EYFS at Cotgrave Candleby Lane

At Cotgrave Candleby Lane School, our curriculum is built around the following four principles:

LOVE

Long-term Memory, Oracy-rich, Values-based, Experiential

We value the uniqueness of every child.   We place the rights of the child at the centre of what we do and believe that each child should be valued, listened to and supported to express themselves. Therefore, communication and vocabulary are fundamental to every aspect of our curriculum design. Our curriculum is designed to give children the opportunity to explore and question new knowledge through rich first-hand experiences and by nurturing a culture of questioning and discovery. Our 8 school values guide our children to develop the behaviour and attitudes to contribute positively to our school and grow as citizens beyond our school.

Our enquiry-based curriculum has been designed by weaving together our ambitious Key Knowledge Progression statements, and the Educational Program for each of the seven areas of learning as set out by the Statutory Framework for the Early years Foundation Stage. These elements are interconnected and delivered through a carefully planned and balanced blend of teacher-led inputs, and continuous provision and enhancements to the existing provision.

Our Early Years curriculum is designed so that learning is sequential and progressive, enabling children to build on their knowledge and experiences in the Early Years, setting the foundations of their educational journey. The Early Years is the bedrock of our school curriculum and our curriculum across school grows from the Early Years: it is an integral part of our school curriculum.

In F1, we begin to embed our curriculum principles (LOVE) with a particular focus on oracy. Talk Boost sessions support children to master their communication skills and become confident and articulate. Talk Boost interventions continue into F2 for those who need it and help us to ensure children leave EYFS with the skills they need to communicate effectively in a range of scenarios.

Throughout the EYFS classrooms, teachers carefully plan out the environment to ensure that the resources support children to make the very most of our exciting and ambitious curriculum. Our enviornment is vocabulary rich and adults continually model and encourage the children to use this correctly.   For example, in the small world area you will find picture blocks representing areas of Cotgrave that children will be familiar with. Children use this provision and discuss the places they know and have been to previously. This links in well with our geography curriculum and knowledge of their local area.

In F2 children explore the enquiry question ‘How do our lives change?’ and consider all of the ways that their lives and their family members lives have changed over time. As part of this learning children explore artefacts from the past, discuss the lives of the parents and grandparents in comparison to their own and even visit the local care home to speak to the residents about their own experiences.

We develop links with the local community through visits to the local library, care home and even the community garden. This helps children to develop a sense of belonging and care for the local environment.

Throughout school, Italy and Brazil are threads within our curriculum, and this begins in EYFS. Children read books about these countries; learn features of both Italy and Brazil and make and eat traditional food from Italy and Brazil. Our children then love filming travel documentaries about the countries they studied around the world.

In F2, children interact with ‘learning luggage’ to support them in retaining their sticky knowledge in their long-term memories. You will see children quizzing each other on their previous learning and even asking adults to quiz them! By the end of the year, children are able to make connections between their learning from each term and draw upon their previous learning to help them understand new content.

In EYFS, teachers are highly skilled at making the most of all opportunities for learning. Staff consider children’s interests and experiences and will often plan and find ways of linking children’s interests to the planned curriculum. The children learn about the illustrator Axel Sheffler, famous for bringing some of their favourite characters to life such as The Gruffalo and Zog. Their own pieces of artwork in his style look fantastic in both their EYFS art gallery and their exhibition in the local library.

EYFS is alive with a LOVE of learning.