Little Bookham & Effingham Preschool

Development Matters Guidance

Our Curriculum 2022/2023

About Our Curriculum

The EYFS in Action at Preschool

We follow the Early Years Foundation Stage (2021) and use the Development Matters guidance to support and build our own curriculum for the preschool that is in line with our vision and values, and is relevant for all the children in our care.

The EYFS framework:

• sets the standards that all early years providers must meet to ensure that children learn and develop well
• ensures children are kept healthy and safe
• ensures that children have the knowledge and skills they need to start school

Our Vision

We want our children to be happy, healthy, enthusiastic lifelong learners who are confident, believe in themselves and have the skills to succeed in the world.

We aim to provide a safe and enabling environment where all children are respected and valued as individuals, and are supported and empowered by staff who are passionate about Early Years. 

Our curriculum

Our curriculum is child-centred and is based upon wow experiences and topics which follow the children's interests and engage them. We encourage active learning to ensure the children are motivated and interested. We take time to get to know children’s interests and their likes to support learning, and find out about children’s home lives from parents. All areas of the EYFS curriculum are followed and planned for to ensure there is a broad, balanced and progressive learning environment and curriculum.

When designing our curriculum we think about the different areas of the EYFS in relation to the following questions: 

1. What is it like to be a child in our preschool?
2. What skills and knowledge do we want our children to leave us with?
3. How ready will children be for the next stage in their learning? 

Curriculum planning is not 'set in stone' and is used as a working document which is flexible and can be adapted around the ever changing needs and interests of our children.

Continuous provision and how it supports our curriculum

Our continuous provision is a vital aspect in the development of essential knowledge and skills and it means that children are using and developing taught skills throughout the year on a daily basis. We support children to develop key life skills such as independence, innovation, creativity, enquiry, analysis and problem solving. 

We aim to create an enabling environment that is warm, welcoming, nurturing, facilitates a sense of belonging and fully supports the implementation of our curriculum. It is a rich and varied space where risks are minimised and well managed, and children are protected from harm.

We provide a wide range of resources which serve different purposes: inspire imagination and role play, exploration of personal relationships and feelings, problem solving, quiet time and reflection. The resources are accessible to the children and they are varied, open-ended and high quality. The children are able to select what they want to do in each area. This gives children the opportunity to select resources to support their chosen activity. We allow children the time and space to focus and reduce noise distraction. During the day, children will have an opportunity to work independently, work collaboratively with their friends and with members of staff.

Intent, Implementation and Impact

Through a combination of creating an enabling environment, a carefully planned curriculum and using the 'planning in the moment' approach we support and enhance children’s learning ensuring they make good progress over time that they are with us. 

Staff work together to decide the Intent (what we want the children to learn) and Implementation of our curriculum (the learning opportunities that we provide and how we want to deliver that learning). We measure the Impact of the curriculum by looking at how effective it has been and the progress that children have achieved. 

How we decide the intent:

• We take time to get to know children’s interests and their likes, and value regular parent feedback about what their child is interested in at home, any new achievements and find out what families enjoy doing together.
• Take into account children’s cultural capital - what experiences and opportunities have they had and what new experiences and opportunities do they need to help them to be curious, explore, try new things, and experience awe and wonder, progress and achieve success?
• Staff discussions where we can share our practitioner knowledge about the children, and what they are interested in and any recent progress that they have made or support that they might need.
• We choose topics, resources, experiences and opportunities which then follow the children's interests and engage them. This allows us to build upon and extend children’s knowledge and experience, and develop their self-esteem and confidence.
• We look at the impact from the previous half term curriculum planning which allows us to see if there are any particular areas that we need to focus on, children that need extra support, or changes to the continuous provision that we would like to make.

