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Curriculum
Because happy children learn better and achieve more, our challenging curriculum has been developed to engage and be relevant for all pupils.
The achievements of our pupils are widely celebrated and we encourage all pupils to succeed.
We are proud of our diverse population, where every child is recognised as an individual. Our curriculum reflects this and we aim to enhance the learning of all pupils through rich experiences, which bring the curriculum alive and support the development of vocabulary.
Our curriculum is founded on outstanding teaching of English and Maths and through our language rich environments instil a love of reading in all. In our daily story- time we share high quality texts and provide opportunities for discussion about themes and encourage children to access a range of genres throughout the curriculum. We make sure that children apply their understanding of basic skills through topics, which both engage and inspire our learners.
We cover the National Curriculum and enhance it with visits, visitors and first-hand experiences; children have the opportunity to take part in Forest School, and make the most of the outdoor environment. We help the children to make connections between all parts of their learning and give them the chance to learn about the world of work, through close links with local employers and industry.
We also offer a broad range of after-school clubs which enable our children to identify and develop their talents and skills, beyond the curriculum.
Early Years Intent
At Excelsior Academy we are passionate at working hard to ensure we provide a safe and nurturing environment to allow the children to develop and grow as a unique individual. We strive to provide opportunities for them to succeed in all areas of their development. We aim to encourage children to develop independence and confidence to support risk taking and to challenge themselves within the learning environment.
We believe that the Early Years Foundation Stage is crucial in securing solid foundations that children are going to continue to build upon throughout their lives. Children in both our Nursery and Reception classes follow the EYFS curriculum, which has seven main areas of learning.
The Prime Areas:
- Personal, Social and Emotional Development
- Communication and Language
- Physical Development
The Specific Areas:
- Literacy*
- Mathematics
- Understanding the World
- Expressive Arts & Design
Implementation
At Excelsior we see three key areas being the child, the environment and the teacher.
The child is the centre of our curriculum and we plan open ended activities designed to stimulate ideas, initiative and imagination allowing the child to follow their own path of learning. We believe children have potential and are curious, eager to participate in social interaction, establish relationships and build lessons for themselves, as well as the ability to adjust to the environment wonderfully.
At Excelsior we see the environment as the third teacher. We believe children flourish in environments that adapt to their interests and steps of development. We aim within the learning environment to foster children’s imagination, creativity, and curiosity. It is designed to provide a range of age and stage appropriate resources to ensure continuous provision and provocations build and extend on the children’s learning. Our routine underpins a balance of adult led and child-initiated activities, catering to the children’s developmental needs. Children have access to both indoors and outdoors throughout the day through our freeflow approach as well as access to Forest school throughout the year. We aim to ensure provision is stimulating and exciting allowing children to engage, be motivated and think critically in their play.
Our experienced practitioners play a vital role in scaffolding, listening and facilitating the learning to further establish how to plan or continue to enhance the learning of children. They assess continuously through observations in order to plan next steps, challenge and inform future planning ensuring children reach their full potential. We have key texts and explicit themes to support the curriculum based on the interests of our children. We strive to embed the early skills of both reading and mathematics within the Early Years curriculum.
We recognise that parents are the first educators in children’s lives and we actively encourage our parents to be involved in their children’s learning in school.
Impact
The impact of the EYFS curriculum is measured through several methods:
- Clear and reliable baselines for all pupils
- Progress and attainment data for children half termly.
- Pupil voice
- Parent voice
- Behaviour and pastoral records
- Learning stories and class books
- Ongoing observations and monitoring
- Ongoing CPD for all staff
- Review of groups and interventions