Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS)
Intent
At Hormead, we firmly believe in the significance of the Early Years and the importance of providing an EYFS curriculum and environment that develops a lifelong love of learning. We want all of our children in the Early Years to grow up as resilient, kind and happy individuals who are recognised for their unique and special talents and interests. Our Early Years setting provides an inclusive, caring and engaging place to learn and grow, supported by experienced, skilled staff.
We are proud to have been awarded the EYQS Gold Award in July 2023 in recognition of the work we do in our Early Years to help children make progress.
What do our EYFS children say about their day at Hormead?
"I love that we always get to go outside and have fun"
"I love that we can go on the monkey bars and that we have lots of things for doing drawing"
"We get lots of playtime, and we can go outside too! We get to do writing on our boards"
"I like going to Forest School. You need to wrap up warm when it is cold!"
"I like doing Phonics, I do it at home with Mummy too. Phonics is good because now I can write. We have a mud kitchen too - I like cooking food in there"
"We do Maths - I like all the numbers we have done. I know 1, 2, 3, 4 AND 5!"
"I like Maths - I know all the way to 10. Did you know that 10+0 makes 10? We have numbers on the wall to help us and we use blocks too"
Overview of EYFS at Hormead
EYFS at Hormead comprises of Hoglets (2-3years), Hedgehogs (3-4 years) and our Reception Class (Cherry Class).
Preschool (Hoglets Class)
Children in our Hoglets class have access to a well-equipped classroom and spacious outdoor area to facilitate their learning.
A typical day in Hoglets consists primarily of child-initiated play as learning through play is the most crucial part of our EYFS ethos. Children will take part in short activities with their key worker, designed based on their interests and needs.
You can visit our class page on the website for regular updates, as well as admission and fees information.
Nursery (Hedgehogs Class)
Children in Hedgehogs have access to a well-equipped classroom and spacious outdoor area to facilitate their learning.
A typical day in Hedgehogs consists primarily of child-initiated play as learning through play is the most crucial part of our EYFS ethos. Children will take part in short activities with their key worker, designed based on their interests and needs. Older nursery children will do daily phonics, following Phase 1, to prepare them for Reception. They will also do a weekly Forest School session and 'Music Minis' session.
You can visit our class page on the website for regular updates, as well as admission and fees information.
EYFS - Reception (Cherry Class)
Children in our Reception Class, Cherry Class, have access to a well-equipped classroom and spacious outdoor area to facilitate their learning.
A typical day in Reception consists of a mixture of both adult-led sessions (e.g. Phonics, Literacy, Maths, RE, PE) and child-initiated play (known to our children as "busy learning"). Child-initiated play occupies a larger proportion of our day as learning through play is the most crucial part of our EYFS ethos. They will also do a weekly Forest School session and 'Music Minis' session.
You can visit our class page on the website for regular updates such as our curriculum newsletter.
- Cherry Class Reception
Areas of Learning
Through the Early Years Foundation Stage, there are 7 areas of learning which underpin our curriculum:
- communication and language
- physical development
- personal, social and emotional development
- literacy
- mathematics
- understanding the world
- expressive arts and design
Our EYFS curriculum is planned to incorporate the children's interests, as well as to broaden their understanding, curiosity and love of the world around them.
Maths in the Early Years
Mathematics is one of the specific areas in the EYFS. At Hormead, we recognise that maths is an integral part of day to day life, and we instil mathematical concepts not only in our direct teaching and opportunities in child-initiated play, but we also thread mathematics through our daily classroom routines. We want our children to not only develop a love of maths but also have the opportunity to learn practical skills through real life application.
For example, we count at every possible opportunity. We count how many children are present when lining up, counting out milk and fruit, recording the date and counting out how many hands are up. We look at concepts of sharing, more/ less, size and measurement at every available opportunity and carefully promote that all adults reinforce and strengthen children’s knowledge.
Our mathematics curriculum stems from the EYFS framework using the White Rose planning scheme, Master the Curriculum resources and Numberblocks in a fun, engaging and positive way. We often use song, rhyme and links through our learning topic. Children learn to count confidently, develop a deep understanding of the numbers to 10, the relationships between them and the patterns within those numbers.
In addition, our curriculum includes rich opportunities for children to develop their spatial reasoning skills across all areas of mathematics including shape, space and measure.
We know how important it is that children develop positive attitudes and interests in mathematics, look for patterns and relationships, spot connections, ‘have a go’, talk to adults and peers about what they notice and not be afraid to make mistakes.
In both nursery and reception, it is important that children are given the opportunity to learn maths through practical, active, hands-on experiences. We implement this approach in our focused lessons and our continuous provision areas. After learning new concepts, children are given opportunities inside and outside the classroom to apply their understanding through challenges and enhancements to best support our children to internalise and master their learning.