EYFS at Barnby Road
At Barnby Road we want our youngest children in school to have a learning environment that ignites their natural curiosity, awe and wonder about the world they live in. We want our children to develop a love of learning that will stay will them throughout their journey at Barnby Road, and beyond. Our aim is to give the children first hand experiences that will enable them to become resilient, enthusiastic and independent learners. We also want our children to develop a love of outdoor learning and to recognise how we care and look after local and global environments, making a difference now and for future generations.
We build upon our children’s prior learning and experiences from home and nursery settings, ensuring home/setting visits take place prior to children starting with us. Nursery and Reception teams work closely together, to ensure continuity and consistency for all our children within the EYFS. Throughout their time in EYFS, our children will develop a sense of belonging within the wider school community and recognise the values the children, families and staff embrace at Barnby Road.
The EYFS curriculum at Barnby Road has been carefully developed by the staff to ensure it meets the needs of the children in our community. Our curriculum is based upon Development Matters but has been made bespoke for our children to give them a range of experiences and prioritise skills which they may not develop in their home setting. Building our children’s cultural capital is paramount, and trips to the local area, learning to ride a bike, recognising and growing vegetables and visiting the seaside are incorporated into our curriculum to ensure all children in our school have a wide-range of experiences and opportunities, which prepare them for future success.
Our curriculum is designed to encourage our children to explore, investigate and discover in their learning and play. We utilise the ‘Curiosity Approach’ within our environment to foster children’s natural inquisitiveness, using authentic resources and loose parts to promote open-ended problem solving and the curiosity to explore and investigate. At Barnby Road we prioritise ensuring staff are interacting and playing with the children in our environment, developing children’s vocabulary and teaching children in the moment, within their play.
Fostering a love of stories and focussing on speaking and listening, reading and writing, and early maths are prioritised at Barnby Road, in order to equip our children with the vocabulary, skills and knowledge they need to be effective communicators in day-to-day life. Early Years Talk Boost and WellComm are utilised to support and develop early language. Read, Write, Inc. is utilised to support early literacy and a Karen Wilding approach is adopted to support early maths.
Parent partnership is promoted throughout EYFS with Tapestry, an online platform, ‘Family Thursday’ stay and play sessions, weekly ‘Reading Club’ mornings and special sharing events such as our Nursery Graduation. Boromi, a play library, is also utilised on a weekly basis to involve parents in their child’s learning and support disadvantaged families with play activities.
We are passionate about giving our children the best start as they embark upon their school journey and our goal is for every child to reach their full potential, fulfilling their future lives and dreams. From their different starting points, our aim is to ensure that all our youngest children will make good progress academically, emotionally, creatively, socially and physically, ready to thrive in Key Stage 1.