​Our vision and the EYFS Curriculum

Curriculum Intent

At St Barnabas CofE Primary School, we have high aspirations for all our children and have designed an EYFS curriculum that nurtures each child’s unique potential. Recognising the significance of the early years in a child’s development, we are committed to providing enriching experiences that support brain development and lay the foundations for lifelong learning.

Our curriculum is broad, inclusive, and tailored to meet the needs of every individual child. We place knowing our children at the heart of everything we do. Our experienced and qualified teachers in both nursery and reception, along with a dedicated team, builds strong relationships so children feel safe, nurtured, and ready to learn. We focus on each child’s learning style, incorporating their interests into our planning to inspire a love of learning. Through high-quality interactions, effective questioning, and careful scaffolding of skills, we ensure that every child is supported and challenged to achieve their goals.

Children at St Barnabas benefit from free-flow access to our spacious outdoor environment daily, which enhances their learning through exploration and play. Weekly Forest School sessions further enrich their experiences, allowing them to connect with nature and develop resilience and independence. Our inclusive approach is supported by our focus on early help, ensuring that all children, regardless of background or ability, receive the support they need to thrive.

We believe in learning through play and offer high-quality continuous provision where children can revisit, extend, and master key skills and concepts. Our experienced team enriches this environment with purposeful resources designed to ignite curiosity, promote independence, and foster a love of learning. We are committed to developing inquisitive, confident, and resilient learners who are well-prepared for their journey through primary education and beyond.

As a Church of England school, we embrace the wonder and awe of the natural world in our curriculum. We aim for our children to become principled, compassionate members of both the global and local communities.

At St Barnabas, we inspire our children to become ambitious, resilient and compassionate individuals who let their light shine.

Curriculum Implementation

At St Barnabas CofE Primary School we follow the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage. Four guiding principles shape our early year’s education and these are:

• The Unique child- Every child is a unique child, who is constantly learning and can be resilient, capable, confident and self-assured.
• Positive relationships- Children learn to be strong and independent through positive relationships.
• Enabling environments- 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.
• Learning and development- We recognise the importance of learning and development. Children develop and learn at different rates.

The children in Nursery and Reception are provided with a wide range of enriching experiences in our indoor and outdoor provision. These experiences include exploring our outstanding provision, meeting visitors, going on trips and engaging with our local community.  These elements all spark wonderment and awe and allow the children to make links in their learning.  The children engage in some planned/focused activities as well as self-initiated and free flow activities. As outlined in the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) 2024, there are 7 areas of learning and development and the learning experiences we offer are planned in consideration of each of them.  Three of these are referred to as the prime areas, because they are the fundamental skills that provide the foundation for children’s learning and development.  These are essential for healthy development and are interlinked with all other areas of learning.  There are then four specific areas of learning and development.  The specific areas focus on more distinct skills and knowledge that build on the foundations established by the prime areas.  They support children in developing a broader range of competencies.

Prime Areas of Learning:

• Communication and Language

The development of children’s spoken language underpins all seven areas of learning and development. Children’s back-and-forth interactions from an early age form the foundations for language and cognitive development. The number and quality of the conversations they have with adults and peers throughout the day in a language-rich environment is crucial. By commenting on what children are interested in or doing, and echoing back what they say with new vocabulary added, practitioners will build children’s language effectively. Reading frequently to children, and engaging them actively in stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems, and then providing them with extensive opportunities to use and embed new words in a range of contexts, will give children the opportunity to thrive. Through conversation, story-telling and role play, where children share their ideas with support and modelling from their teacher, and sensitive questioning that invites them to elaborate, children become comfortable using a rich range of vocabulary and language structures.

• Personal, Social and Emotional Development

Children’s personal, social and emotional development (PSED) is crucial for children to lead healthy and happy lives, and is fundamental to their cognitive development. Underpinning their personal development are the important attachments that shape their social world. Strong, warm and supportive 9 relationships with adults enable children to learn how to understand their own feelings and those of others. Children should be supported to manage emotions, develop a positive sense of self, set themselves simple goals, have confidence in their own abilities, to persist and wait for what they want and direct attention as necessary. Through adult modelling and guidance, they will learn how to look after their bodies, including healthy eating, and manage personal needs independently. Through supported interaction with other children, they learn how to make good friendships, co-operate and resolve conflicts peaceably. These attributes will provide a secure platform from which children can achieve at school and in later life.

• Physical Development

Physical activity is vital in children’s all-round development, enabling them to pursue happy, healthy and active lives7. Gross and fine motor experiences develop incrementally throughout early childhood, starting with sensory explorations and the development of a child’s strength, co-ordination and positional awareness through tummy time, crawling and play movement with both objects and adults. By creating games and providing opportunities for play both indoors and outdoors, adults can support children to develop their core strength, stability, balance, spatial awareness, co-ordination and agility. Gross motor skills provide the foundation for developing healthy bodies and social and emotional well-being. Fine motor control and precision helps with hand-eye co-ordination, which is later linked to early literacy. Repeated and varied opportunities to explore and play with small world activities, puzzles, arts and crafts and the practice of using small tools, with feedback and support from adults, allow children to develop proficiency, control and confidence.

Specific Areas of Learning:

• Literacy

It is crucial for children to develop a life-long love of reading. Reading consists of two dimensions: language comprehension and word reading. Language comprehension (necessary for both reading and writing) starts from birth. It only develops when adults talk with children about the world around them and the books (stories and non-fiction) they read with them, and enjoy rhymes, poems and songs together. Skilled word reading, taught later, involves both the speedy working out of the pronunciation of unfamiliar printed words (decoding) and the speedy recognition of familiar printed words. Writing involves transcription (spelling and handwriting) and composition (articulating ideas and structuring them in speech, before writing).

