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Corby Glen Community Primary School

EYFS - Goldcrest Class

In EYFS at Corby Glen Community Primary School, our curriculum is carefully designed to build on children’s prior knowledge and experiences, both from previous learning environments and from home. We work closely with parents, carers, and other providers to ensure every child gets the best possible start at Corby Glen Community Primary School, supporting each individual in realising their full potential, regardless of their starting point. We believe that oracy not only enhances academic success but is also a vital life skill that helps children succeed in life and future careers. Developing oracy enhances children’s thinking and understanding, which builds self-confidence, resilience, and empathy, all contributing to their overall well-being.

 

Our nurturing environments, along with thoughtful and skilled interactions from adults, guide children as they start to connect their learning with play and exploration from the outset. We are committed to providing engaging learning experiences, believing that active engagement leads to high levels of achievement. Our curriculum fosters meaningful cross-curricular connections and experiences, while also celebrating each child's individuality through extended play opportunities and deep thinking. We follow children's interests and ideas, helping them develop a lifelong love of learning, both in school and beyond.

 

Implementation

In the Foundation Stage (Reception year), children follow the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum. This curriculum includes seven areas of learning and development, all of which are important and interconnected. Three key areas are especially crucial for sparking children’s curiosity, encouraging a love of learning, and helping them to form relationships and thrive. 

 

These three prime areas are:

  • Communication and language
  • Physical development
  • Personal, social, and emotional development

 

Children also engage in four specific areas, where the prime areas are applied and strengthened:

  • Literacy
  • Mathematics
  • Understanding the world
  • Expressive arts and design

 

In planning and guiding children’s activities, staff carefully consider how children learn and adapt their practice accordingly. Three key characteristics of effective teaching and learning are:

 

  • Playing and exploring – children investigate, experience, and try new things
  • Active learning – children remain focused, persist through challenges, and enjoy their successes
  • Creating and thinking critically – children develop their own ideas, make connections, and create strategies to solve problems

 

Each area of learning and development is taught through purposeful play, blending adult-led and child-initiated activities. Play is central to children’s development, helping them gain confidence, solve problems, and build social skills. Children learn both through leading their own play and by participating in play activities guided by adults. Activities are thoughtfully planned, often based on children’s current interests, to enhance their learning experience. We have worked hard to ensure that the EYFS curriculum at Corby Glen not only builds knowledge and skills logically and sequentially over time, from each child’s individual starting point, but also that the EYFS progression of learning smoothly transitions into our National Curriculum subject progressions. The seeds of our National Curriculum subject progressions are very much planted in the EYFS classroom.

 

Each half term, the EYFS team at Corby Glen Community Primary School introduces a new theme to spark learning, while allowing children the freedom to explore their own interests and ideas. Children engage in a mix of child-led and adult-guided activities. The timetable is carefully designed to ensure that children receive structured teaching throughout the day, with adjustments made as needed to address the changing needs of the children. After these sessions, small, focused group work takes place, allowing the teacher to check understanding, address misconceptions promptly, and offer real-time verbal feedback, all of which significantly support the development of new learning. Children are given ample time to explore and engage in a variety of carefully planned experiences that challenge and engage them. Both indoor and outdoor learning environments are equally valued, with the curriculum designed to incorporate learning in both settings.

 

Reading

English and reading are at the core of our curriculum, and we strive to foster a love of reading from the very beginning. Every class teaches a series of core texts each half term, along with high-quality books during story time. These texts are selected not only to nurture a passion for reading but also to enhance oracy, vocabulary, and comprehension skills. Books are integrated into the curriculum through activities, story sessions, and are available for children to explore independently. As a result, children begin to absorb new vocabulary and language structures and start to retell stories with growing confidence.

 

Phonics

At Corby Glen, children learn phonics by following the ‘Read Write Inc Phonics’ learning approach. Read Write Inc. is a popular phonics scheme. Like all phonics schemes, it teaches children the sounds in English, the letters that represent them, and how to form the letters when writing. Read Write Inc. Phonics includes reading books written using only the letters they have learnt at each level (and a small number of separately taught tricky words). The children will quickly feel confident and successful. A helpful and detailed parent guide to Read Write Inc can be found here: https://home.oxfordowl.co.uk/reading/reading-schemes-oxford-levels/read-write-inc-phonics-guide/

 

Mathematics

We use the ‘White Rose’ mathematics planning and resourcing as the basis of our maths learning in Goldcrest class. We foster a positive attitude toward mathematics from an early age by providing resources that allow children to learn in enjoyable, interactive, and practical ways. White Rose Maths offers high-quality materials that align with the DfE EYFS statutory framework, including the early learning goals. Early mathematical knowledge is a crucial foundation for every child’s education, as what they learn in these formative years strongly influences their future success. Our engaging early years maths resources support children in exploring mathematics in relevant and meaningful ways, while also promoting the development of key skills outlined in the early years framework. For a more detailed look at this approach, see the following webpage: https://whiteroseeducation.com/resources/maths/early-years

 

Wider Curriculum

At Corby Glen Community Primary School, our broader curriculum is delivered through the learning areas of ‘Understanding the World’ and ‘Expressive Arts and Design’, among others. We plan engaging, meaningful, and context-rich activities that build on children’s natural curiosity. To further develop our focus on oracy, children are encouraged to use subject-specific language and terminology in foundation subjects, with adults modelling this vocabulary both verbally and visually.

 

Our inclusive approach ensures that all children learn together, while also providing targeted interventions and support for those who may need extra help or those who require additional challenge to reach their full potential. This includes sessions aimed at developing speech and language, social skills, fine motor skills, phonics, and mathematics.

 

By the end of the Reception year, our goal is to ensure that all children make at least good progress from their starting points and are fully prepared with the skills and knowledge needed for a smooth transition into Year 1.

 

Assessment

Assessment plays a crucial role in helping staff and parents track children’s progress, understand their needs, and plan appropriate activities and support. Ongoing assessment is an essential part of the learning and development process, involving staff observing children to gauge their achievements, interests, and learning styles. These observations help shape tailored learning experiences for each child. At Corby Glen Community Primary School, in EYFS, we use Class Dojo, an online learning journal, to document these observations, which are then shared with parents. Parents are encouraged to comment on the observations and add their own from home.

 

All children undergo the Department for Education Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA) within the first six weeks of starting school. The data from this assessment will be used to measure progress by the end of Year 6 (Key Stage 2). At the end of the year, children are assessed against the Early Learning Goals and are classified as either 'Emerging' or 'Expected.' This assessment is reported to parents in the annual end-of-year report. A child who has achieved 'Expected' in all Prime Areas, as well as in Literacy and Mathematics, is considered to have reached a ‘Good Level of Development.’

 

Please see the two documents below for more information and specific details about our EYFS curriculum.

 

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