Early Years

"Children learn as they play. More importantly, in play children learn how to learn"

O Fred Donaldson

Intent

At Gunness and Burringham Church of England, we place great value on the development of children as individuals and providing them with the skills, knowledge, wisdom and resilience they need to be successful Agents of Change. We promote high ambition and focus on our aspirations so our children are prepared for every step of their journey and the next phase of their education.

Our EYFS curriculum aims to enable our children to be:

Competent and confident learners: who are curious and fascinated about the word around them.

Resilient, risk takers: who aren’t afraid of a challenge and take control of their learning making them independent ready for their challenges ahead.

Skillful communicators: who can voice their opinions and communicate with all using high-level vocabulary.

Implementation

We ensure children access an inclusive, holistic curriculum which maximises opportunities for meaningful cross-curricular links, providing children with positive learning experiences and the opportunity to experience awe and wonder. We value our pupil’s imagination and creativity and seek to create a sense of enjoyment and fascination in learning, we value the importance of outdoor learning and ensure that children experience opportunities in both our indoor and outside environments.

The area allows for gross motor development, risk taking and collaborative play. Children experience nature in its truest from, working in the mud kitchen and chopping herbs or building and making tracks in the sand pit. There they will embrace the natural weather and can work in the brightest sunshine or rain, splashing in puddles is a firm favourite!

"The mud will wash off but the memories will last a lifetime!"

Children at Gunness & Burringham Church of England Primary School experience the seven areas of learning through a balance of whole class, small group, individual teaching and play based experiences. Planning is child centered and takes into account the children’s interests and the importance of play.

Learning is carefully planned to support Communication and Language Development, Personal, Social and Emotional Development and Physical Development in addition to Literacy, Mathematics, Understanding of the World and Expressive Arts and Design.

Impact

Children make good progress from their starting points and are well prepared for the next steps in their learning. Strong relationships are made with children and parents and children report that they feel safe and happy at school.

"I like making my own snack and toast in the snack area"

"I like to think about the risk and then make it safe in my play"

"I like to build ramps and roads for my cars I like learning because it fills my memory!"

"I enjoy making playdough and adding ginger to it!"

We love to read!

We celebrate a love for reading in our school and encourage all parents to sign their child up for the Imagination Library books - free books that get delivered through the door for your child every month until their fifth birthday. What better way to excite children about reading than getting their very own books posted!

We celebrate these books every month in class and parents are invited into the classroom to join in with the celebration and the linked activities. Ask Miss Harrison for further information.

We also have regular visits from a library van, the children have the responsibility of looking after their own library card. They are then able to visit the van and choose books to take home to read.