Early years foundation stage
In the Early Years Foundation Stage children learn best when they experience learning first hand, through meaningful interactions with others, through physical activity and through play. Our Early Years practice is based on on-going observation and assessment of the children and their interests. We believe the best outcomes for children’s learning occur from either child-initiated play, actively supported by adults or focused learning, with adults guiding the learning through playful, rich and experiential activities.
Intent, Implementation, Impact
Intent- Why do we teach what we teach?
At Grangetown Primary School we place great value on the development of children as individuals and on providing them with the skills and knowledge needed for them to progress well. Our aim in the EYFS is to enable the children to become confident, motivated and happy learners, developing the skills and attitudes necessary for their own successful future learning.
Our curriculum is based around providing first hand learning experiences, through meaningful interactions with others, through physical activity and through play. We provide the knowledge, skills and understanding they require for success. We always consider the individual needs, interests, and development of each child. We use this information to plan challenging and enjoyable experiences for each child in all areas of their learning and development through the Characteristics of Effective Learning – Play and Exploring, Active Learning and Creative and Critical Thinking.
Many of our pupils arrive well below national expectations for their age and a high proportion come from disadvantaged backgrounds and with complex needs. We have to teach them how to listen, speak and meet the high expectations for behaviour by working together and being kind. We prioritise personal, social and emotional development and communication and language in our two year old provision (Little Butterflies) and in Nursery. Our enabling environment and our nurturing and skilful adult interactions support the children as they begin to link learning to their play and exploration. As the pupils move into Reception we continue to focus on these areas as well as early reading, writing and mathematical skills. This is delivered through a holistic curriculum which maximises opportunities for meaningful cross-curricular links and learning experiences as well as promoting the unique child by offering extended periods of play and sustained thinking following children’s interests and ideas. We value imagination and creativity and seek to create a sense of enjoyment and fascination in learning through our indoor and outdoor provision, alongside trips and visits. We promote a forest school approach, where learning outdoors is weaved into our daily activities and learning.
Implementation- How to we teach what we teach?
Teaching in EYFS can take on many forms and it covers the many different ways that adults within the setting help children to learn. We understand that the interactions between the adults and children are vital during planned and child-initiated play and activities. Practitioners interact with children though modelling language, showing, explaining, demonstrating, exploring, questioning, encouraging and investigating and providing challenges. Pupils learn through a balance of child-initiated and adult-directed activities. In Reception the timetable is carefully structured so that children have rigorous directed teaching in phonics, maths and writing. These sessions are followed by small group work/ 1:1 sessions so that the teacher can systematically check for understanding, identify and respond to misconceptions quickly and provide verbal feedback.
Children are provided with time to engage in ‘exploration’ throughout the variety of experiences carefully planned to engage and challenge them in the provision. The curriculum is planned for the inside and outside classrooms and equal importance is given to learning in both areas. The curriculum is planned in a cross-curricular way to enable all aspects of the children’s development including understanding the world and expressive art and design as well as to promote sustained thinking and active learning.
Reading is at the heart of our curriculum. Children follow the rigorous and systematic phonics programme, Monster Phonics. Every child in Reception has access to a phonics session for 20-30 minutes every day. This is gradually increased to 1 hour a day by the end of Reception (including small group & 1:1 sessions). Daily interventions are carried out to support children who are finding phonics more difficult. A love of reading is at the heart of our curriculum with highly engaging books being part of out topics/themes. We develop a love of reading through high quality and positive shared interactions with adults. Each age range has a specific set of ’12 core books’ which are read daily. We use the handwriting scheme ‘letter join’ and we teach pre cursive and then cursive handwriting as appropriate.
We follow the Maths Mastery approach (White Rose) in Reception with an emphasis on studying key skills of number, calculation and shape so that pupils develop deep understanding and the acquisition of mathematical language. Pupils learn through games and tasks using concrete objects which are then rehearsed and applied to their own learning during exploration. Reception pupils develop these key skills during daily maths meetings where they explore number, calculation, shape and measure. These early mathematical experiences are carefully designed to help pupils remember the content they have been taught and to support them with integrating their new knowledge across the breadth of their experiences and into larger concepts.
Our inclusive approach means that all children learn together but we have a range of additional intervention and support to enhance and scaffold children who may not be reaching their potential or moving on children who are doing very well. This includes, NELI & BLAST, which are language interventions used in Nursery and Reception. We use ‘immediate interventions’ in maths to address gaps in learning. The characteristics of effective learning are viewed as an integral part of all areas of learning and are reflected in our observations of children.
Our regular monitoring of teaching and learning includes coaching and feedback from the phase leader so that teachers develop good subject knowledge and are effectively supported.  We tailor our staff CPD to be early years specific and are focused on moderating outcomes across the phase so that every member of our team feels confident in making accurate judgements about where individual pupils are and their next steps for learning.
The EYFS team collect evidence of children’s learning through work completed in their workbook (Reception), observations, photos and videos which are shared with parents daily using the Tapestry online system. This means that parents can engage with children regularly about their learning and can contribute to the knowledge we have of the child in school. Parents are very active and love to use Tapestry to follow their child’s progress.
Impact- How do we know what pupils have learnt and how well they have learnt it?
