Learning in the Foundation Stage

 

At Cockwood Primary School we follow the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework. This curriculum is based upon four themes and principles;

• Unique Child – Every child is a unique child who is constantly learning and can be resilient, capable, confident and self assured.
• Positive Relationships – Children learn to be strong and independent through positive relationships.
• Enabling Environments – 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 carers.
• Learning and Development – Children develop and learn in different ways.  The framework covers the education and care of all children in early years provision, including children with special educational needs and disabilities.

 

The Curriculum

There are 3 prime areas and 4 specific areas of learning in the Foundation Stage framework curriculum.

Prime Areas

• Personal, Social and Emotional Development
• Communication and Language
• Physical Development

Specific Areas

• Literacy
• Mathematics
• Understanding of the World
• Expressive Arts and Design

 

In the Foundation year children continue to build on their home, nursery and pre school experiences and learning. There continues to be a strong emphasis on developing children’s skills in the 3 Prime Areas. As these areas of learning become more fully embedded there is a further focus on the Specific Areas of Learning, including reading, writing and maths.

Our Foundation children share a class with Year 1 pupils, but the class is excellently equipped with both age and developmentally appropriate resources to meet the individual children’s needs. The Year 1 children enjoy supporting our youngest children as they quickly settle into school routines, and act as wonderful role models demonstrating kindness, patience and a helping hand.

We strive to ensure that our youngest children receive their entitlement to a free flow enabling environment that supports both indoors and outdoor learning through both adult led and child initiated activities, whilst enabling our Year 1 children to build on their early experiences and develop their learning skills in a more structured environment that meets these needs.

 

What sort of things will children learn during the Foundation Stage?

In the Prime Areas children will learn to:-

• Share, take turns and develop respect for each other.
• Make friends and become confident independent learners.
• Behave appropriately when playing with others.
• Listen to others and understand spoken language.
• Learn new words rapidly and use them in conversations.
• Join in conversations with adults and children.
• Develop control of their bodies using both large scale movements such as running and jumping, and small scale movements such as holding pencils and using scissors.

In the Specific Areas children will learn to:-

• Enjoy sharing books and stories with adults and friends.
• Read words and simple sentences (Foundation children).
• Draw, make marks, write letters and words.
• Count accurately groups of objects and recognise numerals.
• Add, subtract and problem solve during practical activities.
• Use everyday language to talk about size, weight, capacity, distance, time and money.
• Look closely at how things work, why things happen, living things and the natural world.
• Use ICT equipment, e.g. programmable toys and computers.
• Be imaginative, sing songs, dance and create fantastic models, drawings and paintings.