EYFS – Foundation Stage
At Duston Eldean Primary School, we provide an engaging curriculum where your child will grow into a confident, responsible, and independent learner. We have two classrooms, Rabbits and Squirrels, and the outside classroom for children to develop as a learner.
When your child starts at Duston Eldean, they will be in the Foundation Stage Year and will follow The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework.
Foundation Stage is a distinct stage which begins from birth and continues to the end of the Foundation Stage. If your child attended a nursery or pre-school setting, they would have already been introduced to this curriculum. The emphasis is on learning through play. Well-planned adult-led and child-initiated play, both indoors and outdoors, is a keyway in which children learn. They will have fun whilst developing all the key skills that will help them to get off to a flying start when they reach Year 1.
The Foundation Stage Curriculum is organised into seven areas of learning and development:
- Personal, Social and Emotional Development (PSED)
- Physical Development (PD)
- Communication and Language (CAL)
- Literacy
- Mathematics
- Understanding the World (UW)
- Expressive Arts and Design (EAD)
The Curriculum sets out 17 ‘Early Learning Goals’ which most children will achieve by the end of their first year in school.
Growth Mindset
In Foundation Stage, we introduce the children to our 8 'Growth Mindset Minibeasts'. A growth mindset is the understanding that our beliefs, behaviours, and personality can all be positively developed and improved through displaying key attributes. The 'Growth Mindset Minibeasts' are part of our common, daily language when discussing learning:
Ellie Effort
Annie Application
Colin Cooperation
Percy Perserverance
Imogen Inspiration
Ralph Reflection
Charlie Challenge
Curtis Curiosity
Tapestry
All children attending Duston Eldean will have a personal online Learning Journey provided by ‘Tapestry’ whilst in Foundation Stage. This allows us to work with parents/carers to share photographs, videos, observations, and comments of the children in line with the Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum. This also enables us to build up a record of each child’s learning and achievements during their Foundation Stage year.
Once access has been gained to your child’s learning journal, you will be able to view all observations and photographs of their time in Foundation Stage. Tapestry also allows you to add observations and photographs of your own as well as share your comments.
Workshop Sessions
Throughout the year, there will be the opportunity for you to spend some time in the Rabbits and Squirrels classroom. It is a great opportunity for you to see your child in their school environment along with how they learn. At the end of the workshop, children will perform some songs they have been busy learning.
Kinetic Letters
Our handwriting scheme ‘Kinetic Letters’ incorporates building body strength, holding the pencil correctly and letter formation. The children will work on these different aspects during our daily handwriting lessons. During lessons, children lie on their stomachs on the floor to write, as this enables them to build body strength and encourages the hand to be in the correct writing position to write.
Homework Expectations
Each week your child will receive a reading book from our Essential Letters and Sound Scheme along with 6 common exception words (harder to read and spell words) to learn at home by sight. Common exception words are words that appear very often in written texts (the, and, to, said, etc.). They are a mixture of decodable words (words that can be sounded out) and tricky words (words in which English spelling code works in an uncommon way). It is important that children learn how to read these words by sight as they will make up a large proportion of the words they will be reading in everyday texts. We strongly promote reading at home with the aim that children will read at least 4 times a week to develop children's confidence and fluency.
End of Year
Rabbits and Squirrels go on a trip to the farm towards the end of the year to link in with our topic, ‘Nature’.
Helping your Child at Home
- Zip their coat up
- Put hat and gloves on independently
- Change into their P.E kit
- Toilet trained
- Table manners and using cutlery
- Look after their own belongings such as cardigan
- Count in order from 1 to 20
- Recognise and write their name from memory
- Read stories before bedtime
Useful Websites
Essential letters and sounds - Oxford Owl
Oxford Owl for school and home