Early Years Foundation Stage
Intent, Implementation and Impact
Intent
Here at Tushingham Primary School, we provide a safe and nurturing environment for children to play and learn together. We build positive, secure and trusting relationships which allow our children to flourish. We strive to celebrate children’s unique personalities, talents and abilities, always keeping their wellbeing at the heart of everything that we do.
Our aim is to provide a welcoming and stimulating play-based learning environment, which develops a broad range of knowledge and skills, and provides the right foundation for good future progress through school and life. We have high aspirations for every child and provide an ambitious curriculum with high expectations for all, carefully building on what children already know and can do so that every child is supported and challenged to make the best possible progress. We work on broadening children’s experiences, providing opportunities to try new things and encouraging them to persevere with new challenges. We aim to develop the children’s ability to express and regulate their own feelings so that they feel confident, respected and valued.
We appreciate the support of parents and families at our school and understand that good communication between school and home helps us to meet the full needs of our little learners. Ultimately, we want all children at Tushingham Primary School to start their school life both happily and confidently, in order to make good progress across the EYFS curriculum, in preparation for the transition into Year 1.
Implementation
Play-based approach to learning
At Tushingham School, we value play. We believe that play-based learning provides children with opportunities to actively and imaginatively engage with people, objects and the environment. Through our consistent and effective continuous provision, children access a wide range of experiences and learning opportunities. This also provides them with familiarity and security within their classroom. We encourage children to return to activities and areas, exploring in more depth and growing in independence and confidence each time. Carefully planned enhancements to the areas then create points of interest, excitement and extra challenge.
Teachers and Teaching Assistants model play and introduce the children to the endless possibilities of our open-ended resources. They know how and when to interact with children in their play in order to support, challenge or extend their learning. This then leads to high levels of engagement and independent exploration during future continuous provision sessions.
New concepts are taught through focused adult inputs. These provide a wide range of learning opportunities to develop new skills, challenge thinking and embed learning. Direct teaching time is short, well organised and multi-sensory, with learning becoming embedded over time. Children have opportunities to practise new skills in adult-directed activities. Following these, we look for children to independently use and extend their new knowledge and skills within their play. This supports ‘sticky learning’.
Positive Interactions and Communication
We recognise that positive interactions between adults and children play a vital role in developing children's communication and language skills. Throughout the day, staff make the most of everyday opportunities to talk with children, listening carefully to what they have to say and showing genuine interest in their ideas and experiences.
We provide a language-rich environment where children are encouraged to express themselves, share their thoughts and develop their vocabulary. Adults model language, introduce new words and extend children's sentences through meaningful conversations. We use open-ended questions and comments to encourage children to think, explain their ideas and develop their understanding.
We understand the importance of giving children time to process language and respond, ensuring that all children have opportunities to contribute. Through stories, rhymes, songs, conversations and play, we support children to become confident communicators who can listen, take turns and engage positively with others.
Curriculum
Characteristics of Effective Learning
Woven throughout our practice in the EYFS are the Characteristics of Effective Learning.
We help children to explore independently and encourage and support them to believe in themselves and their abilities. Children are encouraged to play with what they know and to develop the confidence to “have a go”. They are nurtured to develop resilience by being gently supported to keep trying in order to achieve what they set out to do.
Meaningful learning opportunities are planned so that children are able to use what they have learned and apply this to new situations. As children become more independent with activities, they begin to actively think about the meaning of what they are doing. Children then make links between experiences, which helps them generate new ideas and solve problems.
Christian Values and Spirituality
Our Christian vision and values are woven throughout our everyday practice in the EYFS. Guided by our school vision, ‘Learning together and worshipping together’, we aim to create a community where every child feels loved, valued and respected.
Through stories, collective worship, celebrations and everyday experiences, children are introduced to our Christian values of compassion, generosity, respect, forgiveness and perseverance. We encourage children to show kindness, care for others, share with their friends and understand the importance of treating everyone with respect.
Adults model these values through their interactions with children and one another, helping children to develop an understanding of positive relationships and how their actions can affect others. We provide opportunities for children to reflect, talk about their experiences and consider how they can put these values into practice in their everyday lives.
