Our Christian Values and Distinctiveness, alongside our School Mission Statement of ‘Learning, Growing and Inspiring through God’s Love and Grace’, are at the heart of our curriculum and all that we do at Samlesbury.
The Early Years Foundation Stage Curriculum
Our infant class incorporates both EYFS and Key Stage 1, this provides unique opportunities for continuity and progression for our children. The children in the EYFS benefit from working with their more able peers and they develop an excellent rapport with teaching staff who support them during their 3-year journey.
In the EYFS the children learn through a balance of child-initiated and adult-directed activities. The timetable is carefully structured so that children have daily rigorous directed teaching in English, maths, handwriting and phonics. Adult led teaching sessions to support the children’s learning across the wider EYFS curriculum are carefully planned out across the school year. This ensures that we offer an EYFS curriculum in which children develop both breadth and depth of knowledge and skills. Whole class sessions are followed by group work, during which children work with a member of staff to develop their individual targets. This focused group time enables adults to systematically check children’s understanding and provide immediate verbal feedback and support.
Children are provided with plenty of time to engage in ‘exploration’ through the variety of carefully planned experiences which engage and challenge them in the continuous provision. The curriculum is planned for the inside and outside classrooms and equal importance is given to learning in both areas.
Our EYFS curriculum is built around the characteristics of effective teaching and learning (CoETL). Skilful adult interactions with children ensure that children are encouraged to follow their interests, make independent choices about their learning, and are supported to develop their thinking skills.
Reading is at the heart of our curriculum. Children follow the rigorous and highly successful Floppy’s Phonics scheme consistently so that they all make good progress.
We follow the White Rose mathematics planning sequence throughout our school. In the EYFS, the mathematics curriculum focuses on developing the children’s key skills of number, calculation and shape so that all children develop deep understanding of number and acquire mathematical language. Children learn through games and tasks using concrete manipulatives which available for children to explore further during their free play times.
