At Christ Church our children’s early childhood experiences fundamentally shape and inform what we want our children to learn and, have a direct impact on how we facilitate and provide this.  For a large proportion of the children that start at Christ Church in EYFS, focusing on early communication and language skills, specifically speech pronunciation and vocabulary, are a high priority as well as developing secure relationships that ensure a secure foundation for learning.  Children that start Christ Church have historically joined us from a large number of different pre-school settings, understanding their educational and personal  background ensures that we can plan effectively to meet their individual needs.  Our strong links and collaborative partnerships with local pre-schools enable us to begin the transition to school early.  We aim to forge strong partnerships with families early on, and through this consider the learning environment and teaching opportunities for all children.  There are many experiences that children starting Christ Church may have not have had the opportunity to take part in due to the impact of COVID and lockdowns.  Taking these into consideration and integrating these types of experiences into their learning journey is a vital part of what we offer at Christ Church.  Giving children the opportunity to grow and learn through play forms the basis for all that we offer at Christ Church.

Striving for the best possible start to children’s educational journey is at the heart of all that we do in Christ Church.  Through a carefully planned and delivered play based curriculum, we aspire for all children to be independent, resilient and confident in all that they do.  It is important to us that children in Christ Church are motivated to learn and that they are joyful and excited by all that they do.  Through the balance of a specifically planned curriculum and following children’s interests and leads in learning, adults provide high quality teaching and learning opportunities to ensure all children make progress and achieve the best they possibly can.  It is essential to us at Christ Church that we establish strong home school partnerships so that our children are supported in all aspects of their life.  Through this effective relationship, our children will develop a strong sense of themselves; their cultural capital; and be nurtured, loved and cared for. 

Through all of this, the children that join us at Christ Church will develop a strong foundation for lifelong learning that enables them to pursue their passions and have an impact on the world around them.

At Christ Church we have created a carefully planned, ambitious curriculum that incorporates a balance of adult led and child initiated learning opportunities.  It is a curriculum based on the principles of the EYFS Statutory Framework 2021, that takes into consideration children’s prior early learning and development experiences; their starting points at Christ Church; and their future learning when they progress into the National Curriculum. 

At Christ Church, we strive to provide a language rich learning environment that promotes the development of vocabulary, using high quality texts to offer stimulating and engaging hooks into learning opportunities for all children.  Fundamental to our curriculum and delivery of this is providing high quality continuous provision and adult interactions that evolve and progress throughout the year.  This is planned to ensure that all children make continuous progress, and are given opportunities to learn new skills and knowledge that are age appropriate and relevant to their individual next steps in learning. 

The learning environment, provision and adult interactions with children change and adapt as the year progresses.  Taking into consideration each cohort’s needs and reflecting this is essential each year, however the basis of how these progress remains fundamentally consistent each year.   An exemplification of how this progression would look at different points throughout the year can be found in our EYFS Progression document.

Ongoing informal observations of how individual children play and learn informs next steps for teaching and learning.  These next steps include enhancements in provision; adult directed activities; interventions for support; adult interactions through play and direct teaching sessions.  Staff work closely as a team to consistently reflect upon how all children are learning, their preferences for play and specific direct teaching sessions in order to implement changes that ensure children are given opportunities to learn with depth and breadth.

Providing regular links with home in a variety of ways, allows us to maintain our close working partnership with parents and carers.  The use of Tapestry allows families to contribute to their child’s overall learning journey and share ‘wow’ moments from home as well as seeing these that have happened in school too.   This enables parents and carers to support and extend learning that has taken place in school, engage in positive conversations about their child’s day, and for staff to celebrate and communicate with children about their home life.  Through this we establish a cohesive partnership with the child at the very centre.

Summative assessments at regular points throughout the year, allow all EYFS staff to contribute and discuss children’s current learning stage and individual next steps.  Through this, children that may be working below the expected standard are clearly identified with plans put in place to support them in making further progress to catch up.  Children that demonstrate particular strengths in aspects of learning are discussed within the staff team, and opportunities to grow and develop these further are also planned for.  An effective working partnership with our school SENCO and other external agencies allows us to identify children that may present with additional needs and plan appropriate interventions of support that are required.  As part of our summative and formative ongoing assessments, other key interventions, future teaching and learning opportunities and adaptations to provision are planned for to close gaps and ensure children catch up with learning where needed and explore their knowledge and skills with breadth and depth.

Children in Christ Church will leave our FS2 as confident, independent learners developing resilience and perseverance in all that they do.  They will have a strong sense of self and their place within our school and Christian community.  Children will have gathered a wide range of essential skills and knowledge that provide a secure foundation for when they continue their learning and move into the National Curriculum in Year 1.  They will be able to seek help when needed and offer support to their peers with empathy.  They will be able to manage their feelings and be able to adapt to work with different children and in different situations.  Children will have built positive, secure relationships with staff across school and will draw upon this to support their future learning.  Children will have secure knowledge and skills in early phonics, reading, writing and maths and will be able to apply these independently in a variety of different ways and contexts.  The children that leave FS2 will be happy and feel secure and safe in school.  They will have experienced a wide range of learning opportunities that will be embedded into their memory for years to come.  Each child will have made individual progress in all aspects of their life and learning, they will be ready to move on to the National Curriculum in Year 1, and will be motivated to take on the next stage in their learning journey.