Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) Curriculum Overview 

Intent

At Moreland Primary School, our Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum is designed to:

• Provide a nurturing, inclusive and language-rich environment that enables all children to thrive and make a strong start to their learning journey.

• Deliver a broad and balanced curriculum aligned to the Statutory EYFS Framework, promoting development across the seven areas of learning:

  • Prime Areas: Communication and Language, Personal, Social and Emotional Development, Physical Development

  • Specific Areas: Literacy, Mathematics, Understanding the World, Expressive Arts and Design

• Lay strong foundations in phonics (using Little Wandle), early reading, writing (including handwriting via Write Rules), and mathematical understanding (using NCETM Mastering Number and White Rose).

• Develop the Characteristics of Effective Learning, fostering children who are:

  • Curious, independent and motivated to explore and learn

  • Able to concentrate, persevere and bounce back from challenges

  • Engaged in thinking critically, making decisions, and solving problems

• Promote curiosity, creativity, and independence through play-based, exploratory learning in both indoor and outdoor settings.

• Support each child’s emotional wellbeing using the RULER approach to emotional literacy, helping them to understand and regulate their feelings.

• Embed early concepts of global citizenship, and British Values and build cultural capital through carefully planned experiences and themes.

Implementation

• The EYFS curriculum is taught through a balance of adult-led, child-initiated, and continuous provision, enabling children to learn through direct teaching, purposeful play and meaningful experiences.

• High-quality texts and rich language experiences underpin learning across the curriculum, supported by reading for pleasure, storytelling and songs and rhymes.

• Phonics is taught daily using Little Wandle, ensuring a structured approach to reading and spelling from the start.

• Early writing is supported through systematic development of phonic skills, oracy, vocabulary, sentence and narrative structure and a fine motor and handwriting scheme (Write Rules ).

• Maths is taught using NCETM’s Mastering Number programme and White Rose, focusing on fluency and  deep understanding of number and pattern through interactive and practical approaches.

• Provision and teaching are carefully designed to nurture the Characteristics of Effective Learning, with a focus on:

  • Playing and exploring – investigating, experiencing, and ‘having a go’

  • Active learning – concentrating and persevering when encountering difficulties

  • Creating and thinking critically – developing ideas, making links, and choosing ways to do things

• The curriculum is enhanced through:

  • Visits and trips to support knowledge and understanding of the world.

  • Exposure to diverse cultures, communities, and celebrations.

  • Introducing children to early concepts of sustainability, kindness, and global awareness.

  • Forest School and outdoor learning to encourage exploration, risk-taking, and physical development.

• Observations, assessments, and regular family communication inform personalised next steps and ensure all children are supported to meet their developmental milestones.

• Cultural capital is developed through:

  • Regular educational visits (e.g. farms, museums, libraries, theatres).

  • In-school enrichment such as music performances and storytelling.

  • Celebrating a wide range of cultural festivals and heritage days.

  • Early encounters with aspiration and careers, e.g. visits from emergency services, scientists, authors.

Impact

The impact of our EYFS curriculum is reflected in:

• Children achieving a strong foundation across all areas of learning, preparing them well for the transition into Key Stage 1.

• Secure development in early reading, phonics, number sense, and communication skills.

• Children demonstrating confidence, curiosity, independence, and a love of learning.

• Progress in the Characteristics of Effective Learning, equipping children with the learning behaviours they need for long-term success.

• Development of self-regulation, resilience, and social understanding through the RULER framework and high-quality interactions.

• A broad range of experiences that build children’s understanding of the world and develop their cultural and emotional capital.

• High levels of parental engagement and community involvement supporting children’s overall progress and wellbeing.

The Early Years Foundation Stage at Moreland

The Early Years at Moreland provides an inclusive, warm, safe environment for all children both physically and emotionally. It is a place where all learning is valued and where children can lay the foundations for a lifelong love of learning and reach their potential.

