Early Years Foundation Stage
Starting school 2024?
Is your child starting school in September 2024? Are you considering our brilliant school for your child to start their school journey?
Don’t worry if you missed one of our tours, you can still contact our office team who will be happy to book you in for a visit. Just pop them an email on office@buckinghampark.co.uk.
In the meantime, you can get a feel of what our lovely Reception classrooms have to offer by watching our virtual tour below.
We look forward to welcoming you in soon.
A secure start
Starting school is a special and exciting time for children and families. The early years staff have the unique and important role of making their pupils' first experience of school a happy one. They organise a range of events and activities to ease this transition from preschool to reception, from nursery visits to stay and play sessions. From the very beginning they aim to build positive partnerships with all of our families, working together in the best interest of the children.
Creative Curriculum
The early years staff deliver a fun and creative curriculum, accessed through well-planned and purposeful play. It is widely accepted that this is the best way for young children to learn. To engage and motivate the children many learning experiences are based on their own interests. Most of the activities happen in small groups but there are also several daily whole class sessions. These focus on aspects of literacy, numeracy and phonics. We also include opportunities for other important foundation topics such as geography, history, science and RE. There is, of course, plenty of story telling and singing.
Enabling environments
The indoor learning spaces are divided into 'workshops', where resources are organised into specific areas of learning. Children are able to enhance the 'workshops' with a range of natural and man-made resources which encourages independence and problem solving. The outdoor area has a sensory garden, a large space for games and wheeled vehicles, an adventure trail climbing frame and an extensive field for active play and a small woodland for exploration. The indoor and outdoor classrooms are valued equally for the very different types of learning experience they offer.
Communication and Language
Listening and Attention & Speaking
We want children to be able to listen attentively and respond to what they hear, by making comments and engaging in conversations with children and adults.
We want children to be confident enough to speak in small groups and in class, offer explanations and express their ideas and feelings about their experiences.
Physical Development
Gross Motor Skills
Children will negotiate space and obstacles safely and demonstrate increasing strength, balance and coordination. They will enjoy moving energetically and be able to run, jump, dance, hop, skip and climb.
Fine Motor Skills
Children will develop an effective tripod pencil grip, be able to use a range of small tools such as scissors and show increasing accuracy when using writing and drawing implements and tools.
Maths
Number & Numerical Patterns
Children will have a deep understanding of number to 10, including:
• composition
• subitising up to 5
• number bonds up to 5 and some to 10
• doubling facts
Children will:
• be confident in verbally counting beyond 20.
• recognise the pattern of the counting system.
• compare quantities up to 10 in different contexts.
• recognise when one quantity is greater than, less than or the same as the other.
• explore and represent patterns within numbers up to 10, including evens and odds, double facts
• learn how quantities can be distributed equally.
Literacy
Comprehension & Word Reading
Children will demonstrate understanding of what has been read to them by retelling stories and narratives using their own words and recently introduced vocabulary.
They will be confident to anticipate key events in stories and use key early reading skills to comprehend content. These skills are specifically targeted through literacy lessons and discrete VIPERS sessions.
We aim for children to acquire, use and understand new and recently introduced vocabulary during discussions about stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems and during role-play
Children gain many fundamental phonics skills by the end of EYFS.
• say a sound for each letter in the alphabet and at least 10 digraphs.
• read words consistent with their phonic knowledge by sound-blending.
• read aloud simple sentences and books that are consistent with their phonic knowledge, including some common exception words.
Children learn phonics through...
• Ruth Miskin’s Read, Write Inc scheme
• Systematic, synthetic phonics from day 1
• Children taught to say sounds speedily and read them in words with confidence and understanding
• Engaging books to read at home, pitched exactly at pupils reading challenge points
Children will see themselves as capable writers and have a growing command of the many varied skills they need to write.
They will learn to :
• write recognisable letters, most of which are correctly formed.
• spell words by identifying sounds in them and representing the sounds with a letter or letters.
• write simple phrases and sentences that can be read by others.
Understanding the World
Past & Present
We want our children to…
• talk about the lives of the people around them and their roles in society.
• know some similarities and differences between things in the past and now, drawing on their experiences and what has been read in class.
• understand the past through settings, characters and events encountered in books read in class and storytelling.
We teach termly sequences of history lessons and encourage pupils to see themselves as ‘historians’.
People, Culture & Communities
Children will:
• describe their immediate environment using knowledge from observation, discussion, stories, non-fiction texts and maps.
• know some similarities and differences between different religious and cultural communities in this country, drawing on their experiences and what has been read in class.
• explain some similarities and differences between life in this country and life in other countries, drawing on knowledge from stories, non-fiction texts and – when appropriate – maps.
The Natural World
Children will:
• explore the natural world around them, making observations and drawing pictures of animals and plants.
• know some similarities and differences between the natural world around them and contrasting environments, drawing on their experiences and what has been read in class.
• understand some important processes and changes in the natural world around them, including the seasons and changing states of matter.
Expressive Arts and Design
Creating with Materials
Our children can…
• safely use and explore a variety of materials, tools and technique
• explore experimenting with colour, design, texture, form and function
• share their creations, explaining the process they have used
• make use of props and materials when role- playing characters in narratives and stories
Being Imaginative and Expressive
Our children will:
• invent, adapt and recount narratives and stories with peers and their teacher.
• sing a range of well-known nursery rhymes and songs
• perform songs, rhymes, poems and stories with others, and – when appropriate – try to move in time with music.
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
Self-Regulation, Managing Self & Building Relationships
Self-Regulation - children will to be able to self-regulate by showing an understanding of their feelings and those of others. They will become increasingly able to set goals and wait for what they want and give focused attention to what the teacher says and respond appropriately.
Building Relationships – children will be able to work and play cooperatively, form positive attachments to adults and peers and show increasing sensitivity to their own and the needs of others.
Managing Self – children will be confident to try new things and show increasing independence and resilience. They will understand the reasons for rules and have a good understanding of right and wrong.
We learn PSED through...
