Please follow the link below to access our EYFS school policy:

Our school has a dedicated Early Years Reception Class to provide your young child with the finest surroundings for their first school experience.

Our commitment at Burton is to create and maintain a safe, happy and child-centred environment in which children are inspired to become purposeful, life-long learners.

In the Early Years Foundation Stage our aim is that upon leaving Early Years, our children have a strong sense of self, feel positive about their abilities as a learner, have formed constructive relationships and are confident communicators.

Every child deserves the best possible start in life and support to fulfil their potential. We believe that a child’s experience in the early years has a major impact on their future life chances. A secure, safe and happy childhood is important in its’ own right, and it provides the foundation for children to make the most of their abilities and talents as they grow up. When parents choose our early years and our school, they want to know that we will keep their children safe and help them to thrive. This is at the heart of what we do!

 At Burton we follow the EYFS framework, which is statutory in the UK for all Ofsted registered settings. In doing this we are adopting a curriculum which  provides children with the best possible start to their schooling by:

• Setting high standards for the learning, development and care of our children, ensuring that every child makes progress and that no child gets left behind.
• Providing for equality of opportunity, ensuring that every child is included and not disadvantaged because of ethnicity, culture or religion, home language, family background, learning difficulties or disabilities, gender or ability – this includes children who may be Gifted and Talented in areas of learning.
• Creating a partnership between parents and school in which regular communication and mutual support is fundamental
• Laying a secure foundation for future learning through learning and development that is planned around the individual needs and interests of the child, and informed by the use of ongoing observational assessment.
• From the child’s perspective a curriculum such as this should be full of real-life, concrete experiences. Children will often be informally consulted about their learning environments and learning opportunities – we will always endeavour to follow their interests to ensure planned activities and themes are motivating for them.

Most importantly, children should feel happy, safe and secure at school and should have ownership of their classroom.

The Early Years Framework

The updated EYFS framework explains how and what children will be learning to support their healthy development and provide the foundation children with the skills they need to make the most of their abilities and talents as they grow up.

The EYFS specifies requirements for learning and development and for safeguarding children and promoting their welfare. 

The Characteristics of Effective Learning

The unique child reaches out to relate to others and things through the characteristics of effective learning which move through all the areas of learning, through playing and exploring, active learning and creating and thinking critically.

Children will learn skills, acquire new knowledge and demonstrate their understanding through 7 areas of learning and development.

Children should mostly develop the 3 prime areas first. These are:

• Communication and language;
• Physical development; and
• Personal, social and emotional development.

These prime areas are those most essential for a child’s healthy development and future learning.

As children grow, the prime areas will help them to develop skills in 4 specific areas. These are:

• Literacy;
• Mathematics;
• Understanding the world; and
• Expressive arts and design.

All 7 areas of learning are used to plan children’s learning and activities. The staff, teaching and supporting your child, at Burton will make sure that the activities are suited to your child’s unique needs. The curriculum is designed to be really flexible so that staff can follow your child's unique needs and interests.

Children in the EYFS learn by playing and exploring, being active, and through creative and critical thinking which takes place both indoors and outside. It is very important that they develop social skills, such as turn-taking, sharing and independence, which help them greatly in the next stages of their learning.  The guiding principles that shape our practice in the Early Years are that children are born ready, able and eager to learn.  They actively reach out to interact with other people, and in the world around them.  Development is not an automatic process, however.  It depends on each unique child having opportunities to interact in positive relationships and enabling environments.

This does not mean that all your child's learning is divided up into specific areas.  One experience may provide a child with opportunities to develop a number of skills and concepts across several areas of learning.  Our expectation is that your child's records will be passed to us from their Nursery or Pre-school setting, enabling us to ensure continuity throughout the Early Years Foundation stage.

Phonics teaching and learning are a key part of the Foundation Stage and help to develop early reading and writing skills. The EYFS curriculum is delivered through cross-curricular topics, such as ‘Do You Want to be Friends? , Why do Squirrels Hide their Nuts?, What's that Sound?, Do Cows Drink Milk?, What is a Reflection and Who Lives in a Rockpool?’  If you have already visited our Reception class, you will have seen a range of activities taking place such as role-play, practical games, painting, cutting and sticking and reading in the book corner. You will also have seen the outdoor classroom in operation, with equipment such as bikes, cars, sand and water.

Children work and play independently, with a strong emphasis on choice and being able to sustain concentration on projects, as well as joining a variety of teacher-led activities. We strongly encourage a partnership with parents so they are actively involved in their children's learning.

Early Learning Goals

There are a total of 17 Early Learning Goals in EYFS:

The Prime Areas 

Communication and language 

ELG: Listening, attention and understanding

Children at the expected level of development will:

 - Listen attentively and respond to what they hear with relevant questions, comments and actions when being read to and during whole class discussions and small group interactions;

 - Make comments about what they have heard and ask questions to clarify their understanding;

 - Hold conversation when engaged in back-and-forth exchanges with their teacher and peers.

ELG: Speaking

 Children at the expected level of development will:

 - Participate in small group, class and one-to-one discussions, offering their own ideas, using recently introduced vocabulary;

 - Offer explanations for why things might happen, making use of recently introduced vocabulary from stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems when appropriate;

 - Express their ideas and feelings about their experiences using full sentences, including use of past, present and future tenses and making use of conjunctions, with modelling and support from their teacher.

Physical development

ELG: Gross Motor Skills 

Children at the expected level of development will:

 - Negotiate space and obstacles safely, with consideration for themselves and others;

 - Demonstrate strength, balance and coordination when playing;

 - Move energetically, such as running, jumping, dancing, hopping, skipping, and climbing.

