Early Years

FS1 and FS2

At GFA, we follow The Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum (EYFS). The EYFS is a holistic curriculum, this approach to learning emphasises the importance of the physical, emotional and psychological wellbeing of children which we value highly.

Areas of Development

The curriculum is broken down into 7 areas of development, 3 prime areas and 4 specific areas.

Prime Areas

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

Specific Areas

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

Each area is carefully planned for by our British qualified teachers through a mixture of explicit teaching sessions and play based learning opportunities within the classroom.

Pedagogy

Research shows that young children learn best when they are active, engaged and interested. Here at GFA, we recognise this and use children’s own interests to plan for learning that will engage and excite them for extended periods of time. We believe in learning through play and provide a mixture of child initiated and adult led play opportunities both inside and outside the classroom. Play is both valued and celebrated in our school. Everyday children in our FS1 and FS2 classes will experience a balance of adult-led teaching sessions and opportunities to consolidate their learning within the areas of continuous provision in their classroom or the outdoor learning environment.

Our teachers and teaching assistants facilitate learning through a mixture of observing, play partnering, modelling, questioning and explicit teaching. These interactions support teachers in assessing where children are currently at in their development and in turn planning for children’s individual next steps.

Open-ended Opportunities

Across our FS1 and FS2, we provide open-ended opportunities for children to develop their early literacy and number skills. From FS1, we introduce children to our Letters and Sounds Phonics Scheme with Phase 1 Phonics where we support children’s speaking and listening skills while laying the foundations in phonemic awareness. In FS2, children begin to learn letters and the sounds they make as well as learning to segment and blend the sounds in words. In FS1, we focus on learning numbers through songs and rhymes and practise spotting numbers of personal significance in the environment around us. In FS2, children engage in short mathematical inputs planned for using the Power Maths scheme of work which we use across the whole primary school.

At the end of FS2, teachers will assess children’s attainment in line with the Early Learning Goals. Using observational evidence gathered over time, these assessments will help inform the children’s next teacher of their starting points. The EYFS framework allows a natural progression into the National Curriculum at the beginning of Year 1.