How we implement it: 

• By providing a safe and supportive, enabling learning environment. This includes our chosen resources, stimulating experiences and opportunities.
• Staff implement the curriculum through modelling, teaching, discussions and high quality adult/child interactions
• Staff have an excellent understanding of when to step back, and when to sensitively join in and support and extend children’s learning. 
• By having a good balance of free play and small group work, where staff will guide children’s learning. 
• We take an inclusive approach to curriculum delivery to ensure that all children are able to fully participate and learn alongside one another, including children of different ages and stages of development, disadvantaged children and those with SEND.
• Practitioners share information about a child’s progress with their parents and carers, discussing suitable next steps and ways to support the child’s learning at home. We highly value parents' contributions towards their child’s learning.

How we measure the impact:

We measure progress in terms of what that child can do that they couldn’t do before.  Have children gained new knowledge and skills? For our new children we do an on entry assessment with parents to provide us with a starting point.

We look at if a child is developing knowledge around the seven areas of learning at an age appropriate level. All staff have a very good understanding of child development which allows us to assess this. We monitor children’s progress and take action to provide additional support as necessary. 

We do this through: 

• Staff and parent observations on Tapestry
• Photos and videos
• The children’s work 
• Seeing how actively engaged children have been in their learning and their enjoyment from it  
• Discussions and feedback from parents during focus week
• Discussions with children about their learning and experiences
• All staff sharing their practitioner knowledge of the children

The Areas of Learning & Development

The learning and development requirements of the EYFS cover three prime areas, which are considered particularly important for stimulating children’s interest in learning, and in building relationships:

• Communication and language: giving children opportunities to experience a rich language environment, develop their confidence and skill in expressing themselves, and speak and listen in a range of situations.
• Physical development: providing opportunities for young children to be active and interactive, develop their coordination, control, and movement, understand the importance of physical activity, and make healthy choices about food.
• Personal, social and emotional development: helping children to develop a positive sense of themselves and others, form positive relationships and respect others, develop social skills and learn how to manage their feelings, understand appropriate behaviour in groups and to have confidence in their own abilities.

The three prime areas are strengthened by four specific areas of learning: Literacy, Mathematics, Understanding of the world, and Expressive arts and design. These areas are connected, with learning in one particular area supporting learning in the others.

Characteristics of Effective Learning 

We also support children through three Characteristics of Effective Teaching and Learning:

• Playing and Exploring - I investigate and experience things, and ‘have a go’. 
• Active Learning – I concentrate and keep on trying even when I encounter difficulties. I enjoy achieving. 
• Creating and Thinking Critically – I am learning to develop my own ideas, make links between ideas, and develop strategies for doing things. 

An Enabling Environment

An enabling environment is a rich and varied space where risks are minimised and well managed, and children are protected from harm.We aim to create an environment that is warm, welcoming, nurturing, facilitates a sense of belonging and fully supports the implementation of our curriculum. 

We provide a wide range resources which serve different purposes: inspire imagination and role play, exploration of personal relationships and feelings, problem solving, quiet time and reflection. The resources are accessible to the children and they are varied, open-ended and high quality. The children are able to select what they want to do in each area. This gives children the opportunity to select resources to support their chosen activity. We allow children the time and space to focus and reduce noise distraction.

The environment also offers room for outdoor and indoor play, sufficient space for children to move and collaborate, and encourages exploration and risk-taking.

During the day, children will have an opportunity to work independently, work collaboratively with their friends and with members of staff.

Our continuous provision is a vital aspect in the development of essential knowledge and skills and it means that children are using and developing taught skills throughout the year on a daily basis. We support children to develop key life skills such as independence, innovation, creativity, enquiry, analysis and problem solving. 

The Role of The Adult 

Our staff's role is to help facilitate children’s learning and meet all their individual needs. We do this through high quality adult/child interactions, observations, assessing, teaching and care-giving. Our staff know the children very well and have an excellent understanding of child development. This ensures that the adults enhance and extend the learning at the appropriate level. The Ofsted definition of teaching fits with our way of planning and teaching in the moment.