Welcome to the Early Years Foundation Stage at Millbrook Primary School
Our Vision and Curriculum
At Millbrook we believe our children deserve the best possible start in life. We are the start of the children’s learning journey. We take this responsibility seriously as children’s experiences between birth and age 5 have been proven to have a major impact on their future life chances. We prioritise building relationships with our children and their families to ensure we have a secure foundation to build on. In our safe and stimulating environment every child is valued and supported to reach their potential no matter their starting points.
Our inspiring EYFS Curriculum is designed to reflect the interests and needs of our children and to immerse our children in a language rich environment. We prioritise high quality interactions and play based learning alongside a balance of adult led activities. Our children are able to guide their own learning through carefully resourced continuous provision with enhancements to support the development of skills and knowledge.
Our curriculum is developed to ensure progressive learning across the foundation stage, children have the opportunity to build on what they have been previously taught. It is also designed to be responsive to the needs of our children, families and community.
We choose high quality texts to support our delivery of planned topics, we use the children’s interests to drive their learning and tailor our plans to the cohort’s specific needs. Our topics are fluid, we develop the children’s learning based on interests and core knowledge and skills that need to be taught. We aim for our children to leave our Reception classes ready to begin the KS1 curriculum with confidence.
All of our EYFS team are highly skilled practitioners, they are confident assessing and identifying any children who require early intervention due to low starting points. Staff know the children in our foundation stage well and plan meaningful next steps based on children’s individual needs.
Children spend the majority of their time engaged in play based activities, adults work alongside children in provision to support and extend their learning. Where direct teaching is required we ensure that children have opportunities to further embed the taught skills through play. A well-resourced provision both inside and out ensures children can repeat and deepen their taught skill development.
Unique child
“The goal of every childhood education should be to activate the child’s own natural desire to learn.”
Maria Montessori
We aim to celebrate each child as an individual. Adults are skilled at working with children, helping them to make progress and develop a love of learning.
If children need additional support, they are quickly identified and any barriers to learning worked upon.
Reception children will be assessed in the first six weeks of starting school by their class teacher. Teachers will be able to get to know your child on a 1:1 basis and have fun together! Please see more information by clicking the link.
Language rich environment
Communication and language is one of the prime areas of learning in the EYFS, it is a key part of our teaching. We strive to create a language rich environment for the children to ensure they have every opportunity to develop these crucial skills.
Please support us by listening to and talking to your child as much as possible. Put down mobile phones and other technological equipment and talk about your day, share books, look at pictures, make up your own stories and have a regular bedtime routine without technology.
As part of our language rich environment we use various programs to further enhance opportunities for talk. Programs include Tales Toolkit, Wellcomm and Talk boost, all have been a success and are having a positive impact on children’s language development.
We have been awarded the ICAN Accreditation for Early Talk. This award shows that we create communication rich environments and strive to improve the speech and communication skills of the children we work with.
How can you help?
We recognise that parents are children’s first educators. We hope to work in partnership with you to give the children a great start.
Please help us by:
- Helping your child to be independent with dressing and toileting
- Share stories and sing songs
- Count in real life (count anything! Steps you take, how many buses you can spot, how many forks needed for tea time)
- Spend time looking for changes in nature – What do you notice? Is a great question to ask young children!
- Talk about anything and everything – all talk is important! Children learn so much through conversation
- Make sure your child has a good bedtime routine
Useful Links
Below are some useful links that will give you more information about the Early Years Foundation Stage.
The statutory framework for the EYFS was updated in December 2023 and came into effect from January 2024. The booklet below does not cite the most up to date framework, however it is still a useful resource to support parents in understanding the stages of development of your child and ways in which you can help them.
- What to expect in the Early Years – a guide for parents
- EYFS Policy
We look forward to welcoming you to our school.
Erin Browne – Early Years Foundation Stage Lead