ELG: Fine Motor Skills

Children at the expected level of development will:

 - Hold a pencil effectively in preparation for fluent writing - using the tripod grip in almost all cases;

 - Use a range of small tools, including scissors, paint brushes and cutlery;

 - Begin to show accuracy and care when drawing.

Personal, social and emotional development

ELG: Self regulation

Children at the expected level of development will:

 - Show an understanding of their own feelings and those of others, and begin to regulate their behaviour accordingly;

 - Set and work towards simple goals, being able to wait for what they want and control their immediate impulses when appropriate;

 - Give focused attention to what the teacher says, responding appropriately even when engaged in activity, and show an ability to follow instructions involving several ideas or actions.

ELG: Managing self

Children at the expected level of development will:

 - Be confident to try new activities and show independence, resilience and perseverance in the face of challenge;

 - Explain the reasons for rules, know right from wrong and try to behave accordingly;

 - Manage their own basic hygiene and personal needs, including dressing, going to the toilet and understanding the importance of healthy food choices.

ELG: Building relationships

Children at the expected level of development will:

 - Work and play cooperatively and take turns with others;

 - Form positive attachments to adults and friendships with peers;

 - Show sensitivity to their own and others needs.

The specific areas 

Literacy 

ELG: Comprehension 

Children at the expected level of development will:

 - Demonstrate understanding of what has been read to them by retelling stories and narratives using their own words and recently introduced vocabulary;

 - Anticipate - where appropriate - key events in stories;

 - Use and understand recently introduced vocabulary during discussions about stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems and during role play.

ELG: Word reading

Children at the expected level of development will:

 - Say a sound for each letter in the alphabet and at least 10 digraphs;

 - Read words consistent with their phonic knowledge by sound-blending;

 - Read aloud simple sentences and books that are consistent with their phonic knowledge, including some common exception words.

ELG: Writing

Children at the expected level of development will:

 - Write recognisable letters, most of which are correctly formed;

 - Spell words by identifying sounds in them and representing the sounds with a letter or letters;

 - Write simple phrases and sentence that can be read by others.

Mathematics 

ELG: Number

Children at the expected level of development will:

 - Have a deep understanding of number to 10, including the composition of each number;

 - Subitise (recognise quantities without counting) up to 5;

 - Automatically recall (without references to rhymes, counting or other aids) number bonds up to 5 (including subtraction facts) and some number bonds to 10, including double facts.

ELG: Numerical patterns 

Children at the expected level of development will:

 - Verbally count beyond 20, recognising the pattern of the counting system;

 - Compare quantities up to 10 in different contexts, recognising when one quantity is greater than, less than or the same as the other quantity;

 - Explore and represent patterns within numbers up to 10, including evens and odds, double facts and how quantities can be distributed equally.

Understanding the world 

ELG: Past and present

Children at the expected level of development will:

 - Talk about the lives of the people around them and their roles in society;

 - Know some similarities and differences between things in the past and now, drawing on their experiences and what has been read in class;

 - Understand the past through settings, characters and events encountered in books, read in class and storytelling.

ELG: People, culture and communities

Children at the expected level of development will:

 - Describe their immediate environment using knowledge from observation, discussion, stories, non-fiction texts and maps;

 - Know some similarities and differences between different religious and cultural communities in this country, drawing on their experiences and what has been read in class;

 - Explain some similarities and differences between life in this country and life in other countries, drawing on knowledge on stories, non-fiction texts - when appropriate - maps.

ELG: The natural world

Children at the expected level of development will:

 - Explore the natural world around them, making observations and drawing pictures of animals and plants;

 - Know some similarities and differences between the natural world around them and contrasting environments, drawing on their experiences and what has been read in class;

 - Understand some important processes and changes in the natural world around them, including the seasons and changing states of matter.

Expressive arts and design 

ELG: Creating with materials

Children at the expected level of development will:

 - Safely use and explore a variety of materials, tools and techniques, experimenting with colour, design, texture, form and function;

 - Share their creations, explaining the process they have used;

 - Make use of props and materials when role playing characters in narratives and stories.

ELG: Being imaginative and expressive

Children at the expected level of development will:

 - Invent, adapt and recount narratives and stories with peers and their teachers;

 - Sing a range of well-known nursery rhymes and songs;

 - Perform songs, rhymes, poems and stories with others, and - when appropriate - try to move in time with music.

Assessment in Reception

Assessment plays an important part in helping parents, carers and staff to recognise children’s progress, understand their needs, and to plan activities and support. Ongoing assessment is an integral part of the learning and development process.  It involves staff observing children to understand their level of achievement, interests and learning styles, and to then shape learning experiences for each child reflecting those observations.  In their interactions with children, staff will respond to their own day-to-day observations about children’s progress, and observations that parents and carers share.  To this end we make systematic observations and assessments of each child's achievements, interests and learning styles.  We then use these observations and assessments to identify learning priorities and plan relevant and motivating learning experiences for each child.

Reception Baseline Assessment:

From September 2021 schools will carry out a Government Baseline Assessment. The link below provides the following information about the assessment:

• why schools are doing the assessment
• what happens during the assessment
• access arrangements
• how the data is used

Reception end of year assessment

Each child's level of development is assessed against the early learning goals (above). Teaching staff will indicate whether children are meeting expected levels of development:

• Emerging, not yet reaching expected levels of development for age
• Expected, achieving expected levels of development for age

A good level of development is determined by children achieving the 'expected' level (as above) in the Early Learning Goals in the 3 Prime Areas and the Specific Areas of Literacy and Mathematics.

Our Year 1 teachers will have access to the profile report and hold meetings with the EYFS staff on each child's skills and abilities in relation to the three key characteristics of effective learning. These will inform transition meetings between Reception and Year 1 teachers about each child's stage of development and learning needs and assist with the planning of activities at the start of Year 1.