Welcome to Witherley's EYFS

Welcome to our EYFS page.  On this page you will find details of the learning that we cover, information about the EYFS curriculum and photos of our class activities (more photos are in the Children's Area - Explorers YR). 

In Explorers children are actively involved in their learning and follow both adult guided and child initiated investigation, exploring, play and learning. They take ownership and accept challenges, concentrating and developing their own ideas drawing on previous experiences to help them solve problems and reach conclusions. 
We also spend a full day a week in our Forest School space. 

We believe that strong positive partnership between parents and staff are fundamental to developing your child's independence and a love of learning. In Explorers we have a safe and secure environment where we establish routines and respond to the children's individual needs as all children develop and learn at different rates.

Explorers is a busy, happy place to come and learn. There is lots of information about our day and our routines in our Welcome Booklet below.  

Please contact us if you need any further information  or would like to arrange to come and visit us - 01827712198 .

To view our Reception class 'Welcome Booklet' please click on the link below. 

EYFS

In EXPLORERS we follow the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) which sets the standards for promoting the learning, development and safety of children.  To plan effectively we need to know the children well, identifying their interests, exploring how they like to learn through observations and interactions. We monitor their progress in each area of learning through our observations, formative and summative assessments throughout the year.

To support our planning we use the 'Dimensions' curriculum.  The Dimensions Curriculum follows the new Development Matters and Early Learning Goals detailed by the Department for Education.  For details of the 'Themes' we cover in EXPLORERS please look at our Long Term Planning on this page and half termly Curriculum Newsletter.

The Foundation Stage has 7 areas of learning.  The areas of learning are divided into The Prime Areas and The Specific Areas.

The Prime Areas:

• Communication and Language
• Physical Development
• Personal Social and Emotional Development

These areas are taught within the following specific areas:

The Specific Areas:

• Literacy
• Mathematics
• Knowledge of the World
• Expressive Arts and Design

Characteristics of Effective Learning statements

The characteristics of effective learning in Foundation Stage are:

Playing and exploring 

• Finding out and exploring
• Playing with what they know
• Being willing to have a go

Learning actively

• Being involved and concentrating
• Keeping trying
• Enjoying achieving what they set out to do

Thinking creatively and developing thinking skills 

• Having their own ideas
• Making links
• Choosing to do things

Helpful documents for parents 

Explorer’s photo gallery 
If you’d like to see more photos of what we get up to in Explorers go to the Explorers - reception page in the Children’s section….there’s lots to see! 

This PowerPoint accompanies our parent's reading meeting which we normally hold in the Autumn term. 

It is in 3 parts due to the size of the document.