Early Years Foundation Stage

EYFS Intent

At Christ Church we place great value on the development of children as individuals, recognising that all children are unique and special to God. We provide them with the skills, knowledge and understanding they need to prepare them for the challenges in Key Stage One and beyond. Our aim in the EYFS is to build strong foundations rooted in academic success, as well as moral and spiritual development, so that ultimately our pupils can be successful and go on to be active citizens of society and happy, curious life-long learners. 

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. 

At the heart of the Early Years Foundation Stage is the teaching of early reading, which includes a systematic approach to the teaching and learning of phonics.  This is embedded in our curriculum to foster a life-long love of reading. Our enabling environment and warm, skilful adult interactions support the children as they link learning to their play and exploration. This is delivered through a holistic 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 and sustained thinking following children’s interests and ideas.  We value imagination and creativity and seek to create a sense of enjoyment and fascination in learning through a vibrant continuous indoor and outdoor provision, alongside trips, visits and regular forest school sessions.

RWI

At the heart of our early years curriculum at Christ Church is the acquisition of early reading skills. We follow Ruth Miskin's 'Read, Write Inc!' phonics program which ensures every child is able to gain the sounds they need to learn to decode and begin their writing journey.  There are some useful videos on the Ruth Miskin website that parents may find useful to support their children as they learn to read. You can find these links at the bottom of this page.