This happens through:

• An imaginative and inviting learning environment that provokes curiosity, stimulates enquiry, provides appropriate risk and challenge, encourages independence, allows children to make decisions and promotes problem solving. This enables children to become self motivated learners and to develop the characteristics of effective learning that are essential for success.
• A curriculum rooted in play that provides children with  both child -led and pre-planned adult led meaningful, enjoyable and challenging learning experiences. The curriculum encompasses a core body of knowledge, skills and understanding as a base for future learning so children are ready for Key Stage 1.
• Developing children’s resilience, positive attitudes to learning  and well-being through a focus on building a “growth mindset”, developing the characteristics of effective learning and learning to self regulate using our RULER approach to emotional literacy.
• A key person system that is underpinned by a knowledge of attachment theory and ensures all children feel emotionally secure and settled and ready to learn.
• Adults who are alert to the individual needs and interests of children and respond to these through careful observation and planning that builds on previous knowledge and takes account of children’s next steps in their learning to maximise progress.
• High quality interactions between adults and all children that encourage sustained shared thinking and allow children to reflect on their learning.
• Close working with parents and carers, recognising that they are their child’s primary educator and that working together in partnership will provide the best outcomes for children.

How Children Learn in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)

What is the EYFS?

Children in the baby room, toddler room, nursery and reception follow the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum. This is a framework which supports children’s development from birth to the end of their Reception year. The EYFS is based on 4 important principles.

• A Unique Child

Principle: Every child is a competent learner from birth who can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured.

• Positive Relationships

Principle: Children learn to be strong and independent from a base of loving and secure relationships with parents and/or a key person.

• Enabling Environments

Principle: The environment plays a key role in supporting and extending children’s development and learning.

• Learning and Development

Principle: Children develop and learn in different ways and at different rates and all areas of Learning and Development are equally important and interconnected.

The Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum consists of the Characteristics of Effective Learning and seven areas of learning and development which are interconnected. More information on the EYFS is available here http://www.foundationyears.org.uk/files/2014/08/EYFS_Parents_Guide-amended.pdf

How do children learn?

Young children learn best through high quality multi sensory play- based and first hand experiences. All the children in the EYFS at Moreland learn through a mixture of child-led play supported by skilled adults and planned adult-led activities. The classrooms are organised into workshop areas to promote independent learning and children have access to both indoors and outside for most of the day. Learning which takes place outside is of equal value to that which occurs inside and reflects all areas of learning. Key skills and knowledge have been identified in all areas of the curriculum and all children work in small and class groups throughout the week on adult guided activities as well as accessing play-based activities linked to the topic and other identified areas of development. Adults think carefully about the learning environment and activities offered to ensure they are flexible and responsive to emerging needs and interests whilst ensuring children have the opportunity to embed the skills and knowledge identified in our curriculum plans. 

How do children learn English and Maths in the Early Years?

Children are introduced to early skills in reading and writing and maths at a developmentally appropriate level. Children’s love of books, stories and rhymes are developed from the moment they enter Moreland to promote a lifelong love of reading. Children follow the Little Wandle Phonics programme from Nursery onwards to ensure a structured approach to learning the technical skills of reading using synthetic phonics. We have developed our own scheme of work based on high quality core books to teach reading comprehension and writing. This builds on a curriculum rich in language and communication opportunities. Core books are explored with children using dialogic reading approaches and key vocabulary is taught using the Word Aware method. When learning to write we recognise the importance of children being able to orally construct sentences before attempting to write a sentence and this is key to our teaching of writing. When children are ready, they are supported to use their developing phonic knowledge to write at an appropriate level. Writing for a purpose is key, as it motivates children and gives meaning to their attempts to write. Handwriting is taught using Letter Join and is introduced alongside phonics learning and in focused handwriting sessions. 

The learning environment provides many rich opportunities for children to practice their skills in reading and writing, embed new vocabulary, retell familiar stories and engage in role play and collaborative conversations with adults and children.  

