EYFS
Early Years Foundation Stage
At Oake, Bradford and Nynehead CE (VC) Primary School, we want every child to have a happy, secure and successful start to their education.
Our Early Years provision reflects our school vision, “Let your light shine,” by recognising every child as unique and helping them develop the confidence, curiosity and independence to flourish.
Intent
Our EYFS curriculum is designed around the needs, interests and starting points of our children.
We provide a language-rich curriculum that gives particular importance to the prime areas of Communication and Language, Physical Development and Personal, Social and Emotional Development, as these provide the foundations for future learning.
Children are encouraged to talk, listen, ask questions, investigate, make choices and develop their own ideas. Through purposeful play and carefully planned teaching, they build the knowledge, vocabulary and skills they need across all seven areas of learning.
Reading is central to our curriculum. We want children to develop a love of books, stories, rhymes and language alongside the early knowledge and skills needed to become successful readers.
Our Christian values are evident in the relationships children develop. They learn to play and work together, show kindness, build confidence and recognise the importance of caring for themselves, other people and their environment.
We work closely with parents, carers and previous settings so that we understand each child and can provide the right support and challenge from the beginning. This partnership with families is an important feature of our existing EYFS approach.
Implementation
Children learn through a carefully planned balance of adult-led teaching, guided learning and child-initiated play.
Our indoor and outdoor environments provide opportunities to explore, practise and apply learning. Adults observe children closely, join their play sensitively and use skilful interactions, questioning and modelling to extend thinking and language.
Themes, high-quality texts and children’s interests provide meaningful starting points for learning, while our curriculum identifies the important knowledge and skills that children need to develop.
Communication, language and reading
Stories, conversation, songs, poems and nursery rhymes are an important part of every day. Children encounter high-quality texts repeatedly so that they develop vocabulary, comprehension, confidence and enjoyment of reading. This builds on the strong emphasis already placed on repeated reading, language development and nursery rhymes within our provision.
In Little Acorns, children develop the foundations for phonics through listening, sound awareness and language activities.
In Reception, phonics and early reading are taught systematically through Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised. Children take part in daily phonics teaching and carefully matched reading practice, with additional support provided promptly where needed.
Children also take home books to share with their families, helping to develop reading for pleasure as well as early reading skills.
Mathematics
Children develop secure early mathematical understanding through direct teaching, practical resources, games, songs, discussion and opportunities within continuous provision.
They learn to notice patterns and relationships, develop a secure understanding of number and explain their mathematical thinking. Adults model mathematical language and provide opportunities for children to revisit important concepts in different contexts.
The wider curriculum
Through Understanding the World and Expressive Arts and Design, children begin to develop the knowledge that will support later learning in subjects including science, history, geography, RE, art, design technology and computing.
Learning is practical and meaningful. Children investigate, create, build, observe, question and test their ideas, using increasingly precise vocabulary to explain what they notice and understand. This continues the approach described in our existing curriculum, where purposeful experiences are used to connect early learning with later subject knowledge.
Meeting individual needs
Adults use their knowledge of each child to identify where additional support or greater challenge is required.
Learning and provision are adapted so that children with SEND and those who may need additional help can participate fully. Where children are at risk of falling behind, support is put in place promptly.
Transitions into Little Acorns, Reception and Year 1 are carefully planned, with information shared between families, settings and staff.
Safeguarding and welfare
Children's safety and wellbeing underpin everything we do.
Our practice follows the EYFS Statutory Framework 2026, Keeping Children Safe in Education 2026 and the school's safeguarding procedures. Staff understand that safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and know how to recognise, record and report concerns.
The EYFS welfare requirements are reflected in daily practice, including appropriate supervision, risk management, paediatric first aid, safe mealtimes, hygiene, oral health and, where relevant, safer sleep arrangements. We also consider the appropriate use of screens and technology for young children.
Children are helped to develop a sense of personal safety in an age-appropriate way, including recognising trusted adults, expressing when they are worried or uncomfortable and beginning to understand how to stay safe when using technology.
Impact
Children's progress is understood through observation, interaction, conversation and the work they create, rather than unnecessary paperwork. Practitioners use their professional knowledge of each child to identify what they understand and what they need to learn next. This reflects the assessment approach already established within the school.
The statutory Reception Baseline Assessment is completed when children enter Reception and the Early Years Foundation Stage Profile is completed at the end of Reception.
By the end of the EYFS, we want children to:
communicate confidently and develop a rich vocabulary;
develop positive relationships and an increasing ability to manage their feelings and behaviour;
become curious, independent and resilient learners;
develop secure foundations in reading, writing and mathematics;
use their knowledge and skills confidently within their play and learning;
feel safe, valued and ready for the next stage of their education.
Our aim is that children leave the EYFS with strong foundations for Year 1, positive attitudes towards learning and the confidence to continue to “Let their light shine.”