Our Curriculum

Early Years at Longvernal

EYFS INTENT, IMPLEMENTATION AND IMPACT

INTENT

At Longvernal, we believe that children learn best when they feel happy, safe and secure. We strive for children to be content, confident and resilient individuals with an enthusiastic love for learning. We provide a holistic, safe and secure environment, both indoors and outdoors, with elements of structured play, free play and practical experiences. This allows young children to flourish in all aspects of their development, whilst also exploring and developing their individual interests. Children learn and develop at different rates. Longvernal is inclusive and we seek to provide education and care for all children, including children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Children in Reception benefit from our ‘buddy’ system whereby Year 6 pupils support our youngest pupils at playtimes and also share activities such as storytimes.

We believe that children should be provided with rich resources so they can learn through their play. Ultimately, learning should be fun, stimulating and engaging for the children whilst providing suitable challenges. We acknowledge that children learn at different rates and provide inclusive education and care for all children. These principles allow us to provide quality learning experiences, consistently throughout the year, to ensure every child makes progress. Central to our learning environment is maximising our outdoor space and our weekly Forest School lessons further enhance our children’s learning; developing confidence, autonomy, problem-solving and risk-taking skills.

We recognise the importance of building upon prior learning experiences.

Continuity and progression are at the forefront of our curriculum plans, ensuring that the transition into school from nursery and into Year 1 from Reception is as smooth as possible.

Ultimately, in the Early Years at Longvernal, we are committed to providing the best possible introduction to school life, encompassing teaching children skills and sharing experiences which will ensure their positive well-being and success in the future.

IMPLEMENTATION

We aim to provide high quality learning experiences through play, whilst following the children’s interests, under the guidance of the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage and two main non-statutory documents; Development Matters and Birth to 5 Matters. We have created a broad overview that outlines possible themes, interests and lines of enquiry and subsequently meticulously produced termly planning documents aligned to our long term plans to ensure children receive a broad range of learning opportunities. Where possible and pertinent to the curriculum or personal development intent, we take children on school trips and invite visitors into the classroom to provide real-life experiences and extend children’s learning further. Children’s progress is assessed termly in the specific areas of Literacy and Mathematics to inform planning; at the end of Reception, progress in all seven areas is assessed against the Early Learning Goals.

IMPACT

In Early Years, children learn in lots of different ways; therefore, we observe the children as they talk, play, explore, ask questions, make mistakes, solve problems and have fun with other children and adults. Thus, we see the impact of our quality first teaching through progression in the children in different ways. Children will have made progress in:

Resilience, confidence and independence(linked to our Value of Self-Belief)
Communication skills, including speaking, listening and early writing skills
Learning behaviours - development of the skills, concepts and attitudes for future success
The development of an understanding of themselves in relation to people in their immediate environment (as part of the Longvernal Family) and to those in the wonder world
The acquisition of mathematical concepts -sorting, matching, size, shape, number, counting and comparison
Development of fine and gross motor skills through a tailored PE programme designed for progression, STEM activities including use of technology and the use of tools and materials including in Forest School

We pride ourselves on being able to talk, in depth, about every child. In addition, key learning experiences are recorded in individual Learning Journals throughout the year. Displays in the classroom are also evidence of our continuing learning journey. To keep parents up to date on our learning journey we update both Nursery and Reception parents using Tapestry.