Early Years
Our Intent at Marton-cum-Grafton is to inspire, engage and enthuse our pupils to be active learners. Our children in EYFS learn in a stimulating environment of high quality provision areas both inside and outdoors which are exclusively planned for and are enhanced daily. Through exciting provision, the highest quality Early Years experience is delivered by establishing a firm foundation which builds on both future academic and social and emotional success. High aspirations are instilled in our pupils from a very early age and pupils self-belief and ownership of learning allow them to take risk and develop resilience.
In EYFS our approach is implemented through following the interests of the children, through our skills and a play based curriculum.
We facilitate a highly stimulating indoor and outdoor environment, which encompasses open ended, natural, authentic and loose parts play provision. Children have access to the outdoors at all times throughout playing and learning time so that they can learn in an environment that compliments their learning style the best and allows them to make excellent progress.
At Marton-cum-Grafton, we believe the adult’s role is to facilitate opportunities for children to learn through thoughtful enhancements and sensitive, nurturing interactions. This allows practitioners to respond to children’s needs and encourage them to try their best, therefore, empowering our early learners to see their play as meaningful and valued, developing their confidence to lead their own play. This approach also means that children are constantly engaged in their learning and learn in real life contexts.
All adults in EYFS are trained to a high standard to ensure they are skilled to further a child’s learning through questioning. They have a good knowledge of each child’s next steps so can extend their learning whilst ‘at play’, ensuring that Every Child Achieves. Our unique approach also values the importance of acquisition of key skills, facilitated through short, fun and interactive daily Phonics and Maths inputs, as well as, Literacy and Maths being threaded through all areas of the environment.
Our exciting environment is then enhanced to support the application of key learning, so that children are constantly remembering and embedding what they have learned. In addition, high quality stories and literature are in every area of provision to encourage children to use their phonic knowledge, develop descriptive, exciting vocabulary and a love of reading. Our curriculum for EYFS is underpinned by excellent relationships with children, but also with our parents. We ensure that children have the best possible opportunities to achieve by communicating openly and effectively with parents on a regular basis, through newsletters, Class DOJO, termly reports and verbal communication to ensure children receive valuable and targeted support at home.
The impact of our Early Years approach is that when children leave Reception, they are:
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happy, confident and inquisitive individuals.
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independent thinkers who work collaboratively with others and have a enthusiasm for learning.
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develop and sustain positive relationships with their peers and wider school community.
Our EYFS curriculum at Marton-cum-Grafton
EYFS curriculum overview
This document breaks down the Early Learning Goals and Development Matters statements and shows how our EYFS builds and progresses each child's skills, knowledge and understanding throughout each area of learning.
Please click on the links below to see our Early Years Progression Maps for Preschool and Reception:
Curriculum Themes
EYFS leaders across Elevate have worked together to develop broad 'themes' for each term. These 'themes' provide a starting point for our learning, with freedom to follow children’s interests and personalise learning to our setting, cohort and context. Our agreed themes are:
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Autumn Term |
Spring Term |
Summer Term |
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Theme 1 |
Theme 2 |
Theme 3 |
Theme 4 |
Theme 5 |
Theme 6 |
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Pre-School |
All about me and my interests
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Special Occasions |
Dinosaurs |
Spring Easter |
People who help us |
Transport/Vehicles Transition |
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Reception |
All about me My family and community My New School
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Festivals Seasons Light and Dark |
Animals- mammals and Birds |
Spring Easter Growth and New Life- Animals |
Growing Plants Seasonal change |
Journeys Traditional tales Transition |
Phonics in Early Years
In Early Years we have a rigorous approach to phonics teaching. At Marton-cum-Grafton we use Little Wandle Letters and Sounds revised to teach phonics across our school.
Each phonics adult-led session comprises of four parts: revisit/review; teach; practice and apply. This ensures that children make rapid progress. Each child has a decodable reading book, which is closely linked to their learned phonic knowledge, they bring home daily to support their early reading skills.
For more information about how we teach phonics please see our Early Reading page.
Maths in Early Years
Maths in Early Years is based around the Early Years Mastery approach. At Marton-cum-Grafton we use White Rose Education to support our Maths teaching across both Reception and Pre-school. Maths is taught through a range of play and structured situations both independent and supported by teachers to support further exploration.
Maths is embedded across Early Years and emphasised in all aspects of our daily routine e.g snack time, lining up, tidying up etc. Maths through real-life and meaningful experiences, using practical hands-on resources is key.
Parents in Partnership
At Marton-cum-Grafton we believe in building strong partnerships with parents to support their child's Early Years journey. Across Early Years we use Class Dojo to communicate with parents, this allows us to share key information and our learning journey in and outside on a daily basis.
At Marton-cum-Grafton we also encourage parents to share achievements from home with school which we share each week.
Please click below to see our Early Years Policy