Early Years Foundation Stage 2025 - 26

EYFS at Micklem Primary School

Be kind, Show respect, Aim high

At Micklem Primary School, our Early Years curriculum (EYFS) and learning environment supports, enhances, and invites our pupil’s curiosity and builds their confidence regardless of their background, circumstances or needs. Our curriculum develops independent and enthusiastic learners. It is where our pupils begin their lifelong learning journey by developing physically, verbally, cognitively and emotionally and embeds a positive attitude to school and a love of learning.  Our EYFS Curriculum is diverse, ambitious and carefully planned to ensure lessons link to the seven areas of learning in a meaningful way and cover what pupils need to know and understand in order to reach the Early Learning Goals, at the end of Reception. 

Our EYFS Curriculum incorporates the statutory requirements of the ‘Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage’ as well as other experiences and opportunities that meet the developmental needs of the children in our school. Across the seven areas of learning, vocabulary is carefully planned so that pupils can communicate effectively when talking about what they have learnt.  Key vocabulary is taught across all subjects to encourage the children to use independently, with appropriate scaffolding when required.

Throughout this period and beyond our pupils are still developing their phonic knowledge and their fluency in reading through the Essential Letters and Sounds, (ELS) phonics programme. The programme is planned and structured systematically to ensure pupils are taught the phonemes they need to be able to accurately read words and simple sentences by the end of Reception.  

In EYFS, pupils are encouraged and supported to develop positive attitudes towards learning. This is done by understanding how best to support individual needs in creating these positive attitudes such as working on pupil confidence, motivating pupils to develop their listening and attention skills and building pupils’ resilience within lessons and individually. 

We want to enable our youngest children to begin to develop a sense of identity, through engaging with the world around them. They can begin to ask and answer questions about the world and their place in it.  We want our children to be co-operative, reflective and resourceful, using the provision both in the classroom and outside to extend their learning within play.  We follow the children's interests and encourage them to challenge themselves and take risks.  We celebrate mistakes and support the children to use them as stepping stones on a path to further their knowledge.   

Children will learn about their local area and community, their bodies and how we grow, they will take part in Forest School activities, enjoy music and art, 'journeys around the world', dinosaurs, space, plants, animals, the Poles and Equator, the seasons and the weather, lots of adventures and much, much more!  The curriculum plans are packed full of interesting ideas to support play, stories to tell, investigations to undertake and words to learn and use. Our ambitious planning for our Early Years teachers and practitioners, focuses on high quality interactions with the children, scaffolds the learning, encourages all children to fulfill their potential and is a strong foundation to lifelong learning.