Curriculum Offer 2021-2022

The Foundation Stage Curriculum Offer 2021-2022

Intent

The Sutton Manor Early Year’s team is dedicated to supporting and developing  young children through high quality care.  We want the best for every child and combine effective pedagogy with a broad and progressive curriculum to continually assess and review the children’s learning alongside key observation checkpoints to ensure that no child is ‘left behind’. Our emphasis on self-regulation and executive function, in conjunction with our close partnership work with parents enables the children in our care to thrive.  Our broad and exciting curriculum is based upon careful observations and interactions with the children and reflects the needs of our community.  We have a mix of adult led and child initiated learning opportunities with PSED, Communication and Language, Literacy and Outdoor Learning considered to be fundamental in all that we do. All activities are planned with the characteristics of effective learning in mind to enable children to play and explore, encounter active learning and be able to create and think critically.

Implementation

We have a strong emphasis on PSED to enable the children to build appropriate relationships, manage their self-confidence and self-regulate their feelings and behaviour appropriately.  Regular circle times, puppet work and social stories help the children to understand their place within the world and encourages effective communication.  Staff are trained to make appropriate interventions in children’s learning in order to move learning on.  

Effective communication and language skills are fundamental to our curriculum and we work hard to develop the children’s speaking, listening, attention and understanding. We have close links with our Speech and Language Therapy service and run Oxford University’s NELI (Nuffield Early Language Intervention) program with children who may require extra support with expressive and receptive language skills.

Structured daily phonics sessions provide the building blocks for our literacy curriculum.  Sutton Manor are working in partnership with the English Hub and follow the DFE validated Little Wandle Letters and Sounds programme to establish a strong foundation of word building in preparation to read.  Children are encouraged to share books with their parents / carers from the two’s room, nursery children take home ‘story sacks’.  In reception the children have access to the Collins ‘E Learning Library’, books are uploaded by the class teacher each week, linked to the work that has been covered in phonic sessions. 

Our curriculum is centred upon high quality picture books and texts to develop vocabulary and language skills, stimulate and respond to children’s interests and to develop a love of reading and writing.  Our curriculum has been carefully, sequentially planned to ensure that by the time the children leave the EYFS unit they know a wide variety of songs, nursery rhymes, poems, traditional tales, non-fiction texts and contemporary stories that build upon their prior experiences and learning. Comprehension is viewed as key to developing children’s love of reading and discussion of texts occurs during daily ‘story time’ sessions.

 

Meaningful reading and writing opportunities, linked to the children’s interests are available inside and outside of the classroom with books and writing equipment placed all areas of the unit to encourage mark making and writing.  Daily ‘finger gym’ exercises and ‘funky fingers’ activities ensure the development of fine motor skills.

Our outdoor area has been specifically designed to meet our children’s needs with children spending as much time outdoors as they do inside on a daily basis.  We ensure the development of gross motor skills with our climbing, balance and digging areas as well as providing daily planned enhancements to meet the children’s specific interests.  Once a week reception children have access to our Forest School woodland area which is used to facilitate learning across all aspects of the Early Years curriculum.

The layout and resourcing of our unit provides continuous provision learning opportunities for all areas of ‘Development Matters’.  Maths is taught daily following the NCETM programme of study.  Our practical approach to mathematics concentrates enables deep learning opportunities for ordinal, cardinal and nominal number work, numerical patterns and space, shape and measure. 

Children are encouraged to create with different materials and to be imaginative and expressive with the varied resources that are presented to them on a daily basis.  Children’s knowledge and understanding of the world is broadened via exploration of the past and present, people cultures and communities and the natural world via  texts and hands on experiences.

 

Impact

The EYFS curriculum at Sutton Manor has the needs of the children at its heart.  It is reactive and responsive to the children.  The children’s interest in the seaside prompted a trip to the beach, litter found in the Forest School area resulted in a writing project to the woodland animals and recycling awareness campaign.  

Quality adult interventions ensure that teaching and learning is of the highest quality and that the children in our care receive the best possible start to their education with a positive sense of self –worth and ‘can do’ attitude.  

We provide fundamental experiences and opportunities that the children may not otherwise encounter so that the children leave the EYFS unit at Sutton Manor confident, happy individuals ready for the challenges of The National Curriculum.

Our children are able to self-regulate, demonstrate focus and express themselves effectively. Our children are equipped for Year One able to read, write, have an in-depth understanding of numbers to 10 and beyond. Our children are ready for the rigours of subject specific teaching as a result of the experiences that we have provided.  Children leave the Sutton Manor Early Years Foundation Stage kind and caring individuals with a firm understanding of the wider world and their place within it.  Like the children we care for, the early years’ experience at Sutton Manor is unique. 

Mrs Lomas

Foundation Stage Leader