• Mathematics

Developing a strong grounding in number is essential so that all children develop the necessary building blocks to excel mathematically. Children should be able to count confidently, develop a deep understanding of the numbers to 10, the relationships between them and the patterns within those numbers. By providing frequent and varied opportunities to build and apply this understanding – such as using manipulatives, including small pebbles and tens frames for organising counting – children will develop a secure base of knowledge and vocabulary from which mastery of mathematics is built. In addition, it is important that the curriculum includes rich opportunities for children to develop their spatial reasoning skills across all areas of mathematics including shape, space and measures. It is important 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.

• Understanding the World

Understanding the world involves guiding children to make sense of their physical world and their community. The frequency and range of children’s personal experiences increases their knowledge and sense of the world around them – from visiting parks, libraries and museums to meeting important members of society such as police officers, nurses and firefighters. In addition, listening to a broad selection of stories, non-fiction, rhymes and poems will foster their understanding of our culturally, socially, technologically and ecologically diverse world. As well as building important knowledge, this extends their familiarity with words that support understanding across domains. Enriching and widening children’s vocabulary will support later reading comprehension.

• Expressive Arts and Design

The development of children’s artistic and cultural awareness supports their imagination and creativity. It is important that children have regular opportunities to engage with the arts, enabling them to explore and play with a wide range of media and materials. The quality and variety of what children see, hear and participate in is crucial for developing their understanding, self-expression, vocabulary and ability to communicate through the arts. The frequency, repetition and depth of their experiences are fundamental to their progress in interpreting and appreciating what they hear, respond to and observe.

Please view our Long Term Plan for more information. See link above.

Impact

At St Barnabas CofE Primary School, the impact of our EYFS curriculum is evident in the confident, resilient, and compassionate learners who leave our Reception class. Through the rich, tailored experiences we provide, children develop the foundational skills necessary for success throughout their school life and beyond.

By fostering a love of learning through play, exploration, and a carefully planned curriculum, our children make excellent progress across all areas of learning. They leave Reception with a deep understanding of key concepts in communication, literacy, and mathematics, and they demonstrate the characteristics of effective learning, such as perseverance, curiosity, and independence. 

Subject leaders at St Barnabas CofE Primary School ensure that learning is carefully sequenced and builds on prior knowledge to support children’s progress throughout their primary school journey. By closely monitoring curriculum links and ensuring that each child’s next steps are incorporated into planning, we create a cohesive learning experience that fosters continuous development across all subjects. This approach enables all children to make good progress, building a strong foundation in the Early Years that is carried forward into future learning.

Our focus on inclusion and early help ensures that all children, including those with additional needs, are fully supported and able to achieve their full potential. Through continuous observation and assessment, we can confidently talk about each child’s individual progress and strengths, tailoring our support to help them reach their next steps.

The presence of an experienced, qualified teacher in our nursery, alongside high-quality interactions from our team, means that children receive expert guidance and challenge. This strong foundation is further supported by our spacious outdoor environment and weekly Forest School sessions, which enable children to develop confidence, physical skills, and an appreciation for the natural world.

Children who join Reception from our nursery class experience a smooth and seamless transition, thanks to the consistent structure, familiar environment, and nurturing relationships already established. Our EYFS team works closely together to ensure continuity in routines, expectations, and learning approaches, allowing children to feel secure and confident as they move into the next stage of their education. The strong connection between nursery and Reception ensures that children are well-prepared to build on their prior learning and continue making good progress.  This is the same when they move from Reception to Year One.

Our emphasis on building positive relationships and creating a nurturing environment means that children feel safe and ready to learn. They leave Reception as well-rounded individuals, equipped with not only the academic skills they need but also the emotional intelligence and social skills to succeed in the next stage of their education.

As a result, St Barnabas children are well-prepared to enter Year 1 as ambitious, resilient, and compassionate learners, ready to let their light shine and contribute positively to both the school and the wider community.

Measuring Impact

When the children first join us we prioritise building early relationships with each individual, which helps inform our teacher judgement.  In reception a baseline assessment is carried out in the first term, which determines next steps and highlights any gaps in learning.  We formally record a child’s level of development three times throughout the year and this data is analysed.  The EYFS teachers meet with the Head and SLT to discuss progress, next steps and inclusion.

Our strong relationships with the children allow us to assess the children informally on a daily basis, through observations, questioning and discussions.  For example, we have weekly professional conversations with our team to share observations of each child to celebrate progress and highlight next steps.  In doing this we can support each individual child to aim for the stars.

We use Dojo Portfolio and paper portfolios to capture ‘wow’ moments and to share special achievements with parents.  We also create floor books with the children to share our project learning journeys.  Furthermore, there are exercise books in reception to evidence their progress in writing.  We believe maths is best learnt by doing it practically and we focus on developing a secure mathematical understanding of basic mathematical concepts with first hand experiences.  Finally, we proudly share children’s work on our neutral display boards.

Parent consultation meetings are held twice a year and parents are met with in addition to the two parents evenings if there are any concerns regarding a child’s progress.  End of year written reports are sent home summarising the children’s stage in learning and next steps.

Assessments are moderated in the Early Years team and sometimes with our Year One teacher.  We also carry out moderation with teachers and schools from our Trust multiple times a year.

During the first term of a child’s journey in reception, we carry out the EYFS statutory baseline with each child.  This is an assessment that aims to establish a clear starting point for each child’s learning and development, ensuring that progress can be measured throughout their time in primary education.

At the end of the EYFS, reception staff complete the EYFS profile for each child. Pupils are assessed against the 17 early learning goals, indicating whether they are meeting expected levels of development or if they are emerging.  This will be submitted to the local education authority and the results will be shared with parents and/or carers.