EYFS - Early Years Foundation Stage - Nursery and Reception
EYFS Phase Leader - Miss Otero
INTENT
Welcome to Garfield Early Years.
At Garfield Primary, the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is an important first step in our school. We aim to provide a happy, stimulating learning environment where all children are celebrated and where we promote good learning, development and behaviour. Every child deserves the best possible start in life and support that helps them fulfil their potential.
The Early Years Foundation Stage includes all children in our Nursery and Reception classes. Our core values underpin everything we do at Garfield and this begins with Early Years as they are the first step in developing the core values -building on children’s skills, attitudes and knowledge.
Our EYFS children experience seven areas of learning, organised under the following areas:
- Personal, Social and Emotional Development
- Communication and Language
- Literacy
- Mathematics
- Understanding the World
- Physical Development
- Expressive Art and Design
These areas contribute to the organisation of the learning environment; the activities provided for children and the monitoring of childrens’ progress and development.
IMPLEMENTATION
Our EYFS includes the Nursery, offering a choice of morning or afternoon sessions, or 30 hours full-time places for children aged 3 and 4. We also have two full time classes for children aged 4 and 5 in Reception. Our outdoor learning areas offer a wide range of opportunities for children at each age. Nursery enjoys a spacious and inspiring indoor and outdoor environment. Reception children can access both Reception classrooms and outdoor learning areas as well as the main playground and all its facilities at different times during the school day.
Through our well designed, ambitious curriculum and nurturing staff, we support children in being happy and self-confident individuals with strong values and a ‘can do’ attitude. Our children are encouraged to respect the rights of others, aspire for success, aim for excellence and achieve their full potential. We want our children to love learning and be ready for the future.
Children access stimulating indoor and outdoor learning environments with resources chosen to meet their needs and promote learning. We encourage confidence, independence and a desire to learn. Books are used to support learning in all areas of the indoor and outdoor learning environments and stories/poems and rhymes are read/sung aloud frequently. Children have opportunities to develop and embed maths skills in a wide range of contexts. We provide a play based curriculum which we base around topics to excite and engage children in their learning. In EYFS our children enjoy play-based and child-initiated activities as well as more formal methods of learning and adult-led group work.
Woodwork
Last year we introduced a woodwork area in Reception, inspired by Froebel’s approach and the recognition that young children need rich, hands-on experiences to develop the skills that underpin writing. Woodwork offers so much more than tool use: it strengthens fine motor skills, hand–eye coordination, focus, and persistence, while also boosting children’s confidence, independence, and problem-solving abilities. By engaging with real tools, children feel trusted and empowered, which sparks creativity and motivation. As research projects such as the Big Bang study have shown, woodwork supports holistic development across the EYFS curriculum—nurturing not only early writing but also imagination, resilience, and personal growth.
IMPACT
The impact of the EYFS curriculum is reflected in happy and confident children transitioning into Year 1. We measure progress and children’s learning across the year through formative and summative assessment based on the teacher’s knowledge of the child, their observations and interactions with others as well as evidence in their ‘Tapestry’ learning journeys including photographs, samples of learning and comments from parents. Staff use observational assessments to identify children’s starting points and plan experiences that ensure progress.
As a team, we carry out internal moderation and staff attend external training so we feel confident in our judgements and that these are consistent with other settings. By regularly monitoring assessment we see what learning is taking place and how each child is progressing in the seven areas of the EYFS curriculum.
There are three prime areas of learning:
- Communication and Language
- Physical Development
- Personal, Social and Emotional Development
There are also four specific areas of learning:
- Literacy
- Mathematics
- Understanding the World
- Expressive Arts and Design
We offer open and clear communication with all parents, and provide regular stay and play sessions throughout the year, encouraging communication from home through our learning journal 'Tapestry'. If you ever have queries or questions for the EYFS class teachers, you can contact them directly via email or book an appointment via the office.Please have a look at these helpful documents, which will help you support your child's learning at Garfield:
Read Write Inc. Phonics is part of a highly successful literacy programme developed by Ruth Miskin and published by Oxford University Press. It provides a structured and systematic approach to teaching literacy, weaving decoding, comprehension, writing and spelling together seamlessly, and is used by morethan a quarter of the UK's primary schools. Read Write Inc is designed to create fluent readers, confident speakers and willing writers.
The Read Write Inc. programme is carefully matched to the higher expectations of the new curriculum. It uses effective and rigorous assessment, tracking and one to one tutoring to accelerate every child's progress, preparing our children for the National Curriculum tests.
Training and support from Ruth Miskin Training, rated Outstanding by the Department of Education, ensure the programme has the best chance of success in schools.
For further information and great video tutorials on how to support your child with learning to read go to: https://ruthmiskin.com/en/find-out-more/parents/
These useful guides will help you support your child at home with their early reading and writing.
- Fred talk games
- Handwriting phrases for letter formation
- Reading top ten tips
- Learning to read and write at Garfield
Programme Progression:
In Nursery all children
- Are exposed to the first 30 sounds and letter rhymes
In Reception and Year 1
- Read storybooks and non-fiction books closely matched to their developing phonic knowledge
- Take home Phonics storybooks to share
- Read with fluency and expression
- Learn to spell using known sounds
- Write confidently by practising what they want to write out loud first
- Work well with a partner
By the end of the Autumn Term in Year 2 all children
- Are accurate and speedy readers and are ready to move on.
