Early Years Curriculum
Curriculum Overview
The EYFS is a unique, distinct, and important phase in education. It places an equal priority on supporting children’s social and emotional development and on their learning. It is a crucial time for developing children’s engagement, enjoyment of learning and motivation. The curriculum in the Early Years provides a structure and sense of direction, whilst providing ambitious opportunities for children to learn. Our curriculum recognises children’s prior learning and experiences and seeks to build on these, developing their skills and knowledge through a variety of themes and first-hand experiences that stimulate their curiosity. The curriculum is designed to meet the needs of all children ensuring adaptations are made where necessary.
Play and exploration are at the heart of Early Years practice and children are able to interact with well-organised and resourced environments that spark their interests and allow for independence and sustained shared thinking. Environments are enhanced with a wide range of multi-sensory activities that encourage children to explore, develop skills and adapt their own learning.
We follow the Early Years Foundation Stage statutory guidance and the non-statutory Development Matters guidance which outlines child development for children from birth to three, three to four and the Reception year. This framework sets the standards for the learning, development and care of your child. Within the framework, there are 7 key learning areas:
- Communication and Language
- Physical Development
- Personal, Social and Emotional Development
- Literacy
- Mathematics
- Understanding the World
- Expressive Arts and Design
Communication and Language
Physical Development
Personal, Social and Emotional Development
Literacy
Mathematics
Understanding the World
Expressive Arts and Design
The Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage outlines four guiding principles that should shape Early Years practice. These are:
- Every child is a unique child, who is constantly learning and can be resilient, capable, confident, and self-assured
- Children learn to be strong and independent through positive relationships
- Children learn and develop well in enabling environments with teaching and support from adults, who respond to their individual interests and needs and help them to build their learning over time. Children benefit from a strong partnership between practitioners and parents and/or carers.
- Children develop and learn at different rates. The framework covers the education and care of all children in early years provision, including children with special educational needs and disabilities.
There are also seven key features of effective practice (Appendix 1) that underpin the Early Years ethos and are woven through the Oasis EYFS Curriculum. These are:
- The best for every child
- High quality care
- The curriculum: What we want children to learn
- Pedagogy: helping children to learn
- Assessment: checking what children have learnt
- Self-regulation and executive function
- Partnership with parents
You can find out more about our current theme by clicking on the link to our ‘Curriculum Mats’
Enrichment in Nursery
At Oasis Academy Watermead we believe children are masters of exploration, our curriculum is designed to ignite natural curiosity and a passion for learning through awe and wonder. We have developed an enriched provision to inspire our children. We ensure learning and play experiences are deeply rooted in the world around us. As practitioners we firmly believe children should be immersed in real and meaningful play opportunities and strive to enhance our provision with real and tangible objects. We take a holistic approach developing natural curiosity whilst taking every opportunity to further our children’s breadth of vocabulary. We value the importance of ensuring that all children have rich first hand experiences fostering an eagerness to explore, discover and imagine.