We also recognise the importance of nurturing children’s spirituality. We encourage children to pause, notice and wonder about the world around them, developing a sense of awe and appreciation. This might happen as they explore nature, notice seasonal changes, listen to stories, share special moments or ask questions about the world and their place in it. We provide time and space for children to express their thoughts and feelings, develop a sense of belonging and begin to explore the things that are important to them.
Our Christian ethos helps to create a nurturing environment where children learn that they are special, that they belong and that everyone is important.
British Values and Cultural Capital
We recognise the importance of helping children to develop an understanding of the wider world and their place within it. Through everyday experiences, stories, discussions and play, we introduce children to British Values, encouraging them to understand the importance of democracy, rules and laws, individual liberty, mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs.
We aim to broaden children's experiences and build their cultural capital by providing opportunities to explore new ideas, places, people and experiences. Through stories, visitors, celebrations, music, art, nature and the wider community, we introduce children to experiences that they may not otherwise encounter. We celebrate the different backgrounds, interests and experiences that children bring to our school, building on what they already know and helping them develop a greater understanding of the world around them.
Areas of Learning and Development
There are seven areas of learning and development in the EYFS. These help to build the foundations for igniting children’s curiosity and enthusiasm for learning, forming relationships and thriving.
The three prime areas are:
- Communication and Language
- Physical Development
- Personal, Social and Emotional Development
The four specific areas are:
- Literacy
- Mathematics
- Understanding the World
- Expressive Arts and Design
Assessment
During the first few weeks of Nursery and Reception, we develop relationships with the children and model and establish consistent routines so that they feel happy and settled at school. We then complete our Nursery and Reception baseline assessments, alongside the statutory DfE Reception Baseline Assessment. As well as finding out about children’s strengths and areas for development, we also like to find out about their interests. All of this information is then used to help us develop our learning environment and plan our learning experiences.
Each child has their own profile on our electronic ‘Learning Journal’ programme. Here we keep evidence of their independent learning through observations, work samples, photographs and videos. We ask parents to also contribute to children’s learning journals using our ‘Parent Postcard’ app. Children also have their own maths, English and phonics books, which contain the work completed in adult-directed activities. Our wonderful floor books contain a variety of work and photographs from each term’s topic lessons. All of this gathered information informs our next steps in teaching and learning. It also allows us to show progress and make judgements about whether children are on track to achieve their targets. Children who are not on track to meet their targets are identified early and support is put in place to bridge any gaps in knowledge and understanding.
At the end of Reception, teachers make a holistic, best-fit judgement about whether children are at the expected level of development and their readiness for Year 1. Teachers draw on their own knowledge of the child, observations taken throughout the year and their professional judgement to make assessments against the Early Learning Goals (ELGs). These end-of-year assessments are shared with children’s parents.
Impact
The impact of our EYFS curriculum is seen through our wonderful children. They are happy, well-rounded and confident children who are enthusiastic and excited about learning. Following adult inputs, children often independently repeat and enhance learning experiences during continuous provision sessions. This demonstrates that they are motivated, engaged and stimulated by the learning experiences.
Professional dialogue and monitoring of the teaching and pedagogy in our EYFS are reviewed and evaluated regularly. Staff in our Nursery and Reception class also complete regular CPD in order to enhance their practice. New knowledge gained through research and courses is positively reflected in subsequent teaching and the classroom environment. Our EYFS provision and practice is always a high priority on our rigorous School Development Plan, which means our practice is continually developing and improving, having a positive impact on the children’s learning.
Our assessment procedures allow us to evaluate how and what the children are learning in detail and plan for their specific next steps. Our children arrive at our school with skills broadly in line with national averages. During their time in our EYFS, they make good levels of development. In 2026, 87% of children achieved a Good Level of Development. Ultimately, our children leave our EYFS with the key knowledge and personal skills that will help them have a successful transition into Year 1.
Our class webpage has information about how parents, guardians and carers can support children's learning at home.
