“Every child deserves the best possible start in life and the support that enables them to fulfil their potential. Children develop quickly in the early years and a child’s experiences between birth and age five have a major impact on their future life chances. A secure, safe and happy childhood is important in its own right. Good parenting and high quality early learning together provide the foundation children need to make the most of their abilities and talents as they grow up."
"Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage - 12th July 2023"
Our Philosophies and Aims
At Padstow School and Nursery our whole school philosophy "Embark on a journey to discover your future" is introduced right at the start of the nursery journey. We embed a shared vision for our pupils to work hard, enjoy learning and reach their goals.
Within the EYFS our philosophy is to make a difference so children can embrace the wider world with confidence.
We have developed a carefully planned, sequential and challenging Early Years curriculum, which allows all of our pupils to become independent and confident learners. We balance a child initiated approach through our Continuous provision and discrete adult taught sessions to ensure that children learn the knowledge and skills needed in preparation for Reception class. Each half termly topic begins with an enquiry based question and we start by gathering the children's prior knowledge and initial thoughts for starting points.
We believe that children should be involved in making decisions about their own learning and so we bring their fascinations and interests into our planning, which promotes high levels of engagement and wellbeing.
Continuous Provision
Our Continuous Provision is carefully planned to ensure that we provide an environment that allows children time, space and opportunity to practise and refine their learning. We use a high quality core set of resources which are built up throughout the year as children develop their skills. We include enhancements for a hook into our current enquiry question for our new topics of learning.
The Areas of Learning and Development
The Early Years Foundation Stage consists of seven areas of learning and development that shape our EYFS curriculum, they are all important and inter-connected:
Prime Areas
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
Physical Development
Communication and Language
Specific Area
Literacy
Mathematics
Understanding the World
Expressive Art and Design
