Early Years Intent
The Early Years Foundation Stage covers the following seven areas of learning. The prime areas; Personal, Social and Emotional Development, Communication, Language and Literacy and Physical Development. The specific areas; Literacy, Mathematical development, Understanding the World and Expressive Arts and Design.
At Giles Brook, we want all of our children to develop an early love of learning across all seven areas. Both our Nursery and Reception environments are carefully planned, resourced and adapted to suit the needs and interests of the children we teach. Our setting is designed to promote an environment where children feel motivated, intrigued, confident and increasingly independent in their learning. |
We hold outdoor learning in high regard and plan and resource all seven areas of learning in this area. Children are encouraged to explore their learning in any weather and we strongly believe that all weather learning is vital to children’s sustained progress. Children are encouraged to self-select resources to further develop their play alongside the provision offered by staff. An emphasis is placed upon good modelling of language within our Early Years team, as we know that developing a clear spoken language and understanding is integral to the development of vocabulary and subsequently secure early reading skills.
We promote a learning culture where all children feel safe, secure and valued and actively encourage children to develop resilience and a growth mindset. Children are taught that it is “Okay to make mistakes” and staff model and support so children can learn from these situations which may sometimes reflect the process rather than the final outcome. The school adopts a restorative approach to behaviour and these values and methods are evident in the Early Years. We celebrate diversity and create a culture of respect and support amongst peers by actively embracing similarities and differences. Children are quickly taught that learning will be different for each child and that we support each other and learn in an environment where everyone’s contributions are valued.
We promote a learning culture where all children feel safe, secure and valued and actively encourage children to develop resilience and a growth mindset. Children are taught that it is “Okay to make mistakes” and staff model and support so children can learn from these situations which may sometimes reflect the process rather than the final outcome. The school adopts a restorative approach to behaviour and these values and methods are evident in the Early Years. We celebrate diversity and create a culture of respect and support amongst peers by actively embracing similarities and differences. Children are quickly taught that learning will be different for each child and that we support each other and learn in an environment where everyone’s contributions are valued.
We deem our Early Years to be very reflective and adaptable and offer a curriculum which balances structure and exploration through play. We highly value the impact of a play-based curriculum and savour the ‘wow’ moments that occur with children’s natural levels of intrigue and curiosity. Where possible we promote the use of real life resources to allow children the opportunity to engage with things that they will encounter in the world around them.
We supplement our school-based curriculum with many trips and visits throughout the school year. We love the opportunity to explore our locality and immerse ourselves in the community alongside visits further afield e.g. the farm. Alongside this, we love to get the outside world into school and where possible supplement the curriculum with visits for example from people who help us, animal encounters or people helping us to learn about festivals and celebrations.
We love to share our curriculum with parents and carers and regularly update the children’s online learning journeys. It is also lovely to see the contributions from parents to get an insight into the children’s opportunities and experiences outside of the school environment. We actively encourage regular communication with parents to support the children’s continued progress across the seven areas.
We use home visits as a tool to build relationships with the families in our Nursery and Reception settings. We truly value this as an opportunity to support parents in their transition and also as a great opportunity to get to know families and their needs, aspirations and interests. From this, we can build a curriculum that reflects each individual child ensure this best supports their progress. We love to celebrate and reward children for their achievements – be that success in activities in school or outside of school such as gymnastics or swimming. A weekly assembly is held to celebrate children who have gone above and beyond our high expectations and have truly shone. House points are also awarded for children who have stood out to a member of staff around the school.
In Early Years, we recognise that the learning we offer in the early stages of these young children's lives will stay with them forever and aim to give them the best possible experiences to enable them to build successfully into the next stage of their learning.
We supplement our school-based curriculum with many trips and visits throughout the school year. We love the opportunity to explore our locality and immerse ourselves in the community alongside visits further afield e.g. the farm. Alongside this, we love to get the outside world into school and where possible supplement the curriculum with visits for example from people who help us, animal encounters or people helping us to learn about festivals and celebrations.
We love to share our curriculum with parents and carers and regularly update the children’s online learning journeys. It is also lovely to see the contributions from parents to get an insight into the children’s opportunities and experiences outside of the school environment. We actively encourage regular communication with parents to support the children’s continued progress across the seven areas.
We use home visits as a tool to build relationships with the families in our Nursery and Reception settings. We truly value this as an opportunity to support parents in their transition and also as a great opportunity to get to know families and their needs, aspirations and interests. From this, we can build a curriculum that reflects each individual child ensure this best supports their progress. We love to celebrate and reward children for their achievements – be that success in activities in school or outside of school such as gymnastics or swimming. A weekly assembly is held to celebrate children who have gone above and beyond our high expectations and have truly shone. House points are also awarded for children who have stood out to a member of staff around the school.
In Early Years, we recognise that the learning we offer in the early stages of these young children's lives will stay with them forever and aim to give them the best possible experiences to enable them to build successfully into the next stage of their learning.