Our Early Years curriculum follows the curriculum as outlined in the latest EYFS statutory framework. The EYFS framework includes 7 areas of learning and development that are equally important and interconnected. However, 3 areas – known as the prime areas – are seen as particularly important for igniting curiosity and enthusiasm for learning, and for building children’s capacity to learn, form relationships and thrive.
The prime areas are:
- Communication and language
- Physical development
- Personal, social and emotional development
The specific areas, which strengthen and apply the prime areas, are:
- Literacy
- Mathematics
- Understanding the world
- Expressive arts and design
At George Mitchell School, we follow the United Curriculum Scheme, which is carefully sequenced to ensure progression from Nursery to Year 6. Adaptations are made, considering the local context to ensure that the curriculum is fit for purpose.
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Curriculum Intent
To ensure that all children are nurtured as confident, capable learners with:
- robust language, knowledge and skills, which is influenced by rich texts and varied experiences.
- enthusiasm, ambition and love of learning, and are ready for school beyond Reception.
- have enhanced culture capital developed through rich texts (literary), parent partnership and wider experiences (non-literary).
- High expectations of themselves and others, showing self-regulation skills as well as set of positive traits (PRIDE) that guide their conduct.
- the ability to read using phonics and to read for enjoyment.
- opportunities to develop their executive function through retrieval, adult interventions during play as well as explicit teaching and increased challenge.
Planning
At George Mitchell School, practitioners use core texts and themes to plan carefully for the year and each half term. Planning is produced to invoke and respond to children’s interests, extend thinking across all areas of learning and facilitate an inspiring continuous provision. Teachers adapt planning to ensure that it is accessible and inclusive to all children, including those with SEND or English as an Additional Language (EAL).
Children learn best when they pursue their own interests in an enabling environment, supported by skilful staff. Our planning and teaching is flexible to follow children’s interests and next steps. Planning meetings are held to ensure that personalised experiences and learning opportunities are provided for children according to the information provided by assessment for learning. The practitioners follow the traditional cycle of observation, assessment and planning every time they interact with a child. We work in this way because, through child-initiated activities, children show high levels of involvement and their brains are most active. This leads to rapid progress and development in all the areas of learning. This approach has been recommended in Development Matters and current research.
Language, Communication and Vocabulary
The development of children’s language skills underpins the planning and curriculum development in all areas of learning:
- Long term and short-term planning ensure that children learn new vocabulary based on books and topics.
- Adults have frequent and high-quality sustained interactions with children. These interactions include, back and forth conversations, commenting and echoing back what children say using the new vocabulary added as well as modelling correct grammar.
- Adults talk to children about the world around them and stories.
- The learning environment is language-rich and stimulating. It provides children with ample opportunities to apply the newly learnt vocabulary in practical contexts.
- Adults read aloud to children every day and children are provided with opportunities to re-tell and role play stories, hence becoming comfortable with using a rich range of vocabulary and story structures.
- A strong partnership is established with parents to utilise the strong linguistic connections that children have in their home language, in order to support the development of English language.
Phonics and Early Reading
At George Mitchell School, we follow the Read Write Inc programme to teach phonics and early reading lessons.
Phonics in Nursery
Children are taught phonics skills through group activities and continuous provision. Phonics is also taught through play and is part of our continuous provision, which helps children to practise and apply their phonetic skills independently.
Phonics in Reception
Children are taught phonics systematically through the ‘Read Write Inc.’ programme. In Reception, this involves daily, discrete phonics lessons. In addition, phonics is also taught through writing, reading and other cross-curricular play-based activities. Children learn to spell and read words which are phonetically irregular i.e. tricky words. Children use these words in their writing as well as in their reading. By the end of Reception, children are expected to read and write sentences and phrases using the phonemes that they have learnt.
Shared Reading
At George Mitchell school we ensure that the love of reading and language comprehension is promoted at every opportunity.
We achieve this by:
- Reading stories aloud to the children every day. Children are provided with opportunities to listen to the same stories repeatedly to develop their comprehensions skills as well as becoming confident at using the newly learnt vocabulary during play. Story sessions are carefully planned to develop comprehension skills and directionality of print.
- Using carefully chosen texts to inform planning and teaching.
- Working closely with our parents to inform them about the importance of reading stories at home.
- Providing workshops for parents to upskill them in their phonics and reading skills.
- Providing opportunities to role play stories and retelling stories.
- Providing high quality phonics and fiction/non-fiction books to be read at home.
Reading areas (book corners)
Reading areas are enticing, stimulating and well-maintained by adults and children. Books of a variety of genres are available for children to read and explore. Books are organised by genre and displayed attractively to encourage children to engage with them.
The number of books kept in the area is limited, so that children find it easy to make choices. Adults emphasise and promote respect for books and how to look after the reading areas. Reading areas are regularly updated and children are provided with opportunities to explore books around the topics for each half term.
Writing – including handwriting and spelling
Development of Early Writing is directly linked with spoken language and reading. We endeavour to develop children’s writing skills by:
- Planning and maintaining a stimulating and enabling environment, rich in print, with quality story books and non-fiction texts.
- Modelling writing skills through whole-class and group sessions, as well as during play.
- Teaching letter formation using RWI mnemonics.
- Establishing a well-resourced outdoor learning environment that promotes writing in all areas through play.
- Providing writing opportunities through play. Each class has a stimulating writing area based on children’s interests or the termly theme. The writing areas in each class are well resourced and children are encouraged to access the resources independently during self-chosen play.
- Children learn to write letters of their names in Nursery.
- Books that are linked to the theme and children’s interest are displayed and are available for children to read.
Spelling
Children in Reception are taught grapheme-phoneme correspondences and how to use them to read and spell. By the end of Reception, they will have learned at least one way of spelling each of the 44 phonemes used in English. Children are taught to blend sounds to read and to segment to spell. At the same time, they are introduced to words which are not phonically regular (‘tricky words’) and learn that they must be able to recognise these on sight.
Children are encouraged to see themselves as writers from an early stage and to ‘have a go’ at writing, using the sounds they can hear in a word. In its initial stages, successful spelling depends on good phonological awareness: children must have finely tuned listening skills. Practice is provided in a range of contexts: music, dance, PE and story (for example). Children are exposed to rhyme, rhythm and alliteration, attuning their ears to listen carefully to the parts of a word. This stage of phonics begins in Nursery and continues in Reception. Many Nursery children are interested in learning to write their own name and have opportunities daily to see it in print and can use their name card as a prompt for writing it.
Cultural Capital
At George Mitchell Early Years, the development of children’s cultural capital is embedded in everyday practice by:
- Providing families an extensive transition program in order to get to know our families personally.
- By working closely with the local feeder nurseries.
- Providing children with rich beyond-school experiences which expose them to awe and wonder.
- Using fiction and non-fiction texts which promote the development of inclusion, diversity and British Values.
A list of cultural capital opportunities can be found in the curriculum overview documents below.
Useful Documents
Further information
Further information about our curriculum can be found on the pages under the ‘Curriculum’ website tab. To request any additional information about our Early Years curriculum, please email Ms Nihal Rashid (EYFS Lead) at nihal.rashid@georgemitchellschool.co.uk.