Early Years Foundation Stage 

Curriculum

The Early Years Curriculum consists of seven key areas of learning: 

Communication and Language

This underpins all areas of learning and development in Early Years. Children develop their listening, attention and understanding skills in a variety of situations, such as one-to-one interactions, small group work and whole class teaching. Children also learn the importance of Whole Body Listening. Speaking skills are developed through activities such as role play, small world play, sharing stories and poems – and two-way conversations!

 Personal, Social and Emotional Development

This area supports children to learn to understand and talk about feelings, get on with others and make friends, learn about 'right' and 'wrong', develop independence and, ultimately, to feel good about themselves. We teach children strategies for collaboration and resolving problems, and to consider situations from each other’s point of view. Our classrooms and outdoor areas offer many opportunities to enhance these skills.

We also support children to develop independence in managing their personal hygiene and understanding the importance of healthy choices, including the importance of a healthy diet, hydration and being active. 

Literacy

At Trafalgar we aim to develop a love of reading from the first day at school. We consider book time to be an essential part of a child’s learning and ensure we select high quality texts and enriching stories that provide opportunities for discussions about vocabulary and information with the children. Story time is a protected part of the school day. Daily Phonics teaching gives children the building blocks they need to become confident readers and writers. Children read three times a week with an adult in school and are encouraged to apply their new reading skills purposefully in their play. Writing is made as practical as possible, with opportunities to apply their writing skills in their play and for real-life purposes, such as writing labels and messages and using our outdoor writing area.

Maths

Through lessons and practical activities children develop a deep understanding of numbers to ten. They develop subitising and counting skills and explore the composition of numbers. We place great emphasis in using mathematical language to explain our work. Children are able to explore numerical patterns, comparing quantities to identify more or less than, doubles, odd and even numbers through both indoor and outdoor continuous provision activities. Daily whole class maths input provides an opportunity to develop mathematical knowledge and skills which children then apply in their play.  

Understanding the World

This area is about children making sense of their physical world and their community. We support children to draw information from personal experiences, photos, the internet, celebrations and special visitors to increase their understanding of different people, culture and communities and to talk about past and present events. Throughout the year we celebrate a wide range of religious festivals such as Christmas, Easter, Hannukah, Eid and Diwali. Our outside Learning Area and a Wildlife Area provide the perfect environment for child-initiated investigation and to develop an understanding of the natural word as well as an opportunity to help to care for our ducks, guinea pigs and rabbit. We also use a range of technology in school, including Interactive Whiteboards, tablets and desktops, cameras and programmable toys such as BeeBots which children are encouraged to use purposefully and safely.  

Expressive Arts & Design

Creativity is an important part of children’s early learning experience. We provide our children with opportunities to explore and create with different materials. We teach drawing, painting and printing skills and ensure children have access to different resources to make models, including blocks, construction kits, and ‘junk’ resources. In our Outdoor Learning Area, children enjoy making music, dancing, story-telling and dressing up whilst performing on our purpose built stage. As well as lots of singing throughout the week, all our children have a weekly Music lesson with our specialist music teacher. Children at Trafalgar are encouraged to develop their own ideas and think of ways to improve and enhance their work.

Physical

Physical Development is a crucial part of children’s learning in the Foundation Stage. Children need to develop gross and small fine skills in order to move confidently and manage small tools including pencils for writing. As well as PE lessons, we offer a wide range of activities in continuous provision to develop different physical skills, including a variety of bikes, small and large scale construction, craft activities and woodwork