Baseline: Prior to children starting, staff spend time speaking to the child’s parents, previous settings and read previous learning journey’s to gain an understanding of the whole child and where they are at. During the first half term in Nursery or Reception, all staff use ongoing assessments, observations and conversations with the child to develop a baseline assessment. This identifies each individual’s starting points in all areas so we can plan experiences to ensure progress. The following baseline assessments are also carried out.
The RBA (Statutory Reception Baseline Assessment): This assessment focuses on ‘Language, Communication and Literacy,’ and ‘Mathematics.’ The purpose of this is to show the progress children make from Reception until the end of KS2.
NELI (Nuffield Early Language Intervention): NELI is an evidence-based oral language intervention for children who show weakness in their oral language skills and who are therefore at risk of experiencing difficulty with reading. The assessment informs us if the child is at expected for their age or requires intervention from trained NELI practitioners.
Ongoing Observation: All ongoing observations are used to inform weekly planning and identify children’s next steps. This formative assessment does not involve prolonged periods of time away from the children and excessive paper work. Practitioners draw on their knowledge of the child and their own expert professional judgements through discussions with other practitioners, photographs and physical examples such as a child’s drawing / making. Some observations are uploaded using Tapestry.
Assessment: Phonic assessments are carried out using the ‘Monster Phonics’ tracking and assessment system. This is carried out every half term to quickly identify pupils that are not making expected progress. Our aim is for children to ‘keep up’ rather than ‘catch up’ where possible. Assessments are completed six times per year and shared with parents during termly parent- teacher consulations. In Summer Term 2, the EYFSP is completed where teacher judge whether the child has met each of the 17 ELG’s. They will be assessed as either ‘emerging’ or ‘expected.’ Impact is also evident through our successful transitions into Year 1. EYFS staff have a good understanding of how ELG’s link to the National Curriculum, and through our robust planning and delivery across the spectrum of subjects – both core and foundation - children leave the EYFS stage with the skills, knowledge and understanding in the prime and specific areas.
EYFS Policy
Our policy document for EYFS is here.
Curriculum Overview
Long Term Planning
Our Long Term Planning in EYFS is informed by the following documents:Statutory Framework EYFS
Birth to 5 Matters Non Statutory Guidance
These documents have been used to help design our long term planning in our two year old provision (Little Butterflies) Nursery and Reception. Each document plans the objectives we want to cover each half term using the non-statutory guidance from Birth to 5 Matters (see above). It also sets out our end of year key knowledge and skills in Nursery & Reception and the minimum expectations for that year group. The topics are used to engage and promote the children's interests and needs.
Medium Term Planning
Each half-term we plan most of our activities around a new topic/theme and link these to the prime and specific areas. Core texts and songs are used to engage the children as well as 'hooks' along the way. These plans are adapted to meet the needs of the children in our setting using observations as a starting point. The medium term plan provides a structure and direction to the weekly short term plans, with ongoing assessments throughout the half term.
Little Butterflies (2 year old provision)
Long Term Planning
This is our Long Term Planning which details what children in Little Butterflies will learn and when. It ensures all important skills and knowledge are covered during the year.
little butterflies long term overview.pdf
Medium Term Planning
Little Butterflies use curriculum maps each half term. You can find each half terms curriculum map below;
Autumn 1- Me, Myself and I
Autumn 2- Destination Celebration
Spring 1-Once upon a time
Spring 2- Animal Madness!
Summer 1- Down at the bottom of the garden
Summer 2- In summer
Curriculum Map
Here is our Little Butterfly Curriculum Map for 2025-2026
little butterflies curriculum map final.pdf
Nursery
Long Term Planning
This is our Long Term Planning which details what children in Nursery will learn and when. It ensures all important skills and knowledge are covered during the year.
nursery long term overview.pdf
Medium Term Planning
Nursery use curriculum maps each half term. You can find each half terms curriculum map below;
Autumn 1- Me, Myself and I
Autumn 2- Destination Celebration
Spring 1- Superheroes
Spring 2- Animal Madness!
Summer 1- Down at the bottom of the garden
Summer 2- Under the Sea
Curriculum Map
Here is our Nursery Curriculum Map for 2025-2026
nursery curriculum map final.pdf
Reception
Long Term Planning
This is our Long Term Planning which details what children in Reception will learn and when. It ensures all important skills and knowledge are covered during the year.
reception long term curriculum overview.pdf
Medium Term Planning
These are the current Medium Term Planning documents for Reception for 2025-2026
English- Writing
English-Reading
PSHE- Jigsaw
Phonics- We use the Monster Phonics Programme in Nursery and Reception. Here is the termly overview for Reception
Curriculum Map
Here is our Reception Curriculum Map for 2025-2026
Progression Documents
We want to make sure the skills that children are learning are progressive from our 2 year old provision up to when the children leave Reception.
Below are some of our progression documents;
Writing Progression
Our writing progression shows the key skills the children are taught from Little Butterflies to the end of Reception
eyfs writing skills progression final .pdf
Reading Progression
Our reading progression shows the key skills the children are taught from Little Butterflies to the end of Reception
(We are still working on our Reading Progression document- March 26)
Maths Vocabulary Progression
This is our mathematical vocabulary progression document from Little Butterflies to Reception. This also includes vocabulary taught through Mastering Number for Reception.
eyfs mathematical vocabulary progression.pdf
Core Songs
A list of the core songs from Little Butterflies to Reception can be found below
We find that practicing the same songs across a half term enables the children to remember the words and by the end of the year, the children will have a bank of songs they know well.
Early Years in Action!
