•             At Thaxted Primary School we place great value on the development of children as individuals and providing them with the skills, knowledge and understanding they need to prepare them for the challenges in Key Stage One and beyond.

•             Our aim in the EYFS is to build strong foundations rooted in academic success as well as moral and spiritual development, so that ultimately our pupils go on to be active citizens of society and happy, curious life-long learners.

•             Our curriculum is therefore designed so that they can gain the knowledge, skills and understanding they require for success. They can only do that if we embed the right habits for learning through the Characteristics of Effective Teaching and Learning – Play and Exploration, Active Learning and Creative and Critical Thinking.

The Early Years framework divides children’s learning into key areas:

The seven areas of Learning and Development are further divided into strands, and children’s progression is recorded in order to support and encourage them throughout their journey.

We believe the children’s learning environment is key. Pupils learn through a balance of child-initiated and adult-directed activities.  The timetable is structured so that children have directed teaching in literacy, maths and phonics everyday with regular circle time sessions to focus on Personal, Social and Emotional development. 

In our EYFS setting, children learn by leading their own play, and by taking part in play which is guided by adults, both within the classroom and outside. These activities are designed to support children to discover, explore, investigate, develop their personal interests and areas of curiosity, and help to make sense of the world around them as they begin to understand specific concepts. Play opportunities are also set up to provide children with opportunities to apply newly acquired knowledge, demonstrating their skills and level of understanding. This ensures that children can develop and learn in different ways and at different rates to ensure the pace is appropriate for them.

As a rural setting, we provide the children with opportunities to engage with our outside environments in our outdoor classroom area, our on-site Forest school area and our local woodland ‘Wellyboot Wood’. We do this to develop the children’s awareness of their outside environment, to engage with our local community areas of nature and to ensure children thrive in differing learning environments.

The Early Years Foundation Stage
For more information on the EYFS and how you can help at home