EARLY YEARS
Early Years
Early Years Vision
In the Early Years at Cotteridge Primary School, we believe the children to be inquisitive, creative, sociable and unique. They should also have the right to be individual learners, safe and to achieve the skills and knowledge to progress throughout life. We aim to achieve this by providing a purposeful, creative and engaging curriculum that is rich with language and phonics, enabling all children to achieve whilst being supported by nurturing practitioners.
Early Years Curriculum
The seven areas of learning and development are:
Three Prime Areas:
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1. Personal, Social and Emotional Development · Self-Regulation · Managing Self and Building relationships
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2. Physical Development · Gross Motor Skills · Fine Motor Skills
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3. Communication and Language · Listening, attention and understanding · Speaking
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Children are supported through the four specific areas, through which the three prime areas are strengthened and applied.
Four Specific Areas:
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1. Literacy · Comprehension · Word Reading · Writing |
2. Mathematics · Number · Numerical Patterns
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3. Understanding of the World · Past and Present · People, Culture and Communities · The Natural World |
4. Expressive Art and Design · Creating with Material · Being Imaginative and Expressive |
Play is an important part of a child’s learning in the Early Years and underpins all learning and development. Children will be supported in play by modelling how to play with others or how to use different resources. Once children are confident in their play, they will be provided with well planned activities and resources that will ignite their curiosity and creativity and will also challenge them, moving them on in their learning.
Characteristics of Effective Learning
The Characteristics of Effective Learning are:
- Playing and exploring – children investigate and experience things, and ‘have a go’.
- Active learning – children concentrate and keep on trying if they encounter difficulties.
- Creating and thinking critically – children have and develop their own ideas, make links between ideas, and develop strategies for doing things.
The Characteristics of Effective Learning (CoEL) underpin the Early Years Curriculum as they explore how children learn. It is essential children learn to engage with the CoEL as it will support them in their new learning and to persevere to achieve.
Phonics
Phonics is embedded in the Early Years and children are immersed in it from the start of Nursery. This starts with sound talking, alliteration and rhyming in Nursery to teaching new graphemes, blending and segmenting in Reception. This enables children to start writing and reading at an early age and gives them the skills and knowledge to progress throughout their school life.