Hade Edge Junior, Infant and Nursery School

Curriculum Intent

In EYFS, we recognise children’s interests and prior learning before planning learning opportunities. Parents are asked to complete a questionnaire which provides us with valuable information about their children. We endeavour to provide first-hand experiences which make our curriculum purposeful and relevant. Every child is recognised as a unique individual. We celebrate and welcome differences within our school community. The ability to learn is underpinned by the teaching of basic skills, knowledge, concepts and values. We aim to work collaboratively with parents and carers to encourage independent, enthusiastic learners who thrive and reach their full potential, with adults facilitating as required.

Our EYFS curriculum aims to enable our children to be:

Competent and creative learners; who are curious about the world around them.

Secure and confident; who enjoy coming to school and learning new skills and knowledge building on their existing learning.

Skilful communicators; who connect with others through language and play, ensuring that they play in a vocab rich environment.

Our curriculum is therefore the cultural capital we know our pupils need so that they can gain the knowledge, skills and understanding they require for success. They can only do that if we embed the right habits for learning through the Characteristics of Effective Teaching and Learning – Play and Exploration, Active Learning and Creative and Critical Thinking. 

Our detailed Baseline assessments, alongside the NFER Baseline, identify many of our pupils arrive in line with national expectations. Our initial priorities are to teach the children how to listen, speak and meet the high expectations for behaviour by working together and being kind. We use the observation checkpoints for the Prime Areas (from the Development Matters document) to assess which age band children are working at.  Once our Baseline assessments are complete, we set achievable but challenging targets and discuss these with parents and how they can support their children at home.

Our enabling environment and warm, skilful adult interactions support the children as they begin to link learning to their play and exploration. We are committed to developing a love of reading, writing and number.  We deliver discrete phonics, reading, writing and maths lessons throughout the week. These lessons are delivered through a topic-based curriculum which maximises opportunities for meaningful cross-curricular links and learning experiences as well as promoting the unique child by offering extended periods of play which is well planned for, giving the children time to consolidate and practise prior teaching through a vibrant continuous provision. We also follow the children’s interests and ideas, by providing enhancements and provocations. We value imagination and creativity and seek to create a sense of enjoyment and fascination in their learning.