Curriculum

The EYFS Curriculum at Carlton Junior and Infants School provides a high-quality teaching program which promotes children’s learning.

During a child’s time in Foundation Stage he or she will work towards achieving the ‘early learning goals’, which is a statutory requirement for all 3, 4 and 5-year-olds who attend an Early Years setting. The early learning goals set high expectations for the end of the foundation stage, but expectations that are achievable for many children. This will help to give children secure foundations on which future learning can be built. 

The early learning goals are organized into the following 7 areas of learning and development:

PRIME AREAS OF DEVELOPMENT

• Communication and language
• Physical development
• Personal, social and emotional development 

SPECIFIC AREAS OF DEVELOPMENT

• Literacy
• Mathematics
• Understanding the world
• Expressive arts and design 

The three prime areas form the building blocks for learning and underpin our curriculum across all areas. Good development in all of these areas is essential for all other learning to take place. 

In planning children’s activities, we reflect of different ways that children learn and use these in our practice. Three characteristics of effective teaching and 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, and enjoy achievements
• creating and thinking critically - children have and develop their own ideas, make links between ideas, and develop strategies for doing things 

We provide a balanced curriculum which incorporates child-initiated learning through play, adult led focus groups and whole class teaching. Our aim is to promote a love of learning, confidence and independence as well as the necessary knowledge and skills which will prepare the children for moving up into Key Stage One. We teach Read, Write Inc phonics and NCETM Mastering Number maths sessions. A big part of the learning in EYFS is based around the children’s interest in our stimulating environment and giving the children experiences that they may not encounter at home.

At the end of Foundation Stage children are assessed using the Early Years Foundation Stage profile.

In 2022, 65% of children leaving Foundation Stage at Carlton Junior and Infants achieved a ‘good level of development’ (the national area average in 2019 was 72%). We have no published data for 2020, 2021 due to the pandemic. 

How do we ensure progression of knowledge and skills?

Our environments are carefully designed to provide skill development and enhancement. Our Foundation Stage Unit includes permanent resources for the children to continually access; allowing them to develop and master their skills and learning. Enhancements are then added to specific areas alongside current topics or children’s interests, to help support and challenge them in their learning. There are opportunities for reading in all areas promoting our love of storytelling and reading books.

We have worked closely with staff in Year 1 to develop a curriculum that allows children to flourish as they move into the next phase of school. In Foundation Stage we learn key vocabulary and give experiences that are vital to support the children in all their future learning.