“Excellence in education is when we do everything that we can to make sure they can become everything they can”

Carol Ann Tomlinson

Intent

At Lordswood School we are passionate about ensuring all children achieve the very best of their potential. We place great value on the development of children as individuals and provide them with the skills, knowledge, understanding and passion to prepare them for life beyond school. Our aim in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is to build strong foundations rooted in academic success alongside our ‘values-based’ approach to education. As a result, our children will be successful and go forward to become active, confident, happy and curious life-long learners.

Our curriculum embeds the necessary skills for learning through the Griffin Great Characteristics: Proud Lions, Curious Dolphins, Independent Eagles, Courageous Gorillas and Persevering Spiders and the ‘Lordswood habits of mind’. We regularly share and celebrate children’s achievements through weekly certificates (for Respect and Perseverance), the Gold Book BBQ in July, WOW work on Facebook and X, Google Classroom (where children can share their achievements) and weekly assemblies, as well as our School Wide Positive Behaviour Strategy (SWPBS), which focuses on and promotes positive behaviour seen across the school.

We support children, through a bespoke curriculum, which means every child, regardless of need, can have the opportunity to make progress and flourish. This enables the children to learn how to listen, speak and think in a critical way, which will support them in making links across the curriculum as they progress through their academic career. We hold Personal, Social and Emotional development in high regard to ensure our children are responsible and caring individuals. Our holistic environment meets the needs of our children and is adjusted accordingly to support their interests and needs, with a large indoor and outdoor provision that covers all of the areas of the curriculum and allows the children to take the lead in their own learning whilst being supported by adults who challenge and extend their learning further.
Our investment in the children’s extra-curricular experiences mean that children continually receive high quality teaching and learning experiences. Some of these include: Forest School, Visitors, School Trips, Living Eggs Project, Griffin Arts Festival, Griffin Sports Festival, Founders’ Day, Science Week, Healthy Living Week, regular Curriculum-themed days, World Book Day, Charity events, Easter Bonnet Parade, World Religion Day, Gold Book BBQ, Nativity, Graduation and Sports’ Day.

Our staff regularly receive additional training towards their Continuous Professional Development to ensure they meet the highest expectations and are up to date with current guidelines and changes in the curriculum and we also provide parents with the skills to develop and support their children through our Lordswood YouTube channel videos, top tips afternoons, open afternoons, National online safety learning opportunities and our open door policy.

Implementation

Children learn through a balance of child-initiated and adult-directed activities. Our Early Years timetable is carefully structured so that children have a balance of phonics, maths, small group literacy time, RE, PE activities, reading and discovery time (child led learning). Termly Internet Safety sessions are included within the curriculum and the children are encouraged to discuss their learning with families. Weekly sessions of PSED (personal, social and emotional development) are delivered through our Jigsaw programme and a short course of mindfulness is delivered to children to ensure they are calm and able to self-regulate in addition to the use of our Zones of Regulation. Sign Along is embedded in our curriculum and children will learn the basics of this to support them to communicate their needs effectively, alongside their developing vocabulary.

During small group time, the teacher will work with a few children at a time to meet their individual needs and targets. This will be achieved through supportive and challenging activities which complement our “thinking schools” approach. These new skills will then be embedded into the provision and opportunities will be presented to the children to make secure links and practise these skills during their own learning time. Children’s work will be marked alongside them (using in the moment feedback) and misconceptions will be addressed instantly to ensure they have the opportunities to make a strong impact on the acquisition of new learning.

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 of the world and expressive arts and design), as well as promoting sustained thinking and active learning, in line with the Characteristics of Effective Learning.

Early reading is held at the heart of our curriculum. In Nursery, children follow the Letters and Sounds programme and become experts at environmental sounds, initial sounds and recognising oral blending. As children move into Reception they follow the rigorous and highly successful Read Write Inc Programme, which promotes excellent outcomes through the structured and consistent teaching of phonics, which children can then continue to develop as they progress through Key Stage One. Children are assessed regularly and are grouped accordingly to ensure that they are accessing suitable content for their ability. We use high quality texts which are supported by the ‘Power of Reading’ planning to ensure children get a deep understanding of inference of the text. This is further supported by our use of Floor Books, which is taught daily and follows an adapted VIPERS approach to the curriculum focusing on Vocabulary, Inference, Role Play, Sequencing and Describing characters/ setting.

Maths is delivered with an emphasis on studying of the key skills of number, calculation and shape in a sequential way, so that the pupils develop a deep understanding and a strong acquisition of mathematical language. Pupils will learn through songs, games and tasks and given the time to rehearse the newly acquired skills and apply their own learning during discovery time, as well as developing their reasoning and problem-solving skills. These early mathematical experiences are carefully designed to help pupils rehearse and 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 contexts.

Our inclusive approach means that all children learn together; however, we have a range of additional intervention groups/ sessions, to enhance and scaffold for children who may need additional support. We have regular sessions with our Speech and Language Support Assistant in school to assist children with their targets, when needed. This is alongside engagement from experienced outreach practitioners to assist children further if needed. We have staff who are trained to deliver Colourful Semantics and See and Learn programmes where needed. As a school we are quick to identify and address children’s individual needs so they can achieve their dreams and aspirations.
Our rigorous monitoring of teaching and learning ensures teachers oversee all children successfully and gaps are narrowed in the curriculum, further ensuring all children meet their potential. Weekly moderations hold our staff to account and confirm that judgements are made fairly and accurately across our Early Years Foundation Stage.

Impact

Our curriculum meets the requirements for our children to thrive, including our vulnerable children, those who are disadvantaged and those with SEND. Progress is evident through ongoing observational assessments to identify children’s starting points and plan experiences that ensure they succeed. We evaluate how children are learning through talking to them, looking at their work, observing their learning experiences and analysing data and progress by year group, class, groups and individuals. Evidence of children’s learning including observations, work samples, photographs and contributions from home are kept in learning journeys, which children use to reflect on their progress and celebrated with their peers and families.

All children make rapid progress following Reception Baseline Assessment at the start of the year and bespoke individual planning. Our curriculum and its delivery are tailored towards every child. Our EYFS has been achieving consistently above National Expectation for Good Level of Development (GLD) at the end of the year for the last 7 years. Pupils make good progress towards their age-related expectations before transitioning to Year One and their determination and passion for learning helps them continue to make progress as they travel through the school. We believe our high standards are due to enriched play-based exploration alongside the rigour of assessment and the high quality teaching the children experience when in our care. Our transition package ensures children are happy and ready to approach new challenges with confidence and enthusiasm. They “graduate” from Reception and Nursery happy, curious and resilient individuals, which is then built on as they journey though Lordswood School.

Regular discussions and parent sessions impact positively on families being able to support their child’s learning. Through these opportunities and Google classroom, home school links are strong and parents actively engage with the Early Year’s Curriculum. The school YouTube channel is live and this offers a wide range of videos to support learning further and provide parents with necessary information, when needed to ensure all learning is supported, both at school and at home. Lordswood EYFS X supports families to know what children are doing and this supports engaging conversations at home about the learning taking place.