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EYFS (Early Years)

“You have brains in your head.  You have feet in your shoes.  You can steer yourself any direction you choose.“ 

Dr Seuss 

At Michael Faraday, our 4 overarching principles that shape our practice in early years 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 seven areas of learning and development include:

Three prime areas:

  • Communication and language
  • Physical development
  • Personal, social and emotional development

As well as four specific areas, through which the three prime areas are strengthened and applied:

  • Literacy
  • Mathematics
  • Understanding the world
  • Expressive arts and design
Click on the links below to see the Michael Faraday EYFS Curriculum

 

nursery curriculum                  
Phonics

We begin teaching phonics in the EYFS, and children are taught according to 'Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised." 

Below are overview documents from the phonics programme.  They show the order the sounds and tricky words are taught during Reception.

Development Matters Framework

Click below for the Development Matters, which is the non-statutory guidance that supports the delivery of the EYFS learning at Michael Faraday:

 
   
Parental Engagement

Reception parents are invited to 'stay and play' on a Friday morning at 9am.   This is an opportunity for parents to engage in the children's classroom activities for about 30 minutes, in our effort to foster a shared commitment to children's learning and well-being. 

In the EYFS, we use Evidence Me, as an electronic journal to record observations of the children’s learning.  Parent Postcards is a feature accessed by teachers via Evidence Me, which offers a simple and effective way of providing parental engagement in the learning process.  These postcards are a way for you to share any moments from home, which could include children’s drawing or writing, a visit to somewhere special, a celebration, anything you think the teacher would like to see or what you consider to be a ‘wow’ moment. These postcards may be shown to the rest of the class to give the children an opportunity to tell their peers about what they have done. 

To set up the postcards:

Parents/Carers will receive an email to invite you to join Evidence Me and create a password. You can then download the free app ‘Evidence Me by 2 Simple’ on your phone or tablet. From there, you will be able to send photos, videos and notes to your child’s teaching team.

Please remember any information or messages for the teacher should still go through the school office, not through the app.

If you need any help with setting up the postcards, please speak to your child's class teacher.