EYFS
At Danesfield, we believe that young children learn best when they are happy, secure, curious and deeply engaged in their learning. Our Early Years provision, encompassing Preschool and Reception, provides a rich, open-ended and enabling environment in which play is a powerful vehicle for learning.
Children are given time and space to explore, investigate, create, communicate and follow their interests. Alongside this, our skilled adults know when to observe, when to join a child's play and when to introduce new language, knowledge, ideas or challenge. We aim to build upon children's natural curiosity while ensuring that every child encounters the knowledge, skills and experiences they need to make progress.
Our Early Years Curriculum
Our curriculum is designed as a developmental journey from Preschool through Reception. Rather than viewing the Early Learning Goals as the curriculum itself, we consider the knowledge, skills, vocabulary and experiences that will help children develop towards them.
We recognise that children's development is not always linear and that children arrive at Danesfield with different experiences, strengths and starting points. Our progression therefore describes how learning may typically develop while allowing practitioners to respond to the needs of the individual child.
Across Preschool and Reception, children develop through the seven areas of learning:
Prime Areas
- Communication and Language
- Personal, Social and Emotional Development
- Physical Development
Specific Areas
- Literacy
- Mathematics
- Understanding the World
- Expressive Arts and Design
The prime areas provide particularly important foundations for children's learning. Throughout our provision there is a strong emphasis on communication and language, oracy, relationships, self-regulation, independence and physical development, enabling children to become confident and capable learners.
A Curriculum Built Around Experiences
Our curriculum identifies important knowledge, vocabulary, experiences and opportunities that we want children to encounter across the year while retaining the flexibility to respond to children's interests, questions and experiences.
Children encounter the changing seasons and natural world, their families and communities, different cultures and celebrations, growth and life cycles, journeys and places, and many other aspects of the world around them. Carefully chosen stories, first-hand experiences, visitors, trips and our indoor and outdoor provision enrich these experiences and provide meaningful contexts for learning.
Preschool and Reception children may explore the same broad ideas at different levels of complexity. Experiences are revisited and developed so that children's knowledge and understanding can grow over time.
Learning Through Play and Skilled Interaction
Much of children's most powerful learning happens through purposeful play. Our continuous provision gives children opportunities to revisit and apply what they know, make choices, solve problems, collaborate, take appropriate risks and develop their own ideas.
Adults play a crucial role within this. Through careful observation and sensitive interaction, practitioners identify opportunities to support, extend and challenge children's thinking without unnecessarily interrupting their play. Adults model language, introduce vocabulary, ask thoughtful questions, demonstrate skills and help children make connections in their learning.
Alongside child-initiated learning, children also experience carefully planned adult-led teaching where this is the most effective way to introduce and develop particular knowledge and skills. This includes areas such as phonics, early reading, mathematics, communication and language, physical development and early writing.
Communication and Language
Communication and language sit at the heart of our curriculum. Children are surrounded by high-quality talk, stories, songs, rhymes and opportunities for conversation.
From their earliest experiences in Preschool, children are supported to listen, communicate their needs and ideas and develop an increasingly rich vocabulary. As they progress, they learn to explain their thinking, ask and answer questions, listen and respond to others, negotiate, collaborate and speak confidently.
We recognise that children communicate in different ways and use strategies including Makaton and visual communication to support children's understanding and participation where appropriate.
Building Knowledge Over Time
Our curriculum carefully considers what children's learning can look like as they develop.
Children's early exploration of numbers develops into increasingly secure number sense and mathematical reasoning. Mark-making develops towards purposeful writing. Exploring the natural world develops into observing, predicting and explaining change. Playing alongside others develops towards collaboration, empathy and positive relationships.
This progression allows our practitioners to understand where children have come from, what they are learning now and what they are moving towards, while recognising that every child's journey will be different.
Characteristics of Effective Teaching and Learning at Danesfield
Throughout everything we do, we promote the three Characteristics of Effective Teaching and Learning:
- Playing and Exploring - children investigate, experience things and are willing to have a go.
- Active Learning - children concentrate, persevere and experience the satisfaction of achieving what they set out to do.
- Creating and Thinking Critically - children develop their own ideas, make links and develop strategies for doing things.
These characteristics help children develop the curiosity, resilience, independence and confidence that underpin successful learning throughout school and beyond.
Assessment
Assessment in Early Years is purposeful, proportionate and rooted in practitioners' knowledge of the child. Staff build an understanding of children's development through everyday interactions, conversations, play, observations and children's work.
This knowledge helps practitioners identify what children understand, where they may need additional support and what experiences or interactions could help them move forward.
At the end of Reception, children are assessed against the statutory Early Learning Goals. These provide an end-point assessment of children's development; they do not define the entirety of our curriculum.
Our Aim
By the end of their Early Years journey at Danesfield, we want children to be happy, confident, curious and independent learners who communicate effectively, build positive relationships, persevere when things are difficult and approach new experiences with enthusiasm.
Most importantly, we want children to leave Early Years with a love of learning and a belief that their ideas, questions and discoveries matter - ready for the next stage of their education while still retaining the curiosity and creativity of young children.
