EYFS
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
Communication and Language
Physical Development
Understanding the World
Expressive Art and Design
Our Approach
At St Philomena’s, we believe that the Reception year provides the foundations for a lifelong love of learning. Our EYFS curriculum is designed not only to develop children's knowledge and skills, but to nurture confident, curious and independent learners who enjoy exploring, discovering and making sense of the world around them.
We believe that every child deserves an ambitious and enriching start to their education. Through carefully planned teaching, meaningful interactions and a stimulating learning environment, children develop the confidence, knowledge and skills to communicate, investigate, create, build relationships and approach new challenges.
Our Curriculum
Our EYFS curriculum is underpinned by the statutory Early Years Foundation Stage framework and the characteristics of effective learning. It is informed by the educational programmes, which establish the knowledge, skills and experiences that children need to develop throughout Reception.
The three prime areas, Communication and Language, Personal, Social and Emotional Development and Physical Development, underpin all learning. They are integral to children's ability to communicate, develop relationships, become independent and access the wider curriculum.
Our curriculum is carefully designed to identify what we want children to know, understand and be able to do. Learning is thoughtfully sequenced, with clear goals identified and knowledge and skills introduced, revisited and developed over time. The Early Learning Goals provide the statutory end of Reception assessment points, while our curriculum extends across the breadth of the educational programmes. Our curriculum is informed by the wider subject disciplines taught throughout St Philomena’s, ensuring strong foundations for future learning while remaining appropriate to the age and development of Reception children.
High quality teaching and interactions are central to our approach. Adults explicitly teach important knowledge, introduce vocabulary, model skills, ask purposeful questions and encourage children to explain their thinking. The characteristics of effective learning are promoted throughout, enabling children to play and explore, remain motivated and develop their own ideas.
Beyond the Adult Directed Lesson
Adult directed teaching is complemented by child initiated learning and carefully planned continuous provision, providing opportunities for children to practise, revisit and apply what they have learnt.
Our indoor and outdoor environments are thoughtfully organised and enhanced to encourage exploration, independence, collaboration and deeper learning. Adults use observation, discussion and purposeful interactions to extend children's thinking, introduce new learning and respond to emerging interests and needs.
Children's learning is further enriched through educational visits, visitors, specialist workshops and outdoor education. Practical experiences, including cooking, creative activities and simple investigations, encourage children to explore, experiment, solve problems and develop new skills.
Through these experiences, children develop confidence, resilience, independence, perseverance, communication and positive relationships, establishing important foundations for lifelong learning.
What We Want Children to Achieve
By the end of Reception, we want children to have developed secure foundations across all seven areas of learning, with the knowledge, understanding and skills needed for the next stage of their education.
We want children to communicate confidently, develop positive relationships, manage increasing independence and approach new learning with curiosity and enthusiasm.
We want children to remember what they have learnt, make connections between experiences and apply their knowledge and skills in different contexts.
We want every child to have experienced a broad, ambitious and enriching curriculum through high quality teaching, meaningful interactions, continuous provision and first hand experiences.
Above all, we want to nurture confident, curious, independent and enthusiastic learners, equipped with the knowledge, skills and positive attitudes to make a successful transition into Year 1 and be successful throughout their education.
Our EYFS curriculum information and supporting documents provide further information about content and progression.