We offer a reading workshop for parents to attend in the Autumn term of each year to enable parents to support their children with reading and writing at home.

All children are encouraged to be mathematical thinkers, and we provide children with frequent concrete mathematical learning experiences that enable them to be secure in basic skills but also to apply these skills in play and other everyday activities. In Toddlers,  we have developed our own scheme based on the NCETM resourcs. In nursery, we follow the White Rose Maths scheme and in Reception we use the NCETM Mastering Number resources to teach number and White Rose to teach Shape, Space and Measures. 

Planning in Nursery and Reception

In Nursery and Reception, medium term planning takes the form of seasonal themes/ topics and reflects settling-in, the seasons and time of year, the major festivals and celebrations, favourite stories and the interests of the children. It ensures that all areas and aspects of the curriculum are experienced over the year and identifies learning outcomes (attitudes, knowledge and skills) within each area of learning. These plans provide the core curriculum that will be covered but also have the flexibility to respond to children’s changing needs and interests.

	Autumn	Spring	Summer
Cycle 1	Into the Woods	All about Me	In the Garden
Cycle 2	Food and Festivals	Imaginary Worlds	About Town

Weekly planning is based on both the curriculum map and observation of children’s learning needs and interests. This ensures each child is offered the experiences s/he needs to access the curriculum fully and ensures a responsive and flexible approach to the curriculum.

Birth to Three

We recognise that provision for children from birth to three needs to be organised slightly differently. Well resourced and maintained continuous provision for our younger children includes:

• Sensory exploration including treasure baskets or heuristic play
• Creative and imaginative play
• Sand and water play
• Dancing and physical activities including transporting
• Writing and mark-making opportunities
• Home corner/ doll play (domestic play)
• Malleable/ messy play
• Books/props/puppets
• Singing and music
• Sorting play including filling/emptying
• Outdoor experiences and visits

We recognise the importance of predictable and well planned routines for young children to support their development and well-being. These include:

• The start of the session includes registration/ “handover” time for children from parents/carers to the key person.
• Snack and meal times
• Handwashing and toilet/ nappy-changing routines
• Tidy-up time
• Story, singing and circle times
• The end of the session/ “handover” from the key person to parent/carer

The curriculum for children under 3 follows the same seasonal themes/ topics as in Nursery and Reception supporting our "spiral curriculum" approach but is designed to also be flexible and responsive to children’s changing needs and interests including developing schemas. It reflects settling-in and planned visits and events such as birthdays and celebrations that are meaningful to the children and includes identified quality core books. Planning is responsive to children’s developmental and learning needs and incorporates the interests of the children. The continuous provision will change to reflect the children’s identified needs and interests.

To support children’s development appropriately, we focus primarily on the Prime Areas of Physical Development, Personal, Social and Emotional Development and Communication and Language when planning for children under three. Activities focused on developing language are embedded throughout the day. These are fundamental and work together and support development in all other areas.

“Practitioners working with the youngest children are expected to focus strongly on the three prime areas, which are the basis for successful learning in the other four specific areas. The three prime areas reflect the key skills and capacities all children need to develop and learn effectively, and become ready for school. It is expected that the balance will shift towards a more equal focus on all areas of learning as children grow in confidence and ability within the three prime areas.” Statutory Framework for Early Years Foundation Stage – Department for Education 2012.

We take a book based approach to literacy development using core books. Many of these books children will have the opportunity to revisit throughout their time in the EYFS so that they can internalise the stories and language of the texts. Mathematical understanding is introduced in a developmentally appropriate way and is based on research into how young children develop their mathematical thinking. We have created our maths curriculum in the toddler's room based on the NCETM Early Years resources. 

• Policies

Starting School at Moreland 

We have made a video to help your child settle into our Nursery and Reception Classes. Please watch this with your child to help them with their transition into Moreland.