EYFS Curriculum Intent

At Runnymede St Edward’s School, we strive for a high-quality early education and instil in our very youngest learners the ambition to ‘be the best they can be’. We build warm, trusting relationships with the children and teach them how to care for one another and our world.

Our ambitious, holistic and well-sequenced curriculum is key to developing children’s language and working memory. We place great emphasis on developing a love of stories, rich vocabulary and early phonological awareness. This prepares children for systematic phonics teaching in Reception. We support children to problem solve and become independent thinkers. We endeavour to develop children’s listening, language and conversational skills during every interaction we have.

In our Preschool provision, we prioritise the Prime Areas of learning, recognising that communication and language, personal, social and emotional development, and physical development are the foundations upon which later literacy and mathematical understanding are built.

We want our children to be happy at school and to learn the necessary skills to make friends, deal with challenges as they arise and become resilient learners.

Implementation

Our approach builds upon the Early Years Foundation Stage Statutory Framework and the Characteristics of Effective Learning. At the heart of our curriculum is helping children to develop personally, socially and emotionally. We want children to learn how to focus their attention, regulate their emotions, be patient and problem solve.

Learning across Preschool and Reception is rooted in purposeful play, exploration and sustained shared thinking, where skilled adults sensitively scaffold, guide and extend children’s language, ideas and understanding.

Alongside this, we provide a curriculum that enables children to develop a deep sense of number and secure foundations in early reading. We plan from children’s interests and connect learning to the wider whole school curriculum.

We understand that EYFS underpins children’s future learning and success and therefore shape our curriculum to reflect aspects of Science, Geography, History, Music and Art/DT in developmentally appropriate ways.

We provide daily opportunities for children to develop gross and fine motor skills, ensuring they build the core strength, coordination and control necessary for later writing and independence.

We believe our learning environment plays a key role in enabling children to acquire new knowledge, language and skills. Staff sensitively support, guide, extend and model learning, noticing what our children can do and carefully building upon it.

Our curriculum is carefully sequenced across Preschool and Reception, ensuring smooth progression from exploratory learning and language development in Preschool to secure foundations in literacy and mathematics by the end of Reception.

We understand that parents are their child’s first educator and, with this in mind, endeavour to build welcoming and respectful relationships with them. We listen to our parents and provide feedback on their child’s progress, encouraging them to support language development through conversation, story sharing, nursery rhymes and playful experiences.

Impact

The impact of our curriculum is measured through children’s learning and development across the seven areas of learning and their readiness to move on to the next stage of their education. We ensure children are well prepared for transition from Preschool into Reception, and from Reception into Key Stage 1, with the necessary language, skills and knowledge to continue to flourish.

Children leave Reception as confident communicators, independent learners and enthusiastic readers who are ready for the expectations of Key Stage 1. We work closely with Year 1 staff to inform them of children’s stage of development and individual learning needs.

Our Young Edwardians are the foundation upon which we continue the aspirations of our founding Father Blessed Edmund Rice. We endeavour to ensure they begin learning and understanding our 8 Essentials, which underpin all aspects of the EYFS curriculum, life at Runnymede and beyond.