We follow the new Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework, which sets standards for the learning, development and care of your child from birth to 5 years old.

Your child’s Early Years’ experience should be happy, active, exciting, engaging, fun, safe and secure and support their development, care and learning needs.

At Dedworth Green First School, our aim is to provide high quality Early Years education for all our children.

Your child will be learning skills, acquiring new knowledge and demonstrating their understanding through

7 areas of learning and development.

Children should initially develop the 3 prime areas.

These are:

• Personal, social and emotional development
• Communication and language
• Physical development

These prime areas are the most essential for your child’s healthy development and future learning.

As children grow, the prime areas will help them to develop in 4 specific areas.

These are:

• Literacy
• Mathematics
• Understanding the World
• Expressive Arts and Design

Children in the EYFS learn by playing and exploring, being active, and through creative and critical thinking which takes place both indoors and outside.

Exploring the World

Throughout the year, we explore different themes using information and resources to enable us to deliver  information that is engaging and exciting. Children learn about the world around us and in the Early Years, cover themes such as Friendships, Changing Seasons, Fairytales, A World of Animals and Journeys (transport, different climates, etc.)

We use key, classic children’s stories that link to these topics to enrich language experience and also to create a context for the topic based learning that we offer.

Role play areas are fun but focussed, offering opportunities for imaginative role play and for purposeful writing, counting and exploring.

Phonics

Children in the EYFS are introduced to the letters of the alphabet and the sounds they make using the 'Little Wandle' phonics programme, as we look at the shapes of letters and begin developing awareness of how to recognise and then write them. We also use some simple 'cued articulation' signs to support their multisensory learning of new speech sounds. 

These inputs are taught directly and then supported with many activities in and around the learning spaces. In Nursery, we develop our listening and speaking skills and the ability to differentiate between, describe and identify sounds. In Reception, we focus on specific letters, oral blending and segmentation and then on to blending and segmenting with letters. Those who are ready to move on will be introduced to reading two syllable words and simple captions.

Maths

We continue to develop thinking about numbers and shapes as we explore activities and experiences linked to counting, matching, recognising numbers, sorting, early addition, pattern, and language linked to size, weight and measuring.

Maths is included in various forms in all our role play areas and also as children explore other resources such as construction toys. 

We use the White Rose scheme to support our teaching and learning of number and numerical patterns as this provides an innovative approach and clear, accessible resources. This structure, combined with a range of practical, creative and play-based activities provides a strong mathematical foundation for future learning.