EYFS Intent, Implementation and Impact Statement
“Play is the highest form of research” Albert Einstein
Intent:
At St Gabriel’s, we recognise the importance of giving our children the best possible start to their education and place great value on the development of our children as individuals. With this in mind we have developed three curriculum drivers which shape our EYFS curriculum and reflect the unique needs of our children.
Our drivers are identified as:
Faith and Spirituality: As our children begin their journey at St Gabriel’s our emphasis is placed on their religious, spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Each child is recognised as a unique individual and we aim to teach our children values of love, honesty, kindness, forgiveness and respect for others. We welcome the differences within our school community and follow our vision statement ‘Learning and loving on our journey with Jesus’
Possibilities: We work extremely hard to provide an enabling environment and continuous provision. This provides our children with exciting opportunities, promotes challenge and exploration. They will experience the world around them to make positive decisions which may impact on their future lives.
Initiative: We actively use ‘The Characteristics of Effective Learning’ to support our observations and teaching. We recognise that we want to create independent and inquisitive learners who use their own initiative to problem solve and find creative solutions to complex problems.
From the beginning of EYFS we believe in creating strong relationships with parents, warm and positive relationships between staff and children and consistent routines. We recognise the crucial role that early year’s education has to play in providing firm foundations upon which the rest of a child’s education is successfully based.
Implementation:
At St Gabriel’s we meet the welfare requirements laid down in the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage. We actively safeguard and promote the welfare of all of our children.
Our timetable is structured to enable adult ‘teaching times’ for phonics, mathematics and Religious Education. Children are given plenty of time to engage in exploration and gain experiences throughout the day using the indoor and outdoor environment. The knowledge and skills the children learn interlink into different areas of the curriculum. As the children practice their learning in different ways each day it transfers into their long- term memory.
We prioritise having a ‘language rich’ environment in EYFS where stories, rhymes, poems and songs provide our children with experiences. Through quality interactions with adults our children gain confidence to be confident communicators.
Impact:
Whilst ‘Learning and loving on our journey with Jesus’ our children will:
- Develop their ‘Characteristics of effective learning’ to apply their knowledge to a range of situations, make links and explain their ideas and understanding.
- Be confident to take risks and be able to discuss their successes and failures with adults and children.
- Use their experiences be able to improve or adjust what they are doing.
- Be actively engaged in learning throughout the Foundation Stage.
- Experience exciting and enriching learning experiences and opportunities to learn through hands on experiences and educational visits.
- Develop a love of reading, writing and mathematics which has been created through meaningful opportunities throughout their time in EYFS.
- Make good progress from their starting point to the end of EYFS to meet the national expectation for a good level of development.
