Early Years Curriculum
The Foundation Stage
“Every child deserves the best possible start in life and the support that enables them to fulfil their potential.” EYFS statutory guidance
Our Curriculum
At Palace Fields, our Early Years curriculum is ambitious, carefully sequenced and designed to give every child the knowledge, skills and experiences they need to thrive.
Our curriculum is informed by the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) statutory framework and the Development Matters guidance. We also draw upon Birth to 5 Matters to support our understanding of child development and progression.
We recognise that children arrive at Palace Fields with different experiences and starting points. Our curriculum builds upon what children already know and can do, while introducing them to new knowledge, vocabulary, experiences and ideas.
Through a balance of carefully planned teaching, high-quality interactions and purposeful play, children have opportunities to learn new knowledge and skills and then practise, apply and deepen their learning throughout our indoor and outdoor provision.
How Our Curriculum Is Organised
Our curriculum is organised across the seven areas of learning and development:
Prime Areas
🗣 Communication and Language
❤️ Personal, Social and Emotional Development
🏃 Physical Development
Specific Areas
📚 Literacy
🔢 Mathematics
🌍 Understanding the World
🎨 Expressive Arts and Design
The areas of learning are interconnected. Children regularly draw upon knowledge and skills from several areas during a single experience.
Our curriculum identifies the important knowledge, skills and vocabulary we want children to develop throughout Nursery and Reception, building progressively towards the Early Learning Goals at the end of Reception and providing strong foundations for the National Curriculum in Year 1.
Our Curriculum Journey
Our curriculum is carefully sequenced across Nursery and Reception so that children's learning builds over time.
We use broad themes, high-quality texts, stories, rhymes, children's interests and experiences of the world around them to provide meaningful contexts for learning.
These themes are not the curriculum themselves. Instead, they provide opportunities for children to make connections between different areas of learning while adults deliberately teach the knowledge, skills and vocabulary identified within our curriculum.
Children revisit important concepts throughout the year, allowing them to remember more, make connections and apply their learning in increasingly complex ways.
Knowing More and Remembering More
Assessment in Early Years happens primarily through adults knowing children well.
Through observation, interaction and children's responses during teaching and play, practitioners identify what children know, understand and can do.
We use this information to identify children's next steps, adapt teaching and provision and ensure that children who require additional support or challenge receive it.
Children's progress is considered from their individual starting points and against the expectations of the EYFS. At the end of Reception, children's attainment is assessed against the Early Learning Goals as part of the EYFS Profile.
Our detailed Nursery and Reception curriculum planning is linked below. This sets out the learning journey across the year, including the knowledge, skills and vocabulary children will encounter and how learning is progressively developed across our Early Years provision.
Our planning is a working document. While we have a clear curriculum and progression in place, we remain responsive to children's individual starting points, needs, interests and significant events or experiences that provide meaningful opportunities for learning.
