and looking at their outcomes and assessing progress. The curriculum enables our children to become good listeners, communicators and to have an understanding of the wider curriculum across our school. This gives them the skills they need to access the National Curriculum when entering Year 1 and beyond.
We break down the Early Years curriculum into smaller acheivable steps for children that need it. We do this by using the SENIT Developmental Journal, please find this below. We track the children accross the same 17 areas over their time in foundation stage using this document.
We follow the Read Write Inc Phonics programme from Nursery to teach the children how to read and write. Please see our Phonics curriculum page to find out more about it.
Phonics | Whingate Primary School