Whitehill Primary School & Nursery
Developing confidence, ambition and independence through the highest aspirations for all

EYFS Curriculum

What is the Early Years curriculum?

Nursery and Reception follow the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework. The EYFS is a very important stage for children as it helps prepare them for more formal teaching and lifelong learning. Children’s early years experience should be a happy, active, exciting, fun and safe time which enables every individual child to achieve their full potential.

Here at Whitehill Primary School, we aim to ensure that all children learn by ‘doing’ and leave both our Nursery and Reception year with a love of learning, feeling safe and excited by the opportunities that learning offers. The EYFS ensures that children learn new skills, acquire new knowledge and demonstrate their understanding through 7 areas of learning and development.

There are 3 prime areas which are:

  • Communication and Language
  • Physical Development
  • Personal, Social and Emotional Development

The prime areas help children to develop skills in 4 specific areas. These are:

  • Literacy
  • Numeracy
  • Understanding the World
  • Expressive Arts and Design

Outside Learning is a fundamental part of children’s learning at Whitehill Primary School. We believe that children should have regular access to outside learning opportunities and that the outdoor environment should complement and extend the learning which takes place indoors. Each day we plan exciting and fun activities for the children to explore and develop their learning. The outside environment can offer unique opportunities for learning as the children have more space to move freely, which is crucial for their physical, social and emotional development.

Working with Parents

At Whitehill Primary School, we work hard to develop an active partnership with parents. We value the contribution that parents make to their children’s learning and continual development. In EYFS we send home weekly learning letters, we have an open door policy, termly parent workshops and activity sessions, contact books and learning diaries.

Transition

At Whitehill Primary School and Nursery, we want to ensure the best possible start to school life. The move to the ‘big school’ is an exciting and important time for children and their parents. We feel that children who are supported in a positive way learn to deal with transition whenever it may occur in their lives, and will become more confident learners. We want children to feel safe, secure and comfortable, and staff to have an awareness of the needs of the children to ensure continuity and progression.

In order to make transitions as smooth as possible into school and nursery we offer home and school visits, weekly outdoor learning sessions, we visit other nursery settings and meet key workers.