Bubwith Community Primary School EYFS Curriculum Thursday 17th November 2016

Aims: To find out about EYFS curriculum and learning and development in the Reception Year. To find out about how we assess children’s learning in the Reception Year. To find out how we measure progress during the Reception Year.

EYFS- Early Years Foundation Stage Teachers in EYFS work with the revised (2014) EYFS curriculum, which came into force in September 2012. The Early Years Framework gives guidance to professionals on learning and development from birth to five. Documents for reference- Development Matters in the EYFS, 2017 EYFSP handbook, Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage.

The EYFS curriculum has seven areas of learning, broken down into seventeen aspects:

The seven areas of learning and development 17 Aspects Three Prime Areas 1. Personal, social and emotional development Making Relationships Self- confidence and self- awareness Managing feelings and behaviour 2. Physical Development Moving and handling Health and self- care 3. Communication and Language Listening and attention Understanding Speaking Four Specific Areas 4. Literacy Reading Writing 5. Mathematics Numbers Shape, space and measures 6. Understanding the World People and communities The World Technology 7. Expressive arts and design Exploring and using media and materials Being imaginative Page 5 of Development Matters

The prime areas begin to develop quickly in response to relationships and experiences, and run through and support learning in all other areas. The prime areas continue to be fundamental throughout the EYFS. The specific areas include essential skills and knowledge. They grow out of the prime areas, and provide important contexts for learning. Children in the EYFS learn by playing and exploring, being active, and through creative and critical thinking which takes place both indoors and outside.

Children move through developmental stages detailed within the Development Matters document. Each of the seventeen aspects above has an Early Learning Goal which teachers support children to achieve by the end of the reception year. Although the Early Years Outcomes and Development Matters documents are not statutory, most teachers assess children and gather information against the development matters points contained within them which work up towards the ELGs.

In addition, teachers also have to consider how each child learns using the three Characteristics of Effective Learning. These are laid out in the table below: Page 5 of Development Matters

A play based curriculum Children learn through first-hand experiential activities with the serious business of ‘play’ providing the vehicle. Through their play children practise and consolidate their learning, play with ideas, experiment, take risks, solve problems, and make decisions… First-hand experiences allow children to develop an understanding of themselves and the world in which they live.

Getting the balance right When planning learning in EYFS it is important that we create the right balance between adult led activities and child initiated activities. Therefore we plan adult-led activities based on our own professional understanding of what we should teach young children and what experiences they should have. Through these adult-led activities we can introduce children to new ideas, provide opportunities for them to develop their skills and ensure that they experience all areas of learning in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). But, also support the children in following their own lines of enquiry, play with resources and use their imagination and creativity. It is only through doing this and practising the skills that they have learned that children will be able to take ownership of their learning and be able to apply it in different situations. When planning we plan topics but also incorporate the children’s interests and change topics as necessary.

How do we support children’s learning and development in the Reception Year? On-going formative assessment is at the heart of effective early years practice. Practitioners : Observe children as they act and interact in their play, everyday activities and planned activities, and learn from parents about what the child does at home (observation). Consider the examples of development in the columns headed ‘Unique Child: observing what children can do’ to help identify where the child may be in their own developmental pathway (assessment). Consider ways to support the child to strengthen and deepen their current learning and development, reflecting on guidance in columns headed ‘Positive Relationships’ and ‘Enabling Environments’ (planning). These columns contain some examples of what practitioners might do to support learning. Practitioners will develop many other approaches in response to the children with whom they work. Where appropriate, use the development statements to identify possible areas in which to challenge and extend the child’s current learning and development (planning). Page 3 of Development Matters. Show an example of pages from Development Matters showing the developmental stages and ELG’s. We use Tapestry to document these observations, assessments and next steps. We also use assessments from adult led activities to inform next steps and information from parents. Parents can access and add information onto Tapestry and we have a ‘Wow’ board in the cloakroom to share children’s achievements outside school. Plus we gain lots of information from our informal day to day conversations with parents.

Assessing attainment on entry In school we ensure we make an informed assessment of how each child is attaining when they first start at the school, through observation. This is called a ‘baseline assessment’ This is important as it is the starting point for Senior Leaders, Governors and Ofsted to judge how much progress children make during their time at school. In school we baseline children against the Development Matters stages and judge children to be in line (40-60 months), above (Early Learning Goals) or below age related expectations (stages below 40-60 months). We spend the first 4-6 weeks closely observing the children to gain an accurate baseline. Information from parents and pre- school settings feed into this baseline also.

Assessment at the end of the Reception Year At the end of the reception year we carry out a statutory assessment called the EYFS Profile. This is a teacher assessment based on ongoing observations of each child. It is not a test or exam. In June each year, teachers make a final assessment to decide whether reception children have achieved the Early Learning Goals (ELG) for the seventeen aspects or not. This is a ‘best fit’ judgment of each ELG separately. Children do not need to have ‘equal mastery’ of every bit of the ELG to have achieved it as best fit. In addition, teachers also have to consider how each child learns using the three Characteristics of Effective Learning.

For each ELG, the teacher has to decide which of the following three judgements is most accurate: Emerging (E1) The child has not yet achieved the ELG but is working somewhere within the six developmental bands of the EYFS curriculum e.g. 30-50 months Expected (E2) The child has achieved the ELG as a best fit judgement Exceeding (E3) The child has gone beyond the ELG and is working within the KS1 National Curriculum

Accurate Assessments The LA has a duty to deliver a programme of moderation visits and meetings to ensure the validity of its data. The LA selects 25% of it’s schools to sample to be visited by an LA EYFS moderator to moderate teachers’ judgements. In addition, schools are asked to send teachers/TAs to moderation meetings which are usually held in May These moderation activities are crucial if school EYFSP data is to be accurate. In addition, we carry out our own internal moderation to make sure judgements are correct. There is a set of National Exemplification materials for the expected level to help with this. We also link where possible with other schools to moderate judgements.

Progress School analysis of attainment on entry against final assessments should demonstrate the shift in % of children moving from below to in line and above age related expectations. In school we analyse how the school’s children performed compared to national outcomes for each of the 17 ELGs. We also look at how many children achieved a ‘Good Level of Development’. This is defined as children achieving at least the expected level in: The early learning goals in the prime areas of learning (personal, social and emotional development: physical development; and communication and language) and The early learning goals in the specific areas of mathematics and literacy. i.e. 12 out of 17 ELGS in total.