Early Years

Early Years Leader: Miss Wood

Vision

At Holme Junior and Infant School, we are guided by our core values of being aspirational, adventurous, creative, resilient, respectful, and independent. These values shape our vision for Early Years Foundation Stage and underscore our commitment to nurturing well-rounded, confident individuals who are equipped with the skills to transition into the next stage of their school life.

Aspirational: We believe that every child has the potential to achieve greatness. Our Early Years curriculum is designed to inspire ambition and set high expectations for our learners. We encourage our pupils to aim for the stars and provide them with the tools and support they need to reach their aspirations. 

Adventurous: Early Years is an adventure. We encourage our pupils to embrace the challenge of discovery. We foster a sense of curiosity and a willingness to take risks in their play, encouraging them to step out of their comfort zones and explore new experiences. 

Creative: We promote an environment where pupils can express their creativity through play. We encourage our pupils to explore and experiment with their ideas.

Resilient: We teach our pupils the importance of resilience and persistence in the face of challenges. We believe that making mistakes is a valuable part of the learning process, and we encourage our pupils to view setbacks as opportunities for growth. 

Respectful: We value collaboration, teamwork, and a respectful exchange of ideas in our class community.  We explore a wide range of religions, festivals and celebrate diversity.  

Independent: We empower our pupils to become independent and problem solvers. We provide them with the skills to tackle challenges, instilling confidence in their abilities and fostering a sense of self-reliance. 

Our vision is to cultivate pupils who are not only proficient in the academic skills needed for the next stage of their education at Holme but who also embody these values. We aim to develop learners who are aspirational in their pursuits, adventurous in their exploration, creative in their ideas, resilient in the face of challenges, respectful of others and independent.

Intent

Our intent for Early Year Foundation Stage (EYFS) at Holme Junior and Infant School is to inspire, engage and enthuse our pupils to be resilient and independent learners so that they become creative and aspirational thinkers.  It is important that our children feel happy, safe, secure and cared for within an enabling and nurturing environment.  

Before children start at Holme Junior and Infant school, staff make regular visits to Pre School settings to help build valuable relationships with the children, ensuring a smooth and confident transition in September.

 Holme Junior and Infant School is at the heart of the community.  We take part in many community events, giving children a sense of belonging and understanding of their locality.  Our high-quality provision areas both indoors and outdoors ignite curiosity and enthusiasm and promote the development of skills needed to learn, form relationships and thrive.  These areas include construction, mud kitchen, creative area, sand and water and many more.  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.  

 Our aim on leaving Reception is that children are: 

• Confident learners, who are resilient and willing to take risks. 
• Positive about their learning and are able to self-regulate. 
• Able to effectively express themselves.
• Able to form positive relationships and work collaboratively with others. 

Implementation

Our approach is implemented through our EYFS curriculum. All areas of the EYFS curriculum are followed and planned for to ensure there is a broad, balanced and progressive learning environment and curriculum. The children learn new skills, acquire new knowledge and demonstrate understanding through the seven areas of the EYFS curriculum.   

• Personal, Social and Emotional Development 
• Physical Development 
• Communication and Language
• Literacy
• Mathematics
• Understanding the World
• Expressive Arts and Design

Our learners are encouraged to explore, take an active part in their learning, and use their creative and critical thinking through a range of purposeful and engaging activities, both indoors and outdoors

We love to learn through play and activities are based around the children’s interests and fascinations so that children have ownership of their learning. Play is enhanced through meaningful interactions with highly effective practitioners to ensure that the development of the whole child is supported and extended. All adults in EYFS are highly skilled at furthering the children’s development through open ended questioning and they have excellent knowledge of the children’s next steps so that they can facilitate opportunities and extend learning within the moment that is personal to each child. The provision both indoors and outdoors encourages independence so that children can access and select a range of creative materials, from junk modelling to our home corner.

Loose parts provision supports the children’s creativity and imagination through carefully selected and versatile objects. 

Impact

The impact of our curriculum is measured by assessment procedures which allow us to measure outcomes against all schools nationally. We measure the percentage of pupils achieving age related expectations throughout the academic year, put supportive interventions in place if and when needed. Class teachers use observations to make formative assessments which inform future planning for adult-led activities and ensure that all children build on their current knowledge and skills at a good pace. This ensures that children make good progress from their starting points. The impact of our Early Years approach is that children become independent and curious thinkers who carry with them the knowledge, skills and attitudes which will make them lifelong learners and valuable